Spring Swap Thread - 1963 K15

['63GENIII]

Originally Posted by jwalt2gfd

One more question, what year truck had the 52" springs, are these rear springs or did chevy have a 52" front spring. If they are rears what spring rate did you go with. Thanks for the help.

Not sure of the rate. They came off of a '73 K10. Never saw the truck. Thats just what the guy said. They were used and the guy powder coated them. Unfortunately, The 2nd smallest leaf has a crack in it which i suspect was there before PC. I will probably look into a set of stock replacement as I can feel the difference from left to right when Im driving. Drivers side is a little softer. Either that or I really did gain 30 lbs over Christmas! LOL

[Dsuper5]

Hey Chris
So after driving your truck with the new setup how is the "sway" if any? I am at the point to decide 3/4 ton or 1/2 spring, doing this swap on a 4x4 Suburban witch is heavier to begin with but also has a higher center of gravity, I am running a sway bar in the front with quick dis-connects if needed on the trail.
You also mentioned limiting straps for droop, any results yet? Thanks for your write up !
Eddy

['63GENIII]

Hey Eddy, I really like the ride of the 52"- 63" combo. Its probably the closest thing that I can get to a "new truck" ride without having to buy a new truck. As far as the body roll, before the installation of the front sway bar, pucker factor was at 11 all the time. Kinda creepy to say the least. With the addition of the '74 sway bar, it is much more predictable although Id still like one for the rear as well for the street driving that I do 90% of the time. Ive never ramped this thing but with as much droop as I saw when I was building it, and knowing that the travel of my shocks is limited, I would get strapped if I ever thought about wheeling it harder than an occasional fire trail or the like.
Unfortunately, last Thursday a compression test revealed 0 (yes zero) lbs on cylinders 3 and 4 on the 396. You'll probably see an "L29 Fuel Injected 454 Transplant" thread from me before any more tune ups or tweaks to the spring swap.

[BigRed76]

Originally Posted by '63GENIII

Hey Eddy, I really like the ride of the 52"- 63" combo. Its probably the closest thing that I can get to a "new truck" ride without having to buy a new truck. As far as the body roll, before the installation of the front sway bar, pucker factor was at 11 all the time. Kinda creepy to say the least. With the addition of the '74 sway bar, it is much more predictable although Id still like one for the rear as well for the street driving that I do 90% of the time. Ive never ramped this thing but with as much droop as I saw when I was building it, and knowing that the travel of my shocks is limited, I would get strapped if I ever thought about wheeling it harder than an occasional fire trail or the like.
Unfortunately, last Thursday a compression test revealed 0 (yes zero) lbs on cylinders 3 and 4 on the 396. You'll probably see an "L29 Fuel Injected 454 Transplant" thread from me before any more tune ups or tweaks to the spring swap.

That's unfortunate to hear about your compression issues, but who can say no to a fuel injected 454?!

[Dsuper5]

Hey Chris, thanks for the feed back!
So far with the front 3/4 ton 83 Suburban gear (2.5 Skyjacker soft ride) I am really happy no ROLL at all, rear we will see, i will try the 3/4 tons first, see how that will work. My wheel base is 115inch. yours is (correct me if i am wrong) 127inch. that might be a factor for ride comfort as well.
My Burb should be good for Moab UT and the like when done, but are we ever done with them.....?
Bummer for the 396, but then again:
A L29 454 sounds like a ton of fun!

['63GENIII]

Originally Posted by BigRed76

That's unfortunate to hear about your compression issues, but who can say no to a fuel injected 454?!

No doubt Zach. As I look into the L29 more closely, I realize Im going to have to really watch myself and try no to get carried away. I just need to freshen up the one I have... and get a better cam... and springs for the cam... wait, Brodix makes good heads for this thing? Oh crap its starting all over again!

[BigRed76]

Originally Posted by '63GENIII

No doubt Zach. As I look into the L29 more closely, I realize Im going to have to really watch myself and try no to get carried away. I just need to freshen up the one I have... and get a better cam... and springs for the cam... wait, Brodix makes good heads for this thing? Oh crap its starting all over again!

Very true. Don't let an engine swap turn into a frame off resto they are much more fun when you can actually drive them.

[Brad54]

Well, this just made my impending '62 K-10 project a lot more involved!!

Being a '62 with the different frame width than the '63-up trucks, I'm wondering if there is a reason I can't just move the original spring hangers to accommodate the longer springs?

(Mine will be fairly light-duty, with Dana 44s front and rear. I'll keep 'em until I break one, then will upgrade to a Dana 60 I guess. Same with the stock transfer case.)

-Brad

[Dsuper5]

a little feed back from my spring swap! Thanks again for your help.

[Dsuper5]

one more time

[Dsuper5]

It rides sooooo much better, no swaying at all, 1ton chevy 62inches for the rear. I weight the thing at the local transfer station 5400 LBS.

['63GENIII]

Originally Posted by Dsuper5

It rides sooooo much better, no swaying at all, 1ton chevy 62inches for the rear. I weight the thing at the local transfer station 5400 LBS.

Right on Eddy! Looks like you might have picked up a little flex in the rear from the picture. Way cool! Are you still using 45" springs in front or have you gone longer there? Very cool to see you're happy with the 1 tons. Mine is a little soft in the rear but I love the ride. I was thinking bags or maybe 3/4 tons for the rear. Too cool.

