Hudson Dana 44 vs Studebaker Dana 44

Kdancy

I thought this might be of interest to some--
I was hoping to perform the Stude flanged axle conversion to the Hudson Dana 44 but there are several
differences in the axles.
Hudson is 3/4" shorter
Hudson has different size axle nut/threads
Hudson bearing is much larger than Stude.
http://s294.photobucket.com/user/studebaker2/library/Dana 44 Hudson-Stude axles

50C8DAN

There was an effort several years ago by members here on the forum to work with Phil Harris (Fairborn Studebaker) and Moser to make some Dana 44 flanged axle sets for Hudsons.  I am not sure what happened to that project or if it really go off the ground.  

Kdancy

Here is an informative forum post from 2010 on the Stude axle issue.

http://forum.studebakerdriversclub.com/archive/index.php?t-47006.html

"The ones I've seen fail right at the outboard edge of the inner bearing race; simple fatigue from poor design."
"The problem today, almost 50 full years since the last tapered-axle
Studebaker was manufactured, is one of age-induced fatigue. Jim Pepper
has discussed various stress cycles in the tapered axles; the more they
are used and the older they are, the more likely they are to fail,
period. Every tapered-axle Studebaker extant is being used decades
longer than it was expected and designed to be in service, so we must
account for that reality in accommodating our car's needs. "

I've done several of the Stude axle conversions using Ted Harbits - flanged moser axles, then Phil's after Ted sold out to him.
After talking to some Hudson racers that used the Hudson Dana 44, it seems Hudson didn't have the magnitude of issues that Studebaker ones did. Maybe the small changes I found in the Hudson make it a little stronger axle?
I've tried e-mailing Phil about the Hudson axle conversion and never got a reply back. Maybe I'll try calling him.