Needing advice on 65 suspension upgrade.

[dads71bigblock]

I am doing a frame off on a 65 Short step, having frame blasted soon, I am wanting to lower it 3-1/2"/5" or 4"/6", wanting to go with front disc brakes and master cylinder. Booster set up, what is the best bang for the buck out there as far as aftermarket suspension upgrades? Any pictures would be great, is it fine to use my original a-arms, instead of going tubular, not wanting to drop a bunch of cash wanting to stay under $2000.00

[raidmagic]

73-87 parts truck use all that front suspension.

[Robert Haas]

CPP offers a simple dropped spindle kit that will put you on disc brakes and drop the front 2" at the spindle. Cut a coil off and you are sitting at a decent 3 1/2 inch drop.

a simple c-notch and block kit for a chevy or a c notch and flip kit for a GMC will cost under $200. for the rear. that will get you up to 5 inches on the back

you will be under your budget and with a buddy can do the whole job is a weekend.

this is exactly what we did.

[raidmagic]

Originally Posted by Robert Haas

CPP offers a simple dropped spindle kit that will put you on disc brakes and drop the front 2" at the spindle. Cut a coil off and you are sitting at a decent 3 1/2 inch drop.

a simple c-notch and block kit for a chevy or a c notch and flip kit for a GMC will cost under $200. for the rear. that will get you up to 5 inches on the back

you will be under your budget and with a buddy can do the whole job is a weekend.

this is exactly what we did.

Attachment 1797031

Attachment 1797032

Attachment 1797033

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Attachment 1797035

Did you have to modify your bed floor? This is the only thing keeping me from lowering the rear.

[theastronaut]

You can put together a better "drop kit" than the kits most places sell for less money and it'll work better. I'm not a fan of the rear shock relocation brackets that CPP and others sell that keep the shocks inside the frame rails.

On my '66 I used CPP's drop spindle/disc brake kit and front sway bar. I had already replaced the master cylinder with a new stock M/C and it ended up working great without a booster. It would be smart to upgrade to a dual circuit M/C to be safe, but a booster shoudn't be needed if you stick with the original M/C bore size. The stock pedal ratio is set up for manual brakes and works well once the brakes are upgraded to discs. It's worth trying before you spend money on a booster/bracket setup. Some people like really low pedal effort, I prefer a firm pedal that is modulated with pressure rather than a soft/boosted pedal that is modulated with pedal travel.

I also cut 1.5 coils off the original springs. It was slightly too low so cutting only one coil off would be better. You'll need to cut the original bump stop bracket completly off. I modified a Currie shock bracket (originally meant to weld onto a rear axle) to mount the front shock farther up the frame to get the shock back into it's proper range of travel. This keeps a stock length/full travel shock vs the shorter drop shocks most places use.






In the rear I bought drop springs and drop blocks, and cut a peice of 4" thickwall pipe in half to make a small pipe notch over the axle. I used FrizzleFry's method to relocate the shocks using the stock lower brackets. That way the shocks are outside the frame rails and closer to the wheels so they work more effectively. I also used an 80's F100 rear sway bar, it's nearly bolt on.

You can see the details of the shock relocation here.

http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...postid=4730005

[Robert Haas]

Originally Posted by raidmagic

Did you have to modify your bed floor? This is the only thing keeping me from lowering the rear.

No, but I did have to notch one of the bed floor crossmembers

This is before I painted the new wide wheel tubs.

[67pete300]

I bought a whole setup from Performance Online for my 65. Pretty happy with it. Probably got just under $2k in it. Details and pictures in my build thread:
http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php?t=747092