['63GENIII]

BTW Eddy, did you go with greaseable bolts on your springs? I didn't and they made a little noise with the poly bushings.

[Dsuper5]

I went a bit overboard, but then again: greaseable bolts all around and Bilsteins 5160 on all 4 corners!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

['63GENIII]

Hmmmm. What are the Bilstiens like? Going overboard isn't necessarily a bad thing. Usually the projects that I go a little overboard on are the ones that I don't have to go back and mess with! LOL

Happy to see you got it done and are happy with it. Nice work!

[Dsuper5]

Fast cornering on asphalt, washboard going 45 to 50, braking hard in a corner (hydro boost)no problem at all, waaaaayyy better handling overall compared to rough country shocks! then again they are 25% of what Bilsteins are.
I decided that i want the best handling out of this truck i can get on and off road, its painted, has ac power seats new window rubbers a mildly enhanced 350 tbi, ron francis wiring bumper to bumper, gps usb ports front and rear. Lockers are probably next ....

I hear you by not going BACK, i am building this truck as best as i can and do not want to go back..maybe a little more power later on. I will paly with it for the 6-8 month then we will see.

[Dsuper5]

still in the shake down phase...

['63GENIII]

Okay, okay already. I give! Seriously though, your Burb looks killar, and wheeling it looks way fun! Im super jealous now! The only new additions to my truck are spiderwebs on the bumpers. LOL!

[Dsuper5]

to finish the evening 2 dash board shots in the making

[heavymech]

So I have a question if you're not sick of answering them. How hard was it to put the 73 sway bar in. Did the brackets mount up easily? Did the B52 kit affect anything? I recently finished the B52 kit on my 67 and I love it. But now the rear ez rides seem like they came off of a deuce and half compared to the front. I already sourced a pair of 64 rears from the bone yard and I ordered the ORD shackle flip. I'm going to relocate the factory front mounts. I love your old truck btw!

[Baketown Scotty]

Thanks for the write up. Hope to do this to my Suburban like Dsuper5. I followed all pretty good except how you determined where to drill the holes for the rear springs front and rear hangars. If you get a chance I would appreciate if you could describe that for me. Thanks again for doing this and the documentation.

['63GENIII]

Originally Posted by heavymech

So I have a question if you're not sick of answering them. How hard was it to put the 73 sway bar in. Did the brackets mount up easily? Did the B52 kit affect anything? I recently finished the B52 kit on my 67 and I love it. But now the rear ez rides seem like they came off of a deuce and half compared to the front. I already sourced a pair of 64 rears from the bone yard and I ordered the ORD shackle flip. I'm going to relocate the factory front mounts. I love your old truck btw!

Thanks. The B52 kit allowed the softer springs to be installed which allowed more body roll than I was comfortable with. You actually caught me at a good time for this as I was just re installing the sway bay last night while wrapping up my engine swap.

The crossmember itself is 2"x4" tube. Its held on with 2- 3/8" bolts at the ends to the frame. The little nut gizmos are left over from my B52 kit. DIY makes some killar quality stuff!

I have seen a couple of members modify and install the stock bracketry to get their sway bar installed. As for me... Im a little too lazy. I just happened to have the square stock laying around and as it turned out, it lower the bar enough to make it parallel to the leaves which may or may not help with any kind of binding.
You also need the u bolt plates / spring clamps that accept the sway bar bolt.
I would say that the bar has taken nearly 90% of the sway out of the ride.

['63GENIII]

Originally Posted by Baketown Scotty

Thanks for the write up. Hope to do this to my Suburban like Dsuper5. I followed all pretty good except how you determined where to drill the holes for the rear springs front and rear hangars. If you get a chance I would appreciate if you could describe that for me. Thanks again for doing this and the documentation.

Not a problem at all. The swap actually works really well for me.
As far as locating the spring hanger, I started by making a reference mark (used a plumb bob) on the frame which showed the original center of the axle. Since the 1/2 ton 63 - 64" springs nearly flatten when loaded, I just measured from the spring center pin to the front spring eye center and used that as my mark for the hanger eye. I then used C clamps to mock up the springs, shackles and hangers and sat the truck onto the axle to compare the axle / frame center line with a plumb . It came out about 1/4" to the rear of the center mark on the frame which worked because I wanted to move the axle back anyway.
After measuring 20 more times and using reference points that were the same on both sides of the frame, I was pretty confident of two things - my frame was as straight as I could ask for and that my rear axle was squared to the frame as best as possible.
With the front mounts still clamped, the center punch came out and the holes were drilled and bolted.
Using the front mounts to measure, I adjusted the rear hangers so that my shackle angles were where I wanted them and the hangers were exactly the same distance apart. Drill, bolt and done.
My biggest concern was getting the axle as close to 90 degrees to the frame centerline so it didn't dog walk. It seems to be tracking straight so I guess I got it.

[Baketown Scotty]

Great, thank you.

[jwalt2gfd]

Hey Chris, when you put your DIY4x front 4 hole brackets on were you able to place them in exactly the same place on the frame side to side? When I put mine on in the same place the measurement from the center of the bolt hole i am using, the same one you used, is different from side to side. Frame is straight and square. I moved the right bracket back almost a half inch to align the holes and then the core support holes are off. Just wondered whaat your expericene was. thx