"57 chevy GASSER" steering question

Yesterday I bought a 57 chevy that Im gonna transform into a g***er/street freak. Today I would like to order a straight axle kit. Im thinking speepway is there any better? I was wondering If I could use my stock steering box or not? Please help I dont want to waste my time and money on junk!!!

 

All I can tell you I have seen a lot of threads about Speedway and they all seen to good. TLB is a great site to get info on straight axels

 

Speedway axles are probly too narrow for your 57,...most go with a 47-50 something Chevy truck axle. I heard MAS in Minn. will build to your specs. They advertize in R&C.
...and what's TLB ?...a website?

 

stock steering box will work with a little bit of fabrication. one long tie rod from the pittman arm to the right front wheel, then a cross link to the left wheel.
back in the day (way back ! ) we did something similar with the stock suspension for dirt track use, cuz the idler arm wore out every 2 weeks. we ran a long tie rod from the pittman arm to the right wheel and a short tie rod from about 4 " down the long tie rod to the left front wheel. real similar to ford pickup (twin I beam) steering linkage.
nasty bump steer, but really the left front was off the ground most of the time!
things have changed,thankfully...we are all smarter and much safer nowadays..thanks to forums like this

 

Thanks Guys! whats tlb??????

 

Here's a link

http://groups.msn.com/TwoLaneBlacktopHomePage/general.msnw

 

we have used about 7 or 8 speedway axles on the tri fives and vega front mounted cross steering and they drive great... tad narrow but not bad... MAS will in fact do one longer for you but they are *** holes in my opinion......

 

The one on the 55 is that a speedway one? how wide is it?

 

groing up, my neighbor had a 66 ventura and a 67 gto . both cars had 55-56 ford axles under them with parralel leafs.both cars sat up freakin high.(my dad said they were stupid, what did he know.)they both had stock steering boxes with a ford type cross steer set up.dont know how well they steered . mike

 

i meant to say 55-56 f-100 axles. mike

 

Your more then welcome to follow our g***er builds, we used '49-'54 Chevy truck axles and they drive great. We used Saginaw 122 or 525 steering boxes. Here are a couple of links:

My buddies '55
http://www.rebelrodscarclub.com/members/lonniecobb/55straightaxle.htm

My '56
http://www.blackandbrew.com/stuff/mycars/my56/56g***er.htm

Feel free to PM me with any questions.

 

that is a speedway set up 48 inch (everything) chevy spindles 4 inch drop etc. it is cross steered in front and uphigh 0 bump steer and perfectly level across side to side with the center link and drag linkthe axle is in at about 4 degrees. since we race this stuff all the time and some street driving we need them to be real pos***ive and smooth and this works well.. I can say this... use all the new parts you can get because it is your life and it just isnt any fun trying to steer one that is worn out from the get go.. everyone has there ideas . so good luck I can send pics if I had an email to attach for you of sevral builds we did on these. one in sho pnow with an mas 52 inch straight axle./.

 

Why cut the front frame rails? I know it lighter but is that it? Sorry for all the questions guys.

 

The front frame rail on a tri-five is NOT strong enough to properly constrain or hold a leaf spring. Even if you box it...

Sam.

 

Plus it looks way cooler!!!