I'm working on the rear suspension for my 54 (3100) Chevy truck and need to lower the rear end. I've already lowered the front with 2 1/2" drop spindles and like where it sits. It currently has 8 leaves in each leaf pack. My intent is to build a safe daily driver that I can be proud to ride down the road with my wife in or toss the keys to friend and not worry about there being 'safety' issues. I've been told that I can just have some of the leaves removed, have them re-arched and add lowering blocks if needed to get the rake that I want. However, my concern is that I've heard that since I no longer have a torque tube rear end I run the chance of having axle wrap . (mind you it's a pretty stock 350/350 combo in the truck with an engine I pulled from a van so at best it has a rv cam). If that's an issue then I'd rather spend the money and get a multi-leaf conversion kit like this one from cpp http://www.cl***icperform.com/Store/...ks/4754RLK.htm Or is it possible to swap out my rear hanger and run 2 1/2 springs that I pick up from a local pick and pull? It still sits on the original frame (in the rear at least 75 Nove front sub frame). So not sure if this is possible with minimum fab skills or an idea that just looks easier than it actually is. yes I know that I can 4-link it instead but I'm building a daily driver and don't plan to run air in the back. (plans to hopefully add bags to the front next year) I'm also open to ideas to hear how others would tackle the rear suspension. J'ai pic is of where the front currently sits, just a lil bit over the tire.<!-- google_ad_section_end -->
I took the rear axle and complete coil suspensoin from a '69 chevy truck including truck arms and front crossmeber and put in my '54 axle is perfect width and 6 lug. rides 3 billion% better.
I have a '54 and I chose to use leaf springs, front brackets and rear shackles from a 2WD S-10. With very little effort the front brackeys will bolt to the stock '54 frame. On the rear shackles, the S-10 has a metal tube through the frame rail for a rubber/metal bushing. I boxed my rear frame rail and installed a tube in like manner that would accommodate the stock S-10 bushing. The front spring eye bracket is much closer to the frame rail than original, the rear shackle is too, the S-10 spring has a bit less arch.......the combination of these components lowered the back of the truck several inches and still had adequate axle to frame clearance for normal suspension travel. I also added a square tube crossmember, just above/behind the axle and fabricated brackets for it to use the S-10 shocks. I found both 3 leaf and 4 leaf springs under S-10's..........I opted for 3 leaf.......4 would work too. The hardest part of this is removing the front spring eye brackets from the S-10 frame as they are riveted on. Helps to have a "smoke wrench" or a drill and air chisel to remove those pesky rivets. Ray
I just installed the tci 2.5" leaf kit. I am impressed with it after installing. It claims 3" drop over stock. I added 3" blocks to get me down lower. My truck is not on the road yet so cant comment on the ride.
just another note... The 54 frame has less kick up than the 47-53 frames over the rear axle. You may need a notch if you want to get moderately low.
is it because mine was a 3/4 ton that the stock spring was on top the axle?? I flipped it below as shown with 2 inch block and got a 8 inch drop on my 54 gmc
Anyone know how the 48 1-ton frame compares? I like the looks of that TCI kit but it's not clear if it will fit the 1-ton frame.
That TCI kit is nice looking and seems easy to install. Very similar to my home brew S-10 described above but with less labor as the kit is an easy bolt on and doesn't require a junkyard crawl to get the parts off the donor. Ray
I used Posies 3" dropped springs on my '51 with the axle on top of the spring pack...3" dropped axle in front with mono leafs. No lowering blocks as I like a little rake to my truck rather than having it slammed down level front an rear... Picture in my album of you want to see the stance... (I don't know how post pictures from there to here)
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