i've been lurking here on these forums for a while...never posted untill now, i've found the truck i want to buy(and found it locally) i've used the search but still haven't come up with an answer to the question i want answered. how low can i get an apache to go with bolt-ons, i would really like the truck to sit LOW......slammed, tucking tire all around. what do need? any suggestions would be helpful. the only thing holding me back from buying this truck is the vision of it in my head i just want to make sure it's possible and not going to involve a bunch of custom fabrication. if anyone has pics i'd love'em,thanks
You should try and post an intro in the top section or else you'll get pounced on. as for the truck there are a shitload of ways to slam it, i'm not really fimilar with those suspensions, if it has coils you could always cut them, and leafs can be block/remvoved those methods could bring it down 3-5in depending on a lot of factors.
My dad has a 58, and with the 4-wheel multi-leafs, it's kind of hard. He took it to a spring shop and they dearced the springs 5 1/2" in the back, and 2" in front. Sits level. It is still a little high for my tastes, but without putting on a new front clip, or some serious cutting and z'ing... I have heard of a drop axle for the front, but don't know much about it. Good luck, Erron Oh yeah, do an intro!
sorry...i just did my intro. ratwagon-the truck's got the 4-wheel multi leafs and i'm thinking that even with dearching the leafs that it will not be what i want. i've seen a couple of pics on here with them layyyyyyed out that's what i'm trying to do. thanks for the help so far.....
hi, welcome! To get the back to sit down really low you need to cut the frame and bed to let the axle sit up much higher than it does now. To get the front down really low you would need an axle that's dropped so far it would drag on the ground (do you know what "scrub line" is?) You can't get what you want without serious work.
I'm running CCP mono springs and it dropped mine 4 inches in the front and about 3 1/2 in the rear. It rides and drives great, and just this weekend I pulled home a new 14 ft. RV trailer without hardly pushing the rear down at all. (about 1800lbs.) I do have 100lb rated overload shocks on the back. Now combine this with the 3 inch drop axle and rear end flip kit from CCP and you will be very low! Roughly the front fender between the tire and the door will be about 3 inches off the asphalt. Here is a side shot of mine with the trailer hooked up:
just curious... how many inches is the rocker panel from the ground? how much room is there above the axle to the frame, and to the bed? how high is it from the bottom of the front rims to the bottom of the front axle?
terry- you think i could get anonther 3 inches lower than yours in the front with a dropped axle? i think i could live with that ride height...untill i figure out a way to bag it.
I've got a '58. Yeah leaves all around. We all know the rear isn't an issue. "C" notch, flip the axle on top of a mono leaf, or thin'd spring pack. The front is another story..... I never solved it. I front clipped mine with a '71 Camaro 10 years ago. Mine sits low enough I hit the crossmember a fair bit, and I'm not bagged. Though bags are on my list for the next round of updates as its getting dated now. If I were to do it again. I would Mustang II it with Fatmans or someones with the bags set up already. Now I'm looking for a stock frame to modify to go that route.
Heres a 57 down low. C'd frame in the rear, Volare clip up front. a fairly easy conversion...... Its pretty adjustable
Squirrel - From the rocker to the ground = 8 inches Rear axle to frame = 1 1/2 inches off the rubber bumper Front rims to axle - 2 inches Big Rig - Thats what the sales rep from Classic Performance Products tells me. InDaShop - What about the front couldn't you figure out?
Bigrig, Not to change the subject on your post, but I just noticed your from Miami. A couple of weeks ago I was reading a mag at the doctors office. For the life of me I can't think what it was. But it was interviewing some cats from your town about the latest car craze. I think they called em High Riders? Showed some 70s and 80s Caddys, Monte Carlos and even a LTD all jacked up like a 4 wheeler and then riding around on 24 and 26 ibch rims! It was the craziest thing I ever saw! Are they down there or just a story blown out of proportion by the midea on a slow news day?
