Frame & suspension help

[smokie]

Has anyone ever seen something done like this? Well happen to be on a truck I picked up recently. Issue is the truck is squatting too much with any kind of weight in the rear so I was thinking of replacing the leafs with stockers and finding heavy duty shocks to replace the air ones. Also appears to having a small block between the axle tube and leaf spring

[bs46488]

Its hard to tell from that angle of the picture, but it looks like the previous owner made some modifications to lower the truck.

What's your plan for the truck?

Any other pictures?

[smokie]

Originally Posted by bs46488

Its hard to tell from that angle of the picture, but it looks like the previous owner made some modifications to lower the truck.

What's your plan for the truck?

Any other pictures?

Has a 12 bolt rear end w/ 4.xx gears and has a 5x4.75 bolt pattern with 15x15 wheels, frame was modified in the rear and the leaf springs were moved to the inside of the frame rails. Front I think may be lowered and has a 5x4.5 bolt pattern with 15x8 wheels. Plans are to keep it pro street, right now I just want to address the suspension and front spindles / lug pattern. Any advice on the shocks, leaf springs, and odd ball bolt patterns?

[bs46488]

The previous owner has a lot going on for you! Sounds to me he put on whatever was cheap and available to him.

Looks to me that rear end is designed to hook the tires...and that's it.

To get any sort of comfort/use out of those rear shocks they need to be relocated. There is a lot of angle on them.

The lug pattern is more annoying than anything else. Did you pull the rear wheels? Did they replace the shafts or just re-drill?

Send a pic of the from suspension.

[smokie]

I believe the shafts were replaced, I will check once I get home today. The rear 5x4.75 is fine with me... it's the front because I'm not sure where the 5x4.5 came from.

[SCOTI]

Besides the obvious leaf relocation to the inside of the rails....

1) Leaves have been removed to lower the truck more. W/only 3 leafs & the over load, the spring set-up is going to squat.
2} The shock angles are rendering them useless.
3) Odd-ball bolt pattern is most likely re-drilled front rotors to a F#*d car pattern if it has stock GM truck parts up front (a-ams, spindles, etc...).

Take a pic of the front suspension w/a wheel off.

[smokie]

Pics of the front suspension & brake setup. Click on the photo for the bigger version. Thoughts?

[SCOTI]

Looks like C10 stuff. The rotors were definitely re-drilled @ some point for some reason.

[smokie]

Do those appear to be drop spindles or springs?

[SCOTI]

Can't tell from the pics so it would only be guessing. Try & get a better pic of the back side of the spindle. The pin height is higher up on drop spindles vs OE units.

[smokie]

Originally Posted by SCOTI

Can't tell from the pics so it would only be guessing. Try & get a better pic of the back side of the spindle. The pin height is higher up on drop spindles vs OE units.

Here ya go. Thoughts?

[SCOTI]

Looks like a drop spindle.

[andrewmp6]

Looks like he tried to lower it buy taking leafs out,But took out too many so thats why the home made traction bars and air shocks on it i bet.

[SCOTI]

Originally Posted by andrewmp6

Looks like he tried to lower it buy taking leafs out,But took out too many so thats why the home made traction bars and air shocks on it i bet.

Possibly.... But it looks like standard leaf spring traction bars. I do think too many leaves were removed. You're prob right about the air shock arrangement as well.

[smokie]

What leaf springs would you all recommend? Stock or how much of a drop? Also which shocks do you recommend?

How it sits currently

[SCOTI]

Originally Posted by smokie

What leaf springs would you all recommend? Stock or how much of a drop? Also which shocks do you recommend?

How it sits currently

I would switch the shocks out to something better suited for your goals. If it's just a Dairy Queen special (occasional Saturday cruising) some basic gas charged shocks will be fine. If it's a track bound truck, something better suited for track use would fit the bill so I'd seek out a chassis builder/tuner for their recommendations (I'm betting they'd suggest something w/adjustable compression & rebound for tuning purposes). Either way, different upper & lower shock mounts need to be utilized to stand the shocks more upright so they can function.

If it needs to hook-up better, I'd swap the traction bars out for a CalTrac set-up.

If it's bottoming out & just needs to support the weight of the truck, swap in some OE leafs from a similar weight truck. 73-87's typically had 5-leaf set-ups. I'd guess 63-72's were similar w/the exception of the leafs being 2.25"w vs 2.5"w.

Anything from us on what exactly you have will just be a guess. You're going to have to determine what your starting with since it's definitely not stock (or, change things to a new set-up that you know the spec's of).

[smokie]

I'm going to reframe the rear the stand the shocks up higher. Any idea where I can obtain the shock mounts that currently attach to the traction bar?

[SCOTI]

Originally Posted by smokie

I'm going to reframe the rear the stand the shocks up higher. Any idea where I can obtain the shock mounts that currently attach to the traction bar?

http://www.welderseries.com/blog/onl...pension-parts/

[Mike C]

What year is the truck? 2 1/4" leaf spring or 2 1/2"? Looks like 2 1/2" in the picture, but looks are why they invented tape measures...

If you want something performance oriented, check out CalTrac bars and their split single leaf setup on the rear. And definitely do something about the shocks.

I have the CalTrac bars on my flip in my 69 short bed and like it a lot. I have the factory 4 leaf HD spring (+overload that I removed because it was hitting the CalTrac bar) and it rides great with no wrap because of the bar. I used a second pair of front shocks installed on the second hole in the factory shock mount but that won't be an option for you because of the relocated spring mounts.

[portrodder]

Can't say much about the front end setup but the rear springs look original and were relocated to the bottom of the axle to add the traction bars instead of being to the top of the axle which makes the overload leaf of little use. The photos below show the springs from my 85 Silverado with the same number of leafs as yours and how the truck set with them on top of the axle.

[smokie]

Just an update the rear end has Moser Engineering ends w/ Ford 9" wheel bearings (9508T) and 5x5 pattern. Front is 5x4.75 on the redrill. Getting close to addressing the shock issue.

[SCOTI]

Originally Posted by smokie

Just an update the rear end has Moser Engineering ends w/ Ford 9" wheel bearings (9508T) and 5x5 pattern. Front is 5x4.75 on the redrill. Getting close to addressing the shock issue.

Prob can swap factory 5x5 rotors up front to keep the bolt pattern consistent if desired.