I want to lift the front end of my 56 but I dont want to put a straight axle under it. I was looking for some opinions. I have heard guys using camaro big block springs, 3 inch lift kits, nomad springs with ball joint spacer(to keep it from bottoming up) what have you guys used/what works and doesnt work? I am willing to sacrifice some driveability but I dont want to get stupid.
DYNAMITE !! (sorry, i couldn't resist) I never understood the tri five chevy thing. I'll shut up now.
I have seen one with raised (as opposed to dropped), spindles. I think the ball joint spacers are less than safe. The nosebleed look never appealed to me, but if you got to have it, the straight axle looks the best.
this message board is becoming a giant waste of time..... If I ask what grease I should put in my hair or ask how cool my minibike is I would get 3 pages of responses. I dont get it.
I have a couple of buddies running ball joint spacers, looks good and been in for years. My favorite Shoebox here is Dukeofblues' 57. Sets perfect and no straight axle, you might ask him.
the ball joint spacers are necessary because of the travel issue when it goes down to raise the car . heavy springs and ball joint spacers is the only way i know to raise it safely. and it will work fine. however the big springs are super hard to put in ...good luck
Hair Grease questions will be closed,Mini Bike thread is for Vintage Mini Bikes.... All you need to do is use the search function. I typed in "straight axle 55-57 chevy" and came up with this; http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=225566&highlight=straight+axle+55+chevy and this one if you don't want run a straight axle; http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=365702&highlight=straight+axle+55+chevy Is that better???
I'm gonna wait this one out for more answers...been thinking of raising the front of my '58 but don't want to commit to a straight axle. Danny, what I don't understand is how you answered "wagon springs and ball joint spacers" to someone else with this very question in the second thread that 61T shows above, 3 months ago. Now you're asking? Please explain.
Did the wagon springs. Not tall enough, only got a couple of extra inches. I want to go a little higher but I would like to know what will work for sure.
I used the heavy duty springs from jcwhitney and the original "c" type ball joint spacers. it raised the front end sky high. The suspension was very stiff. You can adjust the camber angle with the original "c" type ball joint spacers. the only thing is you have have to remove a piece of metal that is riveted to the frame. Its on the outside of the frame right where the shock is. I ended up taking all that business out and am switching to coil overs. If i can find the springs and ball joint spacers, i will give you a good deal on them.
This is easy, Take your car to either a grain elevator, race track, or race car shop and have it weighed. If you can get the weight at all four corners that is even better. Remove one front coil spring. Take the spring and the paperwork to a reputable spring shop and tell them how much higher you want your car to sit. they should be able to give you a pair of springs to do what you want. http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&...cd=1&q=spring+shops+in+willowick+ohio&spell=1
On eBay they sell a coil spring lift kit. There are a couple of sizes up to about an inch thick. They set under the coil spring and can give you up to 3-4 inches of lift. That, in combination with the ball joint spacers and your original springs will give you the lift and travel you want. I recommend getting the ball joint spacers from the guy who sells them on eBay (hotchevy60@aol.com - "hotchevy60" on eBay). His are made from 6061-T6 aircraft quality billet aluminum. These are really high quality and nothing like the way they used to make them. I recently met a guy who has this setup on his 55. Hasn't had a lick of problems with it. He said that it rides stiffer, but not rough. In fact, he said it rides better than it did before. That's the setup I'm going with on my 56.
_______________________________________________________________ The old school standard was to install a set of 409 springs in your car. Should put it right where you want it.
Back in 1966 I used a 1962 Chevy station wagon front spring and a aluminum spacer...It worked really good...If I recall correctly I had to cut out a rubber bumper under upper a arm....
So that it doesnt feel like a truck with Impala 409 springs, You can use trick moroso 1st gen big block springs and energy suspension donut spacers on the bottom of them and spacers for the upper control arm. All of it is at summitracing except for the ball joint spacers-ebay. Before the camaro trick in the 60s it was early Impala 409 springs. In the photo you'll see the spacers in the spring too, I would only use those if your springs were new and stock style tri-5 only.
Just did the spring swap on my 57, with jc whitney high lift springs and ball joint spacers. had no suspension travel . had to cut out the upper bump stop brackets, still no travel but had 9" of clearance above my tire. Cut the top and bottom coil of the spring ended up with 5" of clearance and 4 inches of travel. also had to dimple the chassis to clear the ball joint spacer. Carlg
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