lowering 53 Chevy 3100 ????

one of my regulars has asked us to lower his 53 chevy pickup. it already has 2.5" lowered springs up front.

i'm thinking of going with a set of 5" lowered springs out back... pretty straight forward.

it looks like a 4"dropped axle is in the future for this little piggie, so what else am i going to need to do to make sure everything i groovy and nothing bangs or bumps?

thanks in advance.

 

nobuddy?

 

Different rear springs and or lowering blocks ,yes. The front can use a dropped axle from Sid here on the Hamb.His website explains all the details, http://www.droppedaxles.com/

 

Here's my '54 with a dropped axle front and c-notch and aribagged rear. The setup you're describing should work up front, but the rear may not have enough clearance between the axle and the frame being lowered 5". You may have to c-notch it.

 

I used one of Sids 4" drop axles, and removed a couple leaves up front...and a 6"drop reverse eye monoleaf out back plus 3" lowering blocks.

 

thanks guys...
am i going to need to get into lowered steering arms or flipped tie rods or anything like that??

 

with a dropped axle you will need to make a new tie rod.

 

You'll need to flip the tie rod so it runs under the springs, you can use the newer style tie rod ends available from Chev's of the 40's and other vendors. You may have to heat and bend the steering arms as well. To avoid bump-steer, make sure the drag link is parallel with the frame, if it angles up or down you'll get bump-steer. I bent the steering arm down a little where the drag link connects, and shortened my pitman arm an inch or so. I also raised my steering box 1 1/2" by making a bracket out of 1/4" plate, and moved the steering box forward a little to give me more room in the cab (and shortened the drag link accordingly).

Talk to Sid, he knows his stuff.

 

A '55-'59 Chev 3100 pitman arm is quite a bit shorter & will help with the bump steer. Drag link will need work.

 

Z the frame or c-notch the rear dont go to big with lowering rear leafs articulation could be a problem try drop blocks and little bit on lowering springs. Or just do a dynamic drop instead of a static drop.

 

Here is my tech article that might help answer some questions http://droppedaxles.com/TECH_ARTICLES.html#TXTOBJ7D9416E352E1C51

 

You can get everything you need from Sid. I removed 2 leafs from the front and installed a 4" dropped axle/steering arms from sid. In the rear I also removed 2 leafs and installed 4" lowering blocks.

I actually took care of this in a couple of weekends