72 Cheyenne Super Suspension

[Dad's72]

Hello y'all. I am planning on Santa Clause bringing me an ECE 4/6 drop. While swapping I plan on scraping the frame and painting black since the engine and transmission are out. I plan on using my stock control arms and new bushings and ball joints.
My question for y'all is do y'all have a list of parts to swap the rest of the suspension parts? Or know of a good complete kit to order? Or should I just try to clean up and reuse the old parts? I want to avoid putting new break lines, rotars, drop kit and leaving ugly worn out parts next to them. All help is appreciated.

[engineer_gregh]

I would replace the trailering arm bushings, add an adjustable track bar, and it would be a good time to balance the drive shaft, replace the carrier bearing and U joints. Just my .02 cents. Please post pictures of before and after.

[Dad's72]

Good ideas. I was mainly focusing on the front end but I did plan on replacing the bushings in the trailing arms. The carrier bearings boot was pretty torn up so I will replace that. I never thought of the u-joints and for sure never thought about balancing the drive shaft. I'll be honest, I have never even heard of that before. It makes sense now that I read that because it had little weights on it like the sticky weights used to balance a rim on the inside. So to make a list:
Upper and lower control arms bushings
upper and lower control arms ball joints
new dog bones to connect control arms (that is what I always heard them called)
right and left inner and outer tie rod ends
pitman arms for both sides
the lowering kit will come with spindles, springs, shocks, shock relocators, sway bar and bushings
track bar bushings
carrier bearings
spring caps
u-joints
And then my 44 year old truck will handle like a 2016 Corvette!
Did I miss anything?

[67 chevelle]

Add front and rear sway bars , or bushings if they are there already , my 67 did not have either ,and a 78 c10 steering box , then yes your truck will be pretty close to corvette handling , except for braking . These trucks really handle well , its why nascar is still using their rear suspension .

[Dad's72]

Originally Posted by 67 chevelle

Add front and rear sway bars , or bushings if they are there already , my 67 did not have either ,and a 78 c10 steering box , then yes your truck will be pretty close to corvette handling , except for braking . These trucks really handle well , its why nascar is still using their rear suspension .

That is pretty cool. I didn't know that. I cannot afford to do any paint or body work but it will have freshly sealed up 350 with 20K miles on it and a fresh rebuilt TH350, all new breaks and suspension. I plan on clearing over the patina and having fun with it for a while. My goal is a good running truck that is safe to drive and reliable. Pretty much all the breaks, suspension, cooling systems, engine, and transmission will be new in the next several month.

Question: What is a pan hard bar?

[Dad's72]

Seems like everyone uses the ECE 4/6 drop. I was looking at the CPP drop kits but it seems like they only go to 3/5 drop. I emailed them to see if they would do a 2/6 so that I could get a 2" drop spindle and then accomplish the 4/6 I want. They seem to have a more complete kit than ECE. I also found a complete front suspension kit from A-Resto Parts for $199. Just wanting to get the best bang for my buck.
I guess I need to crawl back under the truck to see the condition all these parts are in. They are pretty covered in a "protective rust inhibiting" grease and the undercoating my dad has sprayed under there.
What do y'all think? Have any of y'all pulled everything off and cleaned them up and painted them to look and perform as new? Or would it be better to just replace and start new?

[jocko]

FWIW, ECE had better service, important if you run into any issues.

[Dad's72]

Anyone out there enter took all their suspension parts off and cleaned them up and reinstalled? Just wanting insight on if the process is worth it or not to save $200.
It's always been a texas truck never seeing any salty roads.

[GASoline71]

I recently transferred everything from a 1972 frame over to a 1969 frame. I cleaned up the upper and lower control arms and painted them. I installed new ball joints and reused my 1972 spindles as well. I put new control arm shafts in them from Moog and new Moog inner and outer tie rod ends as well. I used the 1972 front sway bar and installed new urethane bushings with it. The 1969 frame had no front sway bar, so I had to reuse the front sway bar mounts from the 1972 frame as well. I swapped all the 1972 steering components as well.

I installed a CPP 2/4 drop kit with new shocks as well. I installed Stainless Steel brake lines as well. Since the 1969 was not a front disc truck and the 1972 stuff I swapped is. I had to get creative when installing the lines as well.

Check my build thread (Rebuild of Creeping Death thread in my signature line) for more details on all that I did during the front end swap.

Gary

[Dad's72]

Awesome. It may not be smart but I guess I'll start by taking everything off and seeing what will be reusable. I know its all intact as it has never been wrecked. Just been sitting in a drive way it's while life. It will be more work butt I'll probably get away with just having to buy new ball joints and bushings for everything.

[Dad's72]

Weird, I got an email back from CCP and they told me they don't carry a 4\6 drop because it's too radical. They went on to tell me that the geometry is not good if you use a 2" drop spindle and 2" lowering spring to get a 4" drop. I guess ECE it is. I originally emailed them to ask if they would make another package other that what they offer stock.

[GASoline71]

Any of the CPP stuff I order it through Summit Racing. Most of it is more than 99 bucks so it qualifies for free shipping. Plus you don't have to deal with CPP too much with their crappy customer service.

Gary

[67 chevelle]

I did a 3-5 cpp drop on my 68 c10 , front shocks both leaked tons of oil out in 2 weeks , were shot sitting in garage . ece would be my choice

[special-K]

ECE isn't the cheapest. But, they are the best. With 6" lower in the rear you'll want a Super Track bar and shock relocation brackets