right hand drive conversions

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sixbysix
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right hand drive conversions

Post by sixbysix »

Anyone know of any right hand drive conversions or have experience in converting one???
I know that some studebaker US6's have been converted in Australia and was wondering if the same had been done with the GMC cckw
sixbysix
US6x6
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Re: right hand drive conversions

Post by US6x6 »

Unkess you hgave a real need, the you will find driving it as LHD is not a problem. One of the greatest things I did to assist here is to fit a decent reversing camera (got it off eBay) and have it wired on whenever the vehicle is running. It gives great rear views across three lanes. I drive the Studebaker quite often (nearly 2,000km per annum) including regular trips to Sydney, and it really isn't an issue.

However, I'm sure a conversion shouldn't be too hard. The Stude was actually made for LHD/RHD production, although no RHD versions were series produced, which makes the conversion reasonably straight forward.
David Toyne

1945 US6
1943 F60S
Trucks, tractors and steam engines ......
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ETRf5tiptg4
sixbysix
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Re: right hand drive conversions

Post by sixbysix »

thanks for that .... will give it some consideration ... have heard that the studebaker is much more suited to conversion than the GMC ..though dont know whether that is true or not
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Ken Blythen
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Re: right hand drive conversions

Post by Ken Blythen »

I've converted one back to LHD, & have seen a few conversions (of varying quality :roll: )

My CCW-353 had been fitted with a driving front axle & converted to RHD sometime in the 50's/60's. I took it back to LHD/6x4.

With a 6x6 it's a simple job to swap the steering arm from the LH side, with the upper cap from the RH side. That's the easiest part of the job!

The RH chassis rail was drilled to take the steering box, & the drag-link end cut, rotated 180 degrees & welded to suit the new position.
The steering box itself was removed, had the 4-bolt flange cut off, & a steel one brazed on at 90 degrees to the original, which allowed it to be flipped upside down & bolted to the RH chassis rail......takes a minute to visualize that, but it's right!
I remember space was short with it on the RH side.....I think the starter was the reason.

Master cylinder was swapped over & faced forward, with the pushrod set up to then operate directly from the front, instead of the original linkages working from the rear.
Most that I've seen just had the transfer case levers cut down to fit under your leg, but it's not very satisfactory - either for comfort or leverage when shifting.

Dash & glovebox interchange reasonably, transmission shifter offsets to the wrong side but is OK to use unaltered; & the handbrake is a bit more of a reach.
Cross-shafts have to be set up for the clutch & accelerator linkages, pedals etc.

There's a lot more detail I could recall if I thought about it, but that's the bones.
None of it's too difficult, just a lot of work.

I converted back for originality, & to gain a tighter turning circle - surprising power difference too :mrgreen: , not carting & spinning all the extra front-end gear.
Last edited by Ken Blythen on Wed Oct 05, 2011 1:49 pm, edited 1 time in total.
sixbysix
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Re: right hand drive conversions

Post by sixbysix »

thanks ken ... food for thought
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