1949 Chevy 3600 into a daily driver

[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.
Posted via Mobile Device

[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.
Posted via Mobile Device

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.

[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?

[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

[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.
Posted via Mobile Device

[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.

[Coach529]

I have never done any research on the mono leafs, so I cannot comment. I plan on doing the axle flip and then remove 2-3 leaves.

That should be low enough....but if it is not I plan on making a lowering block to place between the springs and axle.

[Coach529]

Not much new on the project. Just stacking up parts for when I have some time to get some stuff done.

My radiator from Gulfstream87 over at HAMB showed up this week.



I also received my dropped axle from Sid. Everything looks great. I got the whole meal deal from Sid. All new modern tie rods ends, drag link. New installed King Pins. Should be better than new.



I ordered my new U-Bolts online last night. Need to order some caster shims and I should be almost ready to go.

I need to go to the local junkyard and find some Chevy 5 bolt steel wheels with some rubber on them for rollers for now until I decided on what I am going to run.

Also need to find a rear end and figure out what I am going to do about a driveshaft. Probably end up with a 4 x 4 S-10 rear end.

[NEWFISHER]

Remember to install the Zerk fittings at the backside of the spindles before you install the axle ( ask me how I know) 1/4" straight ones at the uppers and 45 degree ones below if I remember right so you can access the fitting. When the backing plates and the steer arms are installed, you can get to the lowers.

[Coach529]

Originally Posted by NEWFISHER

Remember to install the Zerk fittings at the backside of the spindles before you install the axle ( ask me how I know) 1/4" straight ones at the uppers and 45 degree ones below if I remember right so you can access the fitting. When the backing plates and the steer arms are installed, you can get to the lowers.

Thanks for the heads up....

[focusedontheprize]

Sid was a great guy to work with. He was incredibly helpful with everything when I did mine (as I have heard from many people). I saw your post asking about the stance, I will wait till get the front clip back on to take a side shot - the rear needs to go lower.....

Are you grabbing a few leafs out of the front spring packs?

[Coach529]

Originally Posted by focusedontheprize

Sid was a great guy to work with. He was incredibly helpful with everything when I did mine (as I have heard from many people). I saw your post asking about the stance, I will wait till get the front clip back on to take a side shot - the rear needs to go lower.....

Are you grabbing a few leafs out of the front spring packs?

Yea I am planning on two for now. My stock springs are pretty sacked out so I am afraid to grab more than that.

[NEWFISHER]

It's gonna be loooooow Start soaking the leaf pack pins with ATF and Kerosine mix and you might want to pick up some new ones. I grabbed mine for less than $5 at the local Napa.

[Coach529]

Originally Posted by NEWFISHER

It's gonna be loooooow Start soaking the leaf pack pins with ATF and Kerosine mix and you might want to pick up some new ones. I grabbed mine for less than $5 at the local Napa.

I have the pins already.......figured they would not come apart without a fight!!

Shooting for that 5" to 5-1/2" drop on the front. Will look sick!!

[NEWFISHER]

How's the drop comming?