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[if]

Last communication I had with them was a phone call over a week ago where he was going to check with the machine shop to see if he could speed things up for me.

That was the last I heard of him... I've sent him dozens of emails since, always with a touch of humor but I guess they've tired of me and don't think I'm funny anymore, just a pain in the butt.

I would much prefer having their newly fabricated axle than shipping my old axle half way around the world (I'm on the East Coast of Canada, Mor-Drop is in California). This afternoon, if Marty, at Mor-Drop, had accepted credit cards instead of requiring a cashier's check, and allowed me to pay the core charge, and if he had actually checked to see if he had a 3" dropped axle in stock... Well, I would have an axle going cross-country as we speak!!

I truly do want to give Cen-Pen a chance to come through for me and I'd still be willing to wait for as long as they needed BUT they really should communicate with me!!!

My52Chebby

[I'm considering a change to R&P steering mounted directly on the axle because that will give me an F-1 steering box for my next hot rod project! The R&P conversion has been done with great success, using a rear-steer rack from a smallish Chevy (I don't have the model or year info handy right now), connected to the original column with a U-joint and a GM slip joint to accommodate up-and-down movement of the axle. Of course, the lower end of the steering mast jacket and column must be secured either at the firewall or the frame. I don't know if this changeover will occur right away. I'll be doing my work in Kent Fuller's shop and Kent is a strong advocate of the R&P changeover, but I think he might let me "slide" for awhile so I can gather more seat-time and information with the suspension changes using the original steering.]

Going to pick it up Saturday morining.   Now the questions start!  Anybody here have any experience with one of these? What does it take to lower the front end without subframing it? I have a 355 Chevy and a turbo 350 in stock also a 9" for the rear. What would be a good replacement steering box to use with the stock I beam? If I go that route. Any suggestions and past experience is greatly appreciated.  
Don

Congratulations, Don! There isn't a cooler Ford pickup than the '48-'50 F-1, IMHO.  
 
I'll be dropping my '48 in a couple of weeks, after the "salt" from Speed Week has settled and things return to normal.  I'm considering several options for the front. I have an excellent old Mor-Drop 3-inch dropped axle, plus several spring options from which to choose -- new spring packs with reversed eyes and less arch than stock, new main leaves with reversed eyes to use with the original front spring packs, and Posies Super Slides with a reversed eye at the forward end of the spring.  
 
I'd like to try all the combinations so I can develop some comprehensive instructions about how much the various combinations drop the front end, although at this point the reversed-eye springs will probably give me what I'm looking for. (My '48 is an exceptionally clean original F-1, rust and damage free, with an old inexpensive respray in the original color. I'm going to stick with a flathead V8, but am replacing the old four-speed with a late Mustang T-5. I'm doing the truck in the style of a '50s speed shop truck, so I'm not looking to get it super low.)  
 
My '48 has been well maintained throughout a rather leisurely life and drives amazingly sweet for a 56-year-old vehicle. I've driven late-'80s F-150s that didn't ride any better! In spite of that, I'm going to rebuild the suspension and steering during the drop. This includes new kingpins and bushings, new tie-rod ends, new drag-link ends, and new shocks.  
 
I'm uncertain about what I'll do with the steering. At present, it's quite good and may need no more than service and adjustment, possibly sector bushings. You're bound to hear many complaints about F-1 and early F-100 steering, but other than requiring a bit more muscle than more-modern units, they work great when in good condition and service, and when the rest of the front end and steering wear points are also correct. The complaints about the original steering go up as the front  
comes down. The most common complaint is about the truck wandering all over the road at highway speeds after reversed-eye springs or a dropped axle are installed , but the culprit isn't as likely to be the steering box as it is the lack of caster; it's 1 to 3-1/2 degrees stock which isn't very much to begin with, and dropping only the front end several inches scrubs off a couple of degrees which isn't going to improve the situation. There's been some discussion here with enjenjo who is a big fan of 5 or more degrees, so caster wedges are definitely in order.  
 
For all that, I'm considering a change to R&P steering mounted directly on the axle because that will give me an F-1 steering box for my next hot rod project!    The R&P conversion has been done with great success, using a rear-steer rack from a smallish Chevy (I don't have the model or year info handy right now), connected to the original column with a U-joint and a GM slip joint to accommodate up-and-down movement of the axle. Of course, the lower end of the steering mast jacket and column must be secured either at the firewall or the frame. I don't know if this changeover will occur right away. I'll be doing my work in Kent Fuller's shop and Kent is a strong advocate of the R&P changeover, but I think he might let me "slide" for awhile so I can gather more seat-time and information with the suspension changes using the original steering.  
 
I don't know that this is any real help right now, Don, but I'll keep you posted here on the RRT as things progress. Hope you'll do the same.  
 
Mike

Hi aV8,  
 
I cringed when I read the paragraph I highlighted in your text. I had a '40 Studebaker 4 door sedan with a blueprinted 327 and 4 speed Muncie. I had converted the front suspension to an I-beam suspension out of a Chevy van using the transverse spring from the stock Studebaker front suspension with fabricated radius rods. I decided, like you, to mount my R&P solidly on the axle. I had seen it done in Rod Action magazine of the time.  I too used the GM slip joint as suggested in the magazine article.  
 
