LUVTruck.com

Howdy everyone. I've just registered here & thought I'd say "hey" & give ya some background. I have a '46 Studebaker truck that I am building into a mild street rod. I have a Stude V8 for it & plan on running a Chevy auto tranny via an adapter. I've been looking around trying to find a lo-buck IFS swap for it & really wasn't too impressed w/ my options.

Now we (finally) come to the reason I joined the group here- I was recently given a '77 Luv that had been stripped to nothing but a complete chassis & the shell. No interior, lights, electrical- only the bare body. All the chassis is there, & was a driving truck 'til recently. After jerking the body off the frame, I discovered that with some custom offset wheels, the Luv would work for my Studebaker project. This'll give me the torsion bar IFS & a 4.10 geared rear. All it requires is for me to stretch the frame 10", which is no big deal. And of course fab up body mounts.

Anyways, so I'll have a Luv truck in a manner of speaking. I've always liked the little trucks. I've read a bunch of the posts here & feel that this option is much better than working w/ an almost 60yr old frame.

BTW- MEPR, I wondered where you went. Haven't seen ya around FordSix.com lately!

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'46 Studebaker truck "project"
'90 Trooper 4X4, 2.6L 5 spd

yeah i havent been on fordsix latley, my ford has kinda been on the back burner as far as projects so i have been on the other boards. Im perty shure a luv frame will work perty well for what your planning doing. Im just not shure about the isuzu 10bolt rears under these trucks, they are only 17 spline and thus not vary good for holding HP. A good axle to hold you over for a bit is the S-10 rears, they will hold more hp and are the same width(and if you can find a ZR-2 s-10 or s-10 blazer get its rear end, they have a bigger ring gear and more availiable parts). Well good luck whith this project. Dont worry, i havent forgot about fordsix.com

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1980 LUV 4x4, going under re-construction...

Thanx MEPR- you just saved me from having to ask a question. So the rear is a 17 spline Izuzu. The Luv had a mild 350 in it before the guy stripped it for his Willys project. My V8 is going to be pretty tame, as this truck will become my "driver" someday. I think I'll run the rear 'til it acts up, though. After reading what a PITA it is to swap bolt patterns in the front rotors, I'm hoping to keep the 6 lugs all the way around. Anyone here tear up one of these rears from too much HP? And how much HP if ya did?

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'46 Studebaker truck "project"
'90 Trooper 4X4, 2.6L 5 spd

well as far as hp and lug patern concers go you could swap in a 10bolt or 12bolt chevy rear. you would have to have them shortened but if you got them from a 4x4 truck they would have the same 6on 5.5lug pattern

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1980 LUV 4x4, going under re-construction...

The stock LUV rearend can hold about 275 hp. For awhile....eventually it will go, but that all depends on the condition of the Rear end and if your running slicks and stall. (If you got any sort of traction or stall converter...kiss the LUV rear goodbye) It can only take so much abuse, but if your just daily driving it around the street, you should get a while out of it. But like MEPR said, you can't go wrong with swapping a chevy 10 or 12 bolt in, or even better a Ford 9 inch...

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-1981 Chevy LUV, 283SBC, T350 Trans, White In Colour, Long Box, Never Ending Project!
-2001 F-350 Superduty XLT 7.3L Diesel Auto, Ext. Cab, Long Box, White In Colour
-1998 F-150 XL 4.2L V6 5spd , Reg. Cab, Flareside SB, Red In Colour