relocating leafs inside frame rails

[454HO]

Anyone got details on how to do this? I assume one could just box the frame and move the mounts, although that does not appear to be the way this truck was done...

Pic coutesy of eBay ad.


And to be fair to the owner, here is the topside.


Would be nice to see some step-by-steps if anyone here has actually done this mod. Looks like the cheap way to get that Pro-Street look.

[K Dubb]

looks like to me tha axle was shortend am i wrong?

[67Fleet]

Looks like it. Appears to have some pretty deep-dished rear wheels. Maybe running a narrowed Ford 9-in rear or Currie?

[OJOE]

i have thought about this a lot. i think all you would need to do is box the frame and move the spring mounts to inside. all you would need to do is put left mounts on right and right mounts on left and relocate the shocks

[lolife99]

This is pretty easy actually. All this involves is swapping the right frame rail leaf spring brackets to the "inside" of the "left" frame rail,... and then swap the left frame rail leaf spring brackets to the "inside" of the "right" frame rail. (grind off the factory rivets in the brackets,... and use grade 8 bolts when you move them to the opposite frame rail.) If you use the factory front brackets,... the bottom side of the frame rail must be notched for the leaf spring mount to hang down. As you notice in the picture the rear axle has been narrowed. (In this case it's an older 9 inch ford) You will also notice even though the axle is "flipped" on top of the leaf springs,... there is plenty of clearance between the axle tube and rear frame rails. I would use dropped leaf springs and a bolt in c-notch. I'm pretty sure the leaf spring axle pads are just "universal" weld on units available for a 3" axle tube. Then there's the job of relocating the rear shocks. This look exactly like an s-10 shock set up. Could even be the s-10 lower leaf spring plates in the pics. Make sure you set the pinion angle before you weld them permanently. And then you need to widen the factory wheel tubs or buy new bigger ones. I had a buddy that had a '78 Pro Street truck years ago that had this same set up. Pretty cheap way to fit a big tire back there. He had 15x14 Welds with 33x19.5 -15 Mickey Thompson tires without having to narrow the frame at all. Just for your information,...this set up handle pretty squirrely in the rain and the body has ALOT of body roll with the leaf springs that close together on these wide trucks.. Good Luck!

[K Dubb]

go ahead and try...

[N2TRUX]

Greg you might give Glen at Cutten Custom a call. He did this on a truck a couple of years ago. It was at the customers request, and I never saw the finished product so I'm not sure how it turned out.

[454HO]

I'm sure a true 4-link with coil-overs is the preferred way to go, but I though this was interesting. Moving the leaf springs inboard a few inches is a very common mod on the older Mopar cars, and it works very well.