I think it would take a lowered set of spindles to get the front down much more than shown in the pic. You need to keep rreasonable travel in the suspension. I know a lot of guys will have only about 1 1/2 in of suspension travel, but I wont do that. Seems stupid to me to sacrifice reasonable comfort for looks. But then I'm an older guy with a bad back..... Then there are the problems of tire interference with the front fenders on turning You have to bubble the fenders or reverse the rims and this can cause steering geometry problems. I guess what I'm saying is it could be done, but at what cost.? Its kinda like when you chop and channel a car so much that you are sitting on a 1/2 inch piece of wadding on the floor. The car looks awesome, but try going 300 miles in it. Thats prolly not a popular opinion here, but you can have both looks and comfort if you exercise a little restraint.
thanks! sounds like there isn't much more room to drop it, could go with a 2" drop axle, maybe 3" that would look like it's draggin on the ground, but out back needs a C to get any more travel. But it does sit nice as is! there's a few down here too, must be a cultural thing?
Welcome, bigrig! I don't know how this was lowered, but if it shows up at the "Pile Up" again next week, I'll find out. This was the "it" ride last year, or so I thought! I hope this helps. Joel
I've got a 58 apache myself and I'm planing on doing the same as Terry. I'm going with mono leaf front and back and leave it at that. I hope some one talks you out of dropping it so low that it has drivability problems. These cars we love are meant to be driven.
Lucky Stike got it right. For bolt on lowering you can get a dropped axle and mono leafs in da front and blocks in da rear. Only I heard those mono's have a tendency to snap. I work with a guy whose run his 57 like that for years. Looks good too, but he says once he retires he's puttin' on an IFS.
......i think they call 'em DUNKS around here, you truly have to see one to beleive it! i kinda think of it a the re-birth of the monster truck- the wheels on them are SO big they are cutting of sections of ft/rr panel to make them fit even after lifting them 8" to 10"!!! i think they're some of the funniest things i've seen in a while!!!! peter pan of chicago- that's the drop i'm looking for! that truck is really,really nice, thanks for the pic and let me know if you find out anymore about it.
I scan a pic of mine a post up tomorrow. At work today. Mine sits about the same height as the Teal & White fleetside thats posted up but with ugly dated billets. Yeah Dunks are cool if you ask me. Its like the brotha's are going back to the gasser days!!!!
To be on topic. Here are a couple I saw at goodguys Jacksonville. And I guess you call it a Dunk. I couldn't help risking getting shot to photo this one after the show. I wasn't sure I was seeing things right. Sorry I just had to share. I think the green truck has a clip on the front and the tan one is leafs. I'm not sure if they just put the front axle on top of the leafs. I need to start taking more pics. That's what I was going to do on my '59. You can always have new springs made for what ride height you want.
onefish So that's what you call em' DUNKs, I have seen a couple of these in Houston and just thought the builder was High at the time...UGLY in my book, but hey that's just me...I like burnt toast. BTW I like the stance of the Tan truck much better. I'm not sure why, but for me there is such a thing as too low, and I favor a tail up nose down stance...just like my Charger in High School had.
Okay, lets say I want to flip the rear axle. How deep can you C-notch the frame before you need to add on to the top and get into raising the floor of the bed? Getting ready to put a 77 P/U front clip under a 58 and he wants to flip the rear while we are at it. I'm comfortable with an inch as long as we box the rails How deep a notch can you cut?
Thanks For that info. Looking forward to this one. The fun part is...he waited until the truck was almost back together to do this. Now we get to take the sheetmetal off (Without scratching the new paint).
As per your other thread, I'd try to find a camaro front end. The 77 truck is going to be too wide. Anywho onto the rear. If you box it thick you could go up to about an 1.5 inches left on the frame. then go with an energy suspensions snubber bump stop. The little almost flat disks. I'd still recommend taking a piece of 2x2 tubing and welding the ends shut and stitch welding it on top of the frame. You'll have to relief cut that center bed support on the ends so the bed with bolt back on. But there is enough room that you don't have to cut into the bed floor, or router out the bed boards. At least thats how my '58 measured up.
I dig that truck, it's my computer desktop picture. But I never could figure how they tucked those big rims and didn't have a clearance problem.
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