ok so i have been talking to a few people here. but i need alittle more insight. i have a 1950 3100 chevy pick-up. i am planning on putting a bigger engine and fixing it to my liking (maybe some bags). right now it is in pretty good shape, but i dont like the way it drives thoughand the ride is alittle rough. i have been looking around and i found a 1987 dakota rolling ch***is, steering column, and rack and pin for 250.00 (never wrecked). but some people think that i may just want to put on a front clip. i know that with the swap i will need some spacers to make the wheels sit in my wheel wells and will be alittle more work( which doesnt both me that much cause the ride would be better). or goin with a front clip or rebuilding my old susp. ( which would be less work but i would have to change my rearend anyways cause it only goes about 55 on the highway). Also is there any other frames that may fit other than a s10 and dakota frame ( for example a silverado short box or step side) thank you for any insight that you may have
Well with a clip you won't have to have all the extra work of making body mounts fit!! Only have to work on making the front clip fit!
STUB IT! The "idea" of putting ch***is x, y or z under any given body always sounds the easiest. It ain't! Stay with the frame intended for the body. JMHO Larry
Nothing will compare to the value of a properly restored original. Nothing will have less value than cutting up the original frame to clip it or putting the tin on a late model ch***is. The middle ground would be a nicely built original ch***is with a high end IFS kit like heidt's with a MII kit one or two notches down from there.
i have talk to a few guys here that have 50s chevys and most of them have gone to a front clip or frame swap, the tried and true guys stay with original. i dont really want to stay original with the engine because its a 235 and my truck only came with a 216 and i wouldnt want to because i think the 216 ****s, so i was thinking i wanted to go with a v6 or 8 then i started looking at the suspension and its pretty clear that its had some work of some sort then i took it on the highway and it started maxin out at about 55 or 65 which is no good for me ( i like cruzin at 80) and there is no way i trust that front end to go any where near that fast with out ending up in a ditch, specially goin around curves that fast. i think a ifs would make the truck handle better. so its clear that i have to do something with the front end and drive train, the rearend definitley needs to go. most of the older trucks here are either original looking farm trucks or hot rods, there really is no in between, no real unfinished (ratrods) they are either complete or theyre really not driving. this is the reason i was thinking about doin the frame swap in the first place( it would take care of everything on the lower end) i am ***uming the reason people dont like to do them , is because lot of time there is alot of different things that have to be completed to make this a success find the fram, weld in new mounts for engine and trans, moving old part, putting in new parts, buying a engine and trans and knowing which combo you goin to go, setting ride heights and this is just the lower exterior that doesnt count interior, body, and paint. i can see that this takes alot of work and time to get everything squared away, and most of us want to just putt around town with it, but i dont really care about puttin around. i want to make sure that it drives nice and the engine is reliable so im not stuck anyway, especially if im out on the highway
The only reason I ever lost control speeding with a straight axle was worn seized dried out kingpins and the slow rate manual steering box. nothing wrong with having both tires on the same axle. The only thing actually gained by independent suspension is anti-dive and the ability for one wheel to get roughed up like striking a rock or a pothole without both wheels being affected. When you put a stiff sway bar on an independent front it acts like a beam axle other gains such as coil springs or torsion bars, power steering, disc brakes, are incidental to the ifs swap. they make for a better ride but do not have anything to do with the difference between a beam axle and ifs. A well set up and maintained beam axle has a consistency in it's action, a confident certainty to it's feel not as present in the ifs
My truck was clipped many moons ago, and I've clipped multiple other cars and trucks as well (prior to the large market for IFS front ends specifically designed for specific old vehicles)....in todays day and age and the LARGE supply of IFS front ends from different manufactures for the AD I will NEVER clip anything again....the clip to the frame is easy...the core support and making things look right and that the front clip is lined up properly is not. I recommend a MII front end and a triangulated 4 link rear on the original frame....good part is they make bolt on kits for this truck (I HIGHLY recommend welding them in though....) On a price comparison, while I've not actually put it on paper, just knowing what I know and all the stuff that nickle and dimed me to death I do not believe that you will be ahead by doing frame swaps of clipping in todays market. My humble experienced opinion.
I guess it depends how many feet you drove fast with a beam axle. Or how what sort of speed you call fast. may be you have never driven really fast around a corner? If your logic was correct all car makers and their designers would have stuck with beam axles from the 1930's until 2010. But they didn't did they?
Jag front cross member and a third gen Camaro rear on leafs and you done, get everything prepared and it's a weekends work with mates.
the easiet way to get a good ride is to use a mustang 2 type cross member ... I used a Heidt's cross member and a donor mustang 2 front end ... I used a manual rack and this set up is tough to beat on a 40 Ford ... Joe
In the AD Chevy Trucks I have had/built a little of everything. With the exception of the Dakota and Pacer. You will get many different views and opinions as each of us look at this in a different way. Some are looking to save money, some may already have the parts on hand and that makes the decision easier. But I think you said you wanted bags and wanted to be low. Then for me its the Mustang II. I have two trucks with Camaro sub frames. Both were in the rolling projects when I bought them. Truck 1 I put narrowed a-arms on but that only gets you 1" per side. But my other problem is I want to run 8" wheels on the front. Now with this one I did (My Avatar) but I had to use 5" backspacing which gives it a somewhat front wheel drive look. In addition I recomend that you use Shockwaves with this setup if you want any turning radius. Bags with shocks limit you severly. Truck 2 with the Camaro sub-frame is not as much a problem as it had about 4-5" cut out of the crossmember. Standard bags and 15x8 with 4" backspacing and a wonderful ride. Some people have no problem with running wheels 5" wide and 3" backspacing to get around sub-frame issues, just not the look I want. In addition when you get away from the original frame or wack the front section to do a sub-frame you open up many other issues. Not the least of which is getting the front end hung properly. But in all of the new builds I am doing (3 at the moment) I have put Mustang II's in all with standard bags. Hopefully this will help.
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