1949 Chevy 3600 into a daily driver

[Coach529]

Originally Posted by El Campo

Looking great! The interior looks great in that truck. I agree about not painting it

Thanks....we debated back and forth....but am glad I chose to stick with it.

Hopefully I can find someone to throw some pinstriping in it this summer.

[NEWFISHER]

Hey Coach...I just remebered you said you hadn't sent your spindles in to Sid. He has my cores, 2 sets! Have him assemble those kings and ship that thing to you. You can ship yours when you get to the post office, but the complete one can be on its way!
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[Coach529]

Originally Posted by NEWFISHER

Hey Coach...I just remebered you said you hadn't sent your spindles in to Sid. He has my cores, 2 sets! Have him assemble those kings and ship that thing to you. You can ship yours when you get to the post office, but the complete one can be on its way!
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I sent the spindles off today.

I am not in a huge hurry......heck I do not even have rims and tires for it yet.

Decisions, decisions!!

[NEWFISHER]

What rim/tire combos are you leaning towards? You switched from 8 to 5 right?
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[Coach529]

Originally Posted by NEWFISHER

What rim/tire combos are you leaning towards? You switched from 8 to 5 right?
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Yea 5 bolt.

Leaning towards black steel wheels, my stock caps cleaned up and a set of 235/70-15 Diamond Backs. Not sure if my stock caps will fit on just any 15" steel wheel.



Or maybe some Crager's like this in black.

[Coach529]

[NEWFISHER]

Contact wheelsmiths, the modify early caps to work with their wheels. I haven't seen them but hear talk about them. I like the early clip style caps too.
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[Coach529]

Originally Posted by NEWFISHER

Contact wheelsmiths, the modify early caps to work with their wheels. I haven't seen them but hear talk about them. I like the early clip style caps too.
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I will have to give them a shout. I was hoping I could add a set of clips to a standard Chevy 5 bolt steel wheel......and get by on the cheap. Maybe it is not possible.

[Coach529]

Spoke with Wheelsmith.

According to them my stock 3/4 ton caps will not work with any steel wheel they make. Kinda bummed on that, but I am not will to give up yet

New wheels from them, powder coated with caps is about $165 each plus the freight.

[Coach529]

Milestone night tonight. I bent some tubing and now Henry is running on his own fuel tank for the first time of this whole project.

Sorry....no pictures!!

Time for a drink!!! Whoohoo!!

[NEWFISHER]

AWSOME! is Henry assembled enough to drive awaiting the axle? Cookies in the snow?
Feels good to have a running truck, mines been awol at the glass shop re-fixing some leaks grrrrrrr...picking it up at 8 and swapping the 700r4 in this weekend.

[Coach529]

It has actually been somewhat driveable the whole time. I had a temp fuel tank below the hood to run off of.

[Coach529]

Just got confirmation from Sid my axle is complete, assembled and shipping asap.

[NEWFISHER]

Originally Posted by Coach529

Just got confirmation from Sid my axle is complete, assembled and shipping asap.

WoooHooo,,,,you're gonna love it

[Coach529]

Still have alot of loose ends to tie up before it is a driver.

Front shocks (need to fab upper mounts)

Needs rims and tires (all 4)

new rear end and drive shaft

Rear shocks (fab inboard mounting)

Rear notch, frame boxing, axle flip, etc


Fun, fun, fun!!

[Dan in Pasadena]

Make sure you take good photos of all this Coach!

We need the inspiration....plus we need entertainment while sitting on our fat butts on our sofas! lol

[Coach529]

Originally Posted by Dan in Pasadena

Make sure you take good photos of all this Coach!

We need the inspiration....plus we need entertainment while sitting on our fat butts on our sofas! lol

Photo's are a guarantee......

[nebdrummer]

Nice! Is this thing going to be slammed? I have a longbox as well and I flipped my rear spring shackle and that alone dropped 4". Then I had it down to 3 leaves a side, (still with the axle under springs) and it sat really pretty good, but the bigger bumps hit the bump stops. It did make for an awesomely smooth ride though.
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[Coach529]

Originally Posted by nebdrummer

Nice! Is this thing going to be slammed? I have a longbox as well and I flipped my rear spring shackle and that alone dropped 4". Then I had it down to 3 leaves a side, (still with the axle under springs) and it sat really pretty good, but the bigger bumps hit the bump stops. It did make for an awesomely smooth ride though.
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I have a 4" drop axle coming from Sid and will probably remove a couple leaves to take it down another 1" to 1-1/2". The doing an axle flip on the back and remove leaves until the running boards sit level to the ground at ride height.

I will be doing a 2" to 3" c notch to give myself more travel.

Your truck is awesome BTW.

[focusedontheprize]

Originally Posted by Coach529

I have a 4" drop axle coming from Sid and will probably remove a couple leaves to take it down another 1" to 1-1/2". The doing an axle flip on the back and remove leaves until the running boards sit level to the ground at ride height.

I will be doing a 2" to 3" c notch to give myself more travel.

Your truck is awesome BTW.

Good plan. I did the same setup in the front - 4" drop axle with 2 springs removed. It sits low, lower than I was suspecting after putting the motor and transmission back in, but I love it. The old man calls it "the squirrel scraper".

As for the rear, I have been playing around with some ideas. I picked up Sid's 3" lowering blocks, but it isn't low enough for me (even when I removed some of the springs). I was debating on sending the leafs out to have them de-arched, but I don't want to notch the frame at this point right now. KustomBrad ran TCI's lowering leaf springs (not too sure if he notched the frame), but I like his stance.

http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...4&postcount=11

[nebdrummer]

Heres the lowest I could get it without cutting the rear of the frame.

[Coach529]

Originally Posted by nebdrummer

Heres the lowest I could get it without cutting the rear of the frame.

That is pretty low. How much rear travel did ya have?

[Coach529]

My springs have been in the de-arching process for the last 60 years. :-)

Do you have pictures of your current stance??

I found this truck on the net and remember that is was not notched, but he commented that there was very little travel.



up front: 4" drop axle from sid, and I removed 3 leaves

out back: 6" drop mono-leaf from classic performance plus 3" lowering blocks.

That is pretty much the stance I am looking for!!

[nebdrummer]

Remember guys, the 3/4 ton frame doesn't have near the factory frame arch as the 1/2 tons do. That's why it's easier for the short bed guys to lay running boards without cutting the frame.

Coach, the rear had about 3 inches till the bump stop, and 4 to the frame. It did settle a little and I started hitting bumpstop with only 3 leafs in the rear. So removing the stops and a pipe cutout for the axle to travel to in a bump would work wonders. The end of the first page on my build thread shows how I did mine.
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[focusedontheprize]

The truck you posted Coach is from Sid's gallery (http://www.droppedaxles.com/PHOTO_ALBUM.html)

Would you run mono-leafs out back? I just don't know about them - they just seem "too light" for me especially if I plan on doing some hauling.