1956 F100 economical front suspension?

I may buy a 1956 F100 for my upcoming winter project.I am going for the tubbed rear ford 9 inch and some Reasonable chevy BB.
I do all my own work-Everything including welding and have most of the tools, and a home personal work shop

My main concern is the front suspension, steering, and brakes. Everyone changes the front suspension and steering with a mustang II or something else.. I assume this is because the front suspension and steeringon a stock ford f100 1956 is inferior??/

I am on a budget so a new IFS is out of the question
What front suspension could i get from the bone yard (front clip) would work well?
SHould I Substitute the whole frame with like an S10 frame?


Thanks for any comments

 

Volare? Jag?

 

I put a '53 on an S-10 chassis. The '56 isn't much different. That is not a traditional route and not what this board is about.

The volare fron end has been a popular swap for quite awhile as well as (ugh) a Pacer front end. Neither of them is a traditional solution either but they are options.

The reason that you see so many M-IIs is that you can buy a kit. real street roddy.

There is absolutely nothong wrong with the original front suspension. it can be lowered or raised at will.

it seems that you are already intent on not building something traditional out of it so the M-II is as good as any.

 

Leave it?

Down and forward springs, sway bar, disc brake upgrade, add power hydraulic ram assist.

Done.

 

GREAT--Upgrade to disk brakes and rebiuld the existing front suspension-add power brakes.
Is the original suspension relatively easy to drop??

This truck will be more show than go and i dont intend on racing it, Just criusing around in something that is driveable, realible, and on Pump gas Mild BB Ford or Chevy .Test my skills with a Hok Cobalt Blue and ghost flames lowered and tubbed (Winter fun)

 

73 Camaro sub-frame under mine. I see them on craigslist in CA for under $500 all the time.

 

If you use a Chrysler Cordoba front suspension you'll have torsion bars parallel to the frame, a Volare has the torsion bars perpendicular and looks kinda bulky. I have a Cordoba unit in my '51 F1 and its pretty clean & simple. Quite a few companies have kits with the crossmember etc.

 

Yea, you can get 3 1/2" drop from springs, 3 or so from dropped axle, power steering (Toyota 4X4 seems to be the hot setup right now), disc brakes. But to do all of that is a long ways from cheap. I can see $1000.00 to $1500.00 there real easy, probably more.
Larry T

 

All the heavy ugly clips suggested....why? What is wrong with whats in there? You say it will be a pro street with big tires and narrowed 9", it won't be a road carver. How about a dropped tube axle to save som weight over the i-beam with some discs and a vega cross steer box. Most of this can be have fairly cheap, i see good used boxes as well as tube axles for sale all the time. This set up has way less parts/pivots and is much lighter, simpler and an easyier to install....jmo

 

Camaro or firebird from the mid seventies is what I used, easy to find at the time. They are still fairly common with a bit of effort. The center lines of the chassis (sub frame) are the same. I used the entire assembly and cut the truck chassis just a foot or so in front of the fire wall. Some builders cut the sub frame and splice the two chassis together. I found that by cutting the f-100 chassis to fit the rise in the sub frame I was able to roll the entire unit into place. Some fab work to fit the front sheet metal wiil then be needed. I also used a firebird steering column.
Also upon the advice of a friend I moved the wheels one inch ahead of the stock position to give a better centered look. As a project this was really not a difficult job. There are many other options that guys on here have used. If you do a search on here you will find this has been discussed quite a bit. Concerning the stock suspension, I drove a 56 f-100 for many years with the stock set up. One king pin rebuild and it was
good to go. These can be lowered with dropped axles and or reversed eye springs. These were bult by Ford for work and are very rugged and
reliable. Disk brake swaps are pretty easy. With a budget in mind, the stock brakes properly rebuilt work vey well.

 

If you have plenty of fabrication skill and limited budget, you might consider this.

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=531700&highlight=lsr+pickup

 

Bigalow1, majority of the salvage yard options have been mentioned. Jag, Volare, Firebird/Camaro, and Pacer. I used a 87' Ford Crown Victoria on mine and will do the same on my 56'.

Larry T makes a good point. You are going to be somewhere between 1K and $1500 to do the OE upgrades. I guess IMHO I think you need to consider your use. If it is gonna be a show truck driven no further than say 50-75 miles in distance the OE stuff will be wonderful. I would just be apprehensive about going much further away from home than that with OE stuff. Now I realize the board is OE focused so I wont go on and on. Just consider your primary use and get a catalog from a few of the F100 vendors. PM me if I can help further and keep us posted on the build. Welcome to F100's.

