And the “All American Truck Club of New Zealand”

After as much as 80 years of almost no maintenance, the saddles that wrap around the two rear axle housings usually require some serious attention.  The wear is out of the sight and often is over looked during most restorations.

Steve Jones in the country of New Zealand had this problem with his 1939 ½ ton. He had given it a major restoration almost 25 years before but had overlooked THIS hidden area. The saddles are designed to slightly move on the rear axle housings when the pickup is driven over uneven road surfaces. The weight of the pickup bed and all its contents is on the top half of these two saddles where they ride on the axle housings.

The problem: The saddles on Steve’s 1939 had actually cut holes in the top of both 3 inch diameter axle housings! If caught in a major rain storm while driving, water could get inside the housings and even reach the moving parts of the differential.

Steve was not going to place his show quality ½ ton in a museum (It was no longer safe to drive). He loves driving it for pleasure outings and on occasions to his work location. The damage was a big problem with few major repair parts in New Zealand on the other side of the world from the US, where good used axle housings could probably have been located. With the help of a few specialized repair shops, Steve was determined to get it on the road again.  

The following are Steve’s own words of how repairs were made. Surprise! When fixed, he discovered the ½ ton now had better performance than before. Remember, in his words the letters "diff." are short for the word differential in the US.

“Hi Jim., here is what I did, as any old Chevy truck owner knows is this, there are no reproduction parts for the diff as far as the saddles that carry the diff housing and enable it to move up and down with the rear spring without have the diff twist unlike an open drive shaft setup. Why I decided to rebuild my torque tube diff was due to water getting in and a nasty sound coming from it over the past 20 years.

So I decided to get things sorted, as all truck owner know is that almost all of the diffs will have a lot of play in the saddles that hold the diff in place, almost all the play is due to the top saddle and the top portion of the diff housing wearing over time due to poor maintenance and age, so in photo 1 you can see the wear that is normal for a truck diff housing, you will notice the ridge in the center and the ridges on the outer edges, 

Photo 2 shows that I cut out all the worn part of the housing ready for the new steel, make sure you brace everything to avoid movement during welding, you can keep the axle and crown wheel carrier in place while welding to check for free rotation.

Photo 3 shows the new steel in place, I got some thick walled steam pipe and had it turned down close to the size I needed, then welded it in place.

Photo 4 shows the housing after I got it back after having the whole diff housing put in a huge leath and turned back to standard, I also had the diff locators removed, these are the riveted bits on each side that stop the diff from sliding side to side, most come loose and this lets oil out and water in, plus they have to be removed and the hole welded up so the housing can be turned

Photo 5 and 6 shows the top saddle with new bronze bushings read to fit, this fix will mean that this diff is now better then what it was when it came of the plant when new.

I also installed a new high speed crown wheel and pinion setup, the other issue I found was that my 39 had a 1942 diff under it, and it should not had due to the 42 torque tube being longer, this had its own issues, so to fix that I have the drive shaft and tube shortened so it was the same length as a 39 setup. now it runs so nice and with the roads we travel on it allows me to run in 3rd more and keep a good speed, whereas before 4th was too high and 3rd to low, now 3 is great, and the open road too, but I didn’t get the high speed setup for that, as the breaks are the same.

Hope this is of some use, feel free to change things around, and any questions just ask.

Cheers Steve”

Meet Steve Jones! One of the most devoted GM truck enthusiasts in his country. In the past 25 years he has personally ground up restored three GM trucks. (He still owns them)

Here is Steve's collection:

1939 Chevrolet ½ ton pickup (with differential problem). His first restoration that really got his interest started. A beautiful pickup with the correct Armour exterior and black fenders. Correct 216 cubic inch six cylinder engine with optional 4 speed transmission.

1949 Chevrolet ½ ton pickup with Swift’s red and black fenders. While down to the bare frame he got an idea to install a local small block Chevy V-8 and automatic transmission that was available rather than rebuild another low oil pressure 216 engine. Not an easy job, Steve did great on this. If you don’t raise the hood while looking at its outside, you would assume it has a factory original six cylinder.

1957 1 ½ ton flat bed. Once again a beautiful restoration in the factory medium green color. The correct inline six cylinder is the large port with 270 cubic inches. Steve completed it 2 years ago and enjoys climbing up into the cab and looking down on the tops of passing cars!

In Steve’s travels over the two long island’s that make up New Zealand he occasionally would meet other vintage GM truck owners. They too, have occasionally had problems finding parts and tech help. This got Steve to start thinking about how this problem might be helped, so he decided he would try an experiment.

He is the founder of the “All American Truck Club of New Zealand”.

This group now connects with others having similar truck years with the roster. They also get together on back roads and highways a few times a year for 2 to 3 day events.

You can contact Steve at: allamericantruckclubnz13@gmail.com