Lifting 55-57 chevy 4x4

[Wildstreak]

I cant seem to find any lift kits for the 55-57 chevy 4x4, is there a similar spring kit that I can use>? How do I go about lifting my truck?

[Captainfab]

Is it an original 4x4? If so I don't believe you're going to find a 'lift kit' There just isn't enough call for something like that. How much of a lift are you wanting? You'll most likely just have to do some fabrication and use the springs and such for a newer truck that has readily available parts.

[Wildstreak]

Yea its an original 56 gmc 4x4, but I have a 57 chevy front clip to put I'd like to put on because I like that look better. I was thinking I would like to run either a supercharged 5.3 or a well built 383 with like 8-12inc of lift and 35-40inc tires. I thought I would have to fabricate it all but I was just hoping maybe there was a kit. I might just leave it stock height as well and just build a custom frame for it later....

[blazerbrian72]

if you can not find a lift kit. call a spring shop to make you some springs, u bolts and shims to get your driveline angle. then you would have to just get shocks and the steering stuff. if you go bigger then a 8' you might want to go with crossover steering

[special-K]

A lift "kit" is just springs made with an over stock height and hardware.Any spring shop can make what you want.Or,you can swap to newer hangers and locat to fit the same year lift kit.
So,you have a Napco,huh?Saw wheat!!!

[Wildstreak]

Yea, my dad bought it like 20 years ago and it was in pristine shape. He's an old school guy, so he prefers to drive older vehicles(well till last year) like fifteen years ago he was using it as his daily driver and rolled it on a patch of black ice. After getting hosed on a rebuild, paying for the build but really they didnt get anything done, they just took his money. It has sat waiting for ten years about now. I decided rather than starting on one of my projects to see if he would sell it to me. he did. Funny he gave me a lil history on them and how they all came 2wd then went to napco to get the 4wd installed. I had never heard of that before.

heres how dusty she was just sitting there, its been cleaned and progress on the build will start soon, I will probably have a build thread....

[62 short step]

Thats going to be one nice truck! love the napco's!!

[Burt4x4]

My first thought was to get yourself a donor K5/Blazer, not a first gen but a 73+ donor K5 and use the frame. 6 body mounts per side you could easily mod that body to it and you would have all the swapability GM has to offer.
just a thought and about .015cents worth hahahaha

[Wildstreak]

What I think Im goin to do is build it stock, then build another frame for it or build another truck out of spare parts, I have three sets of everything to but one set I would like to save for a 2wd for my pops. I have a 69-70 burb I would like to convert to 4wd as well and I think I wanna build that huge so I might just try and save money for it....

[Wildstreak]

Originally Posted by blazerbrian72

. if you go bigger then a 8' you might want to go with crossover steering

I have to figure out how to get power steering, so I should look into that tho...

[OrrieG]

Originally Posted by Wildstreak

What I think Im goin to do is build it stock, then build another frame for it or build another truck out of spare parts, I have three sets of everything to but one set I would like to save for a 2wd for my pops. I have a 69-70 burb I would like to convert to 4wd as well and I think I wanna build that huge so I might just try and save money for it....

My opinion is that if you have an original NAPCO you should keep it as close to stock as possible. Then use the parts you have to buy another 55-57 shell and build the lifted truck you want. If you don't want to keep it as a Napco and build a second truck I'm sure you could find someone that would trade you a good 2wd to use for your project.

[Wildstreak]

Thats pretty much what I was thinking as well, the only question is now, should I go with a gmc front end or chevy?? I'm more partial to the chevy front end but the gmc might be different, I cant remember the last 4wd 55-57 gmc I saw...

[yodi]

there is no difference between the 55-57 gmc front end and the chevy front end, just two different makers, and i am not sure, but the only different things bout them is the gauge cluster, and the emblems. thats the case on my 59 gmc at least, and made very minor changes on the chassis (relocated shocks, and some other stupid things like that)

[OrrieG]

fenders, hood, grille, bumpers are different, I used to think the GMC's were to bulbus, but now like them.

[Wildstreak]

I've done some research and found some really nice looking 56 gmc's so I think I'm going to use the gmc, with a black paint job that grill looks really nice chrome! Just have to either get mine re-chromed or find a new one...