My Front END



My Truck

 

GREAT thread Animalain!! I love to go in the garage at night, close the door, put on some old school rock, and fabricate.
Looks like this will be a fun and affordable project from the posts
Can do it without all the fancy

thanks guy's

 

Volare front suspensions work good, Fit pretty good with minimal modifications to the Ford frame. Also you can still score them at the boneyards.

 

I have a MOPAR torsion bar under my '56... it's an old Gibbon unit. They are still available if you can get a hold of Dwight in Gibbon, NE... his brother still makes 'em. Cheap and easy...

 

Come to think of it, I lowered the the '56 F100 that is my avatar with reversed eye springs and 60 series tires, replaced the king pins and rebuilt the stock brakes. It drove just fine and made two trips coast to coast with no problems so long drives are not a problem.

 

I agree I drove mine thousands of miles with no problems whatever.

 

2nd gen Camaro is too easy and a BBC fits right in.

 

A friend just installed the front susp. from a newer Crown Vic. Appears to be a srtaight forward install. I think 02 and up Crown Vvics would work best. They have an aluminum crossmember that bolts in. Just another idea...

 

Just to be different I used something a little newer that I read about on the Ford Truck site. I installed the front cross member from an Aerostar mini van, (1992-97 or so), and it was a fairly easy retrofit.
Cross member is very cheap, (bought one at a yard for $100 complete with steering rack), and the tie rods and other parts are easy to get and reasonable in price , if needed.
You don't need to cut you stock frame on the F100, just cut slots in the aerostar cross member where the frame will sit. Weld it to the bottom of the frame, put some filler plates in the 2 inch gap between the spring tower and f100 frame and the lower part is done. The bit tricker part is welding a plate to the top of the frame for the upper control arm mount, takes a bit of measuring a few times to get it lined up right.
The last bit which is fairly straight forward is cutting a slot in the cross member behind the steering knuckle and rotating the steering rack back towards the firewall to give better access to your steering column.
Very little cost involved, mostly some fabrication time.
Lowers the front end about 4 inches with a 1 inch cut in your coils.
Works great on my 1956 M100 and handles nice with the rack and pinion.
I have a 302/c4 combo, so it may be quite different with a BBC and the added weight.

.

 

I am going small block. BBC are expensive plus weight and size


I like your idea. i should be able to find an aerostar van. Is there a thread or an article I could referance. The 4 inch drop is excellent

 

Wow Crown vic is a good idea.. Lots of Crown vics plus the motor and trans possibillity. Easy to build engines and overdrive trans?
I want to drop it and mini tub it but i ultamitaly want an easy driver for a change.
Get in and drive it. With air maybe- to a car show or cross country without towing a gas station behind me-LOL

 

you are using the crown vic motor and trans right?/
Steering box, power brakes, the whole shootin match??
Does the front clip lmatch up width wise well and is it pretty easy to line up and weld?

 

Mustang II's are too weak.. Chrysler products are a pain in the ass, this spindle that callipar this torsion bar, then the steering box is in the way. Jag's are a heavy car too start with. The only fab is upper shock mounts & 4 bolts to mount the cross member to your stock frame.

 

You don't weld in the Vic clip, it is an assembly on a large aluminum crossmember. 4 bolts hold it in.

 

With the Vic set-up you only are working with the cross member. You do not have to cut the frame rails and weld-in a new front clip???

 

just to clarify it's a 2003 & up vic that has the bolt in aluminum cross member, been thinking of doing a sub swap on my 49 Hudson,i'll see if i can find the link to the ford truck site,
P.S with the above mentioned swap you have to use 17 & bigger wheels or the calibers will hit the rims,

 

I checked with the bone yard and I can get a complete crossmember for $350 bucks!!
The stock frame will be intact so I Think I can still use an engine adapter kit from D-Adapt for what ever engine combo I want ( going SB carburated??????? Correct???
I would like to go with a chevy 383 or 400 and overdrive trans- Chevies are cheaper than ford motors and easy to put in a torqer cam in and soop-up a little bit.
Don't want to mess with a Ford 5.4 liter EFI Computer controlled engine and trans

 

You don't want the 03 and up crown vic sub. It is 67 inches wide from wheel mounting to wheel mounting. I would suggest a g-body front clip. 58.5 inches wide mounting to mounting. Measure your 56 I'll bet it is way less than 67 inches wide.

 

79-02 Fomoco front IFS clip. I have heard that 03-and up with the wide is wide and limits wheel options. I have seen one in person so I cant say with 100% accuracy that it is true. Possibly the Stock front end maybe the safest and best way to go for your situation