Was out at a friends acerage on the weekend and came across this old frame and axles in his yard. He does not know what kind of vehicle they came from..

Any help in identifying them. (They are huge axles).. Only thing I know about them is they are huge, front is closed knuckle, 5 stud, and had the letters NAPGO something on the front axle. Also truck was riding on 44's.

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid25/p9317c5e3e5b499a1796794d4a9e6a527/fd869238.jpg

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid25/pde4a3c58023b01f2f21c63a9d27c4f69/fd869258.jpg

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid25/p38e96c51be51b7b057555d3a52f98b89/fd869280.jpg

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid25/pf9be7fc813daff10b8f0c0a7a139e7f9/fd869200.jpg

Thanks

Scott

the front looks like a old GM 2.5 ton, the rear looks like it could be just about anything. a lot of medium and heavy truck manufacturers used axles that look alot like that. could be rockwell, eaton, anything.

check that front for the words Napco

Front is a NAPCO front end used in the first trucks chevy offered with four wheel drive.Vintage 50's and early 60's..In the picture the rear looks kinda big to be a matching rear.It looks more like an old GM style 2.5 ton..could just be the picture..Hope this helps.:D

Old chevy pickups had napco front axles. Think it was some kind of aftermarket conversion they did in the 50s.

Yeah, Napco did the first GM 4x4 stuff, but they also made conversions for Fords and perhaps other trucks as well.

They were pretty beefy back in the day, but they used Rzeppa (say "cheppa") steering joints that are weak and nearly impossible to replace.

Those are resto axles, not really good for wheeling.

the rear looks similar to an EATON?? Im not sure, but I think it would be more trouble than its worth to run those big axles.:eek:

you can find out more information regarding napco 4x4's and the history of them from my site http://www.napco4x4.org As a napco owner (58 chevy apache short bed stepside 4x4.. mmmMmm.. ) and avid napco fan, i'd be happy to do some research into this if you want more information. another good source for the ton and up nacpo stuff is Pat Wilson (he maintains the web site mentioned above) and is a relative god concerning gm napcos. ford, studebaker, and gm were all able to have a napco conversion kit put into them, chebbies being the most common. as far as the axles go, reddwarf is correct in that short of a collector/restorer, they're not worth much. if they are up for sale, i'm sure that i can put you in touch with someone interested in them.

sad to see a napco parted out.. i almost converted mine over before i realized what exactly it was i had. thank god i ran into Pat before i was able to follow through!

good luck, keep me informed!

the rear axle is an eaton. we have those things on our busses at work. i do not think you could have sufficient ground clearence even with 44's on it. they have a removable third member that probably weighs in at aropund 500 lbs and is about 18" in diameter at the axle to diff mounting surface. they are forkin huge. we just got a shipment of two housings. they are probably around 3/16" thick and each bare housing weighs about 250 lbs a piece....

Thanks All..

This is the kind of info I was looking for...

Had been pondering putting those axles into a new project strictly for the Mud and a high horsepower engine. Have a set of 44's for the axles, but even with them there may not be enough clearance.

And I agree that rear axle is just insane huge.. I can only imagine the size of the ring and pinion in that thing...

Thanks again all..

Scott

Originally posted by Canuckbuzz
I can only imagine the size of the ring and pinion in that thing...



the ring gear is about a a foot or so in diameter. it is hell trying to take one of those apart and put it back together :D

Originally posted by AGGIECJ-7
the rear axle is an eaton. we have those things on our busses at work. i do not think you could have sufficient ground clearence even with 44's on it. they have a removable third member that probably weighs in at aropund 500 lbs and is about 18" in diameter at the axle to diff mounting surface. they are forkin huge. we just got a shipment of two housings. they are probably around 3/16" thick and each bare housing weighs about 250 lbs a piece....

I am running an eaton in the rear of my junk - and it's not that big. I'm not saying that's not an eaton - but mine isn't that big. Mine has the 12" ring gear but doesnt hang any lower than a d60 or 14bolt. I'll take some pics at lunch. My bare housing I can lift myself (75 to 100lbs) - and the 3rd member is probably 150 to 200 lbs - I can lift it, but it isn't fun :D

Edit: I also noticed the tubes are square? My eaton is round like any other housing.

Originally posted by brector


I am running an eaton in the rear of my junk - and it's not that big. I'm not saying that's not an eaton - but mine isn't that big. Mine has the 12" ring gear but doesnt hang any lower than a d60 or 14bolt. I'll take some pics at lunch. My bare housing I can lift myself (75 to 100lbs) - and the 3rd member is probably 150 to 200 lbs - I can lift it, but it isn't fun :D

Edit: I also noticed the tubes are square? My eaton is round like any other housing.


i said it was an eaton cause thats what the thirdmember and original housings have stamped on them. the new housings that we just got came from Dana Spicer though.

Originally posted by ript
ford, studebaker, and gm were all able to have a napco conversion kit put into them, chebbies being the most common.

I wanted to say Stude also, but I couldn't remember for sure. Cool beans:cool: