I recently picked up this 57 Chevy Apache which has already had someone swap in a front end from something, I'm just not sure what... I found the truck looking for parts for my 59... The guy took it as partial trade at a little used car lot..... He said this was the condition it was in, but had also said he put some work into it... Either way, he said he didn't do the swap, and did not know what it was from... I'm guessing they took it with motor/trans, pulled them, and he was going to do some body work, but realized it was more than he wanted to do... Anyway... back to the question... Anyone recognize this front end? Coil Sprung, A-Arms - power steering on outside of frame rail like a C-10 possibly??? Truck was to complete to part out... I want to re-do the front end and build it... Truck sits a little higher than stock, if not several inches... hard to say with no motor/trans... I am keeping the 59 somewhat original, with only slight modifications for stance and such... This one i'd like to go a little crazy with... But its gonna need to be WAY lower than that....
looks like 73-87 1/2 ton chebbie. for what it costs to lower one, you could do your own frame swap for a g-body and be much lower to start, then get real far down with spindles and springs. since super low is the goal. my jag front end is 5" at the most, below the frame rail.
Later model Chevy/GMC pickup. From the motor mounts I'd say 73/87 One would have to know how well the cab, nose and bed were fitted to the chassis to offer any further suggestions but any trick for lowering a 73/87 C-10 Works there and you can get those pretty low. Dropped spindles, lowering springs and lower profile tires will bring it down in the dirt. when you put the engine in it it will drop a couple of inches. A few years ago there was a tech article in a truck magazine that showed putting a notch in the crossmember to drop the frame about 1-1/2 inches into the crossmember. You also had to raise the upper control arms that 1-1/2 inches. The square body boys over on http://67-72chevytrucks.com/ have plenty of info on lowering that chassis.
Pull a wheel, measure a brake disc, or front wheel bearing and cross refrence it. Take the pads to an auto parts store and match them up with a new set. Looks GM to me too.
WOW... you guy's work fast. Brewster55 - Thanks for the link, I bookmarked it, as I had not yet come across that one. And never realized the frame length difference in 55.5-57 and 58-59 Apache trucks... I own this 57 and a 59 also... The 59 is a 3200 LB so its hard to compare, but still.... I'm going to pull a wheel and compare some parts to the 73-87 trucks and make sure that I can find some matching parts... I took a bunch more pics, and for some reason, they just aren't showing up... But the welds, while they look ok, the way they boxed it in just looks plane sloppy... So at bare minimum, its going to get some re-welding done... But If i'm understanding everything correctly, for the cost of lowering a 73-87 front end, I'm probably better off with another front end.. especially since I never trust another guy's work when he never finished it to start with. Thanks guy's
the 73-87 front end is a bit wide for the 50s trucks. It's definitely one of those front ends, though. 58-59 frames are indeed a couple inches longer at the very front. Something about how they have a valence panel behind the bumper...and the fenders are a different shape. The later truck frames go up and pinch in at the front, the 55-59 frames are mostly flat and straight. That and the narrower track width on the old ones is why the later truck front ends are not a very good swap.
The front wheels are WAY forward on this thing as it sits.... Kinda looks crazy, I'm sure with a motor/trans it would squat some, but i don't think it would squat enough to make up for the overly forward front wheels... It looks as if you can buy 3" or so drop kits for $300-500... It sits a little nose high right now, so i'm assuming with motor/trans it would sit about standard ride height seeing as the rear is about stock height, and I imagine it sitting level with weight... I guess i'll just have to do some looking around... If i can snag a good front end to replace it with that will bring me down lower for a solid price, I would probably grab it... At the same time, If 3" will satisfy the desire, then I'm sure I would end up cheaper just addressing my concerns with welding and such... All things i can clean up for the cost of running my welder vs having to start from less than scratch... Anyone know of a Apache with a 73-87 C10 front end with lowering kit on it? for reference?
before you get too far along, measure how wide the front tires are, outside to outside. Then measure how wide the fenders are, inside to inside. Will the tires clear the fenders, if you lower it?
I have a 54 AD on C10 chassis that I just lowered 5 inches in the front with spindles and springs. I can tell you that with a factory offset wheel in the front you wont clear the fenders. On my setup Im going to run a 15x5 with 3 inch backspacking on the front to clear the fenders.
Took another look at it today..... It was POORING rain yesterday and shop is about 100yds behind the house. lol It look as if with a properly selected wheel, I should be ok... I still don't like the way the front wheels sit so far forward, but need to do some measuring to make sure it has room to be moved back and not put the motor/trans in a bad spot.
The Jalopy Journal
