Lowering My 1959 Chevrolet Apache - with Pictures!

We started at 8AM with a stock height Pickup.



Over the last week I hit the u-bolts and springs a couple of times with WD40. It was still a pain getting the u-bolts loose.

We did pre-measure... the ground to the lip of the fender opening was 30.75". The rear was 28.25".




Up on jack stands in the front, and the wheels off.

We dis***embled the drivers side front and removed leaf 2 and 3.


In order to space up the u-bolts so that the threads would not bottom out, Mario took a removed cut leaf springs and cut into a spacer to place at the top of the spring. We used one of these spacers on every corner.




The front was all ****oned up, I took it for a quick spin to settle the suspension and then I backed it in so we could start on the back.



There was 1 homemade u-bolt in the rear, drivers side.. real strange. That corner also had a 1/2" lifting block.




In the rear we removed leafs 3 and 4 (oh, we are counting from the bottom, BTW).

I had the camera set to blur:


We bolted it all back together, without the lifting block.
The front end was low on the drivers side. The pickup must have spent much of it's life lugging a big boy around.

The front, drivers side was taken back apart and we placed that lifting block into the pack.

It's level... and I'm too damn happy!





- Joe

 

I'll re-take the measurements in a day or 2... I'm betting it will settle down a little more.

- Joe

 

Niiiice! I love it. How's the truck ride/handle now?

 

The ride is softer now. It was really stiff before. I removed the bumpstops in the front, and it does "ping" off the frame when I offroad it.

- Joe

 

How much did it actually drop the truck? By the way, it looks great!

 

I like the truck, I say keep dropping it, but thats just me...

 

Nice! Looks like the spare could be lowered about 2" as well.

 

Looks Great!

 

I'll bet it rides way nicer too

 

This cost nothing but time... and I'm tapped!

Ha!

I'll re-measure after I drive it to work tomorrow.

Yes, it did seem to soften the ride. I'll have to pop for shocks soon, but I'm pretty happy with the ride now.

- Joe

 

Cool.

 

That is AWESOME..... Very nice subtle job. I love it.. I put the bed back on mine tonight and was shocked at how low it sat... I'm happy to!

All the best,

Robert M.

 

Seriously, I tend to agree. Look at the photos you posted and imagine moving the spare down and back to tighten the gap between it and the fender. Judging from your lowering job I'm sure you know that the subtle details make all the difference.

 

I did mine that way a few years back... it actually improved the ride a lot...

 

Hey Zman - did you notch your frame? If not, are you still running the bumpstops in the front?

thanks!
- Joe

 

I made a horrible mistake... I sold the truck.

But I had trimmed the front stops and it would hit them occasionaly. I didn't notch it. I had planned at some point flipping the rear and notching and doing a drop axle and discs up front. But never got there. And the best thing I did was put a caprice rear and a saginaw 4 speed in it. Then it was nice on the highway and around town.

 

Oh, man - YOU SOLD THAT!?

Thanks for the info on the 'stops. I'll be installing seatbelts and re-installing the bumpstops tonight.

- Joe

 

your truck looks good man. Now you will want to drop it lower as time goes by. I just traded my 54 Chevy car for this 59 Apache. Here is a pick of what it looks with a drop axel.

 

Yeah, I screwed the pooch on that... I'd still be driving it everyday if I hadn't. I really need to finish my International so I quit missing it so much.

 

Thanks! I have saved a few pix of your pickup - It has a perfect stance.
I decided to keep my '52 Sedan and add the '59 to my "collection" - the late model was the one to go for me!

- Joe

 

Looks great Joe!

 

thanks Scott.

 

How big of a drop axle did you put in yours? 3 or 4 inch? Your stance looks *****'n

 

I'll not only second that, but throw out a quick photochop of it!

 

The truck had the 4 inch istalled from what I was told. The only bad thing is the shimmy you get when you hit bumps. you think the tire is getting ready to fall off the truck. Maybe its the tires.
Oh well, like they say "that is the price you pay for going low" and you can never be tooooo low.

 

I was going to go with a 4 inch drop axle but really didn't want to be messing with the scrub line, so I went ahead and got the 3inch from sid for my 59 Chevy and took 2 leafs out from the front. Havent taken it off jack stands yet but hopping It dropped it a good amount...Sorry SanDiegoJOE didn't mean to hijack your thread. Your truck looks *****'n with its new stance. And the seat is way cool. Been following this build for a while, keep up the good work and keep sending out pictures. Oh did you get the final measurments of how much of a drop you got?

 

Wow - that really does make a difference! I'll have to mess with the mount.

No final measurements. We had to mess with the drivers side front lastnight. The leafs in that corner are really shot.

We ended up putting 1 leaf back in and removing the lifting block. Now the pickup is almost level, but the spring rate is higher on that side. If I have a p***enger, the right side sits lower.

Mono leafs!? It's only money, right? The other option is to find a p***enger side leaf pack and install it on the drivers side on my pickup.

The good news is that the suspension does not smack the frame now.

- Joe

 

29.25" Front
26.5" Rear...


It was originally 30.75" front, the rear was 28.25"

It doesn't seem like a big change, but the overall appearance change is pretty big.

- Joe

 

Joe, the stance looks great.

 

Looks Awesome! Great thread. Can't wait to lower my 57! Thanks alot!