On it's maiden trip, in the Summer of 1976, I had taken my young family to a Rod Run organized by our car club. On the way back, as I hit an expansion joint entering a bridge, I quickly learned about "unsprung weight"... When the front suspension hit the bump at the expansion joint, the car's suspension rebounded and the axle's weight (with tires, rims, brakes AND rack & pinion) did not follow as quickly as the rest of the car and the slip joint slipped out!!! There I was, doing 60 MPH and all I had time to do was to turn around to my wife and 1 1/2 year old daughter in the back seat and say : "HOLD ON!!!" Then the adrenaline kicked in, everything in my head slowed down to a crawl, I didn't panic, I gently tested the brakes and they pulled to the left a bit, the crown of the highway pulled the car to the right. I checked my rearview mirror, luckily, I was on a divided highway with no one behind, besides or in front of me. An 1/8th of a mile ahead of me the highway gently turned left but there was an overpass with massive concrete pillars looming. I braked, I prayed, I braked, I sweated, I braked a bit more... As my right wheel hit the gravel on the side of the highway I hit the brakes hard and we veered right suddenly and stopped up an embankment a hundred feet or so from the pillars. At which point my wife asked : "Why are we stopping here?"!!!  Seconds later, you couldn't have thrown a ball across that highway, the semis and cars where just whizzing by at highway speed.  
 
In the years since, when I pass that very same spot, I always count "1 potato, 2 potato..." and I've never been able to count more than SIX POTATOES at 60 miles an hour... That's SIX SECONDS!!!  
 
aV8... I would think long and hard before went the R&P on a solid axle route...  
 
Regaining my composure...  
 
I just love your truck... And I only came across your post because my project is now a '52 Chevy pickup (I traded it for the Studebaker 3 years ago, owned it for 31 years) and I did a word search for "Mor-Drop". I've been trying to purchase a 3" dropped axle made by a company called Cen-Pen (the axle is sold by Classic Performance Products). I say "trying" because I been given the run-around for delivery dates... They (Cen-Pen) keep pushing the date back 2 weeks later than whatever day I call on... That's why today, I called Mor-Drop in California. A Google search came up with a phone number which I called. They're still in business producing dropped axles same as they did back-in-the-day. I have an old index box of my Rodding magazines that I kept up until 1979. I checked it and sure enough, I found a 4 page article in the June '73 Street Rodder, p.28 dedicated to Mor-Drop (at the time they had been in business for 20 years). Interestingly, still at the same address, still run by the same owner. He must be in his late to mid sixties now (so what, I'll be 58 in June). Their prices have changed a bit, as has everything else, at $300. a drop instead of $15. quoted in the article... LOL  
 
aV8, can you get back to me? I'd like to know more about your great looking truck.  
 
My52Chebby

[Is the new repopped '47 Chevy speaker grille/ash tray ALL stainless steel or just the upper and lower speaker grille trim? The reason I ask is, will the grille portion have to be chromed? Obviously, if it's stainless steel I would just polish it to match the rest of the unit.]

... At least I asked them on their message board. A Brothers staff person did answer me. Here is what I asked there followed by the answer.

Is the new repopped '47 Chevy speaker grille/ash tray ALL stainless steel or just the upper and lower speaker grille trim? The reason I ask is, will the grille portion have to be chromed? Obviously, if it's stainless steel I would just polish it to match the rest of the unit.

And this is the answer I got...

Yes they are made of stainless .

The ambiguity arises from my not knowing whether he was just acknowledging that the upper and lower grille trim were stainless steel. What I would have liked to have read is : "Yes, the grille portion is also stainless steel (...but painted black in the picture for marketing purposes.)"

... I've noticed that Brothers are now selling (producing?) a repopped speaker grille c/w ashtray for the '47 to '53 Chevy pickup dashboards.

Can anyone tell me (preferably someone who has purchased one of these) if the grille portion/ashtray is made of stainless steel. I know that the upper name plate and lower trim are stainless steel but I'm not sure about the grille portion/ashtray.

I'd like to purchase one of these units and have the grille portion/ashtray polished.

Thank you all for your help.

My52Chebby

... GM (early) Rallye wheels?

Thanks for your help.

My52Chebby

Hi again,

What year truck was the Saginaw 805 box used on? I'm trying to identify the steeing box laying on my shop floor.

Thank you Enjenjo for both your replies.

My52Chebby

Hi all,

Brothers make a conversion kit for '47-'59 Chevy pickups that will adapt a late model power steering box. I have a few questions that are puzzling me.

Which model number Saginaw steering box does the Brothers kit adapt? Are there more than one that can be used? Are there casting numbers on the box?

On their website, in the installation instructions, they seem to show 2 different installations. One which bolts the late model steering box straight to the frame using one existing bumper attachment bolt hole, 2 new ones you must drill through the side of the frame and a fourth you attach to a triangular tab welded in the appropriate place on top of the frame. The other installation (Stage 1) shows an adaptor plate between the new box and the frame. Which installation is the '47-'55 one?

Any help on this conversion will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

My52Chebby

Hi,

Do mono leaf springs have center bolts?  I'm talking about mono leaf conversion springs with a 4" drop for '47-'55 Chevy pickups.

Also, can you re-arch a mono leaf spring?

Thank you.

My52Chebby