50 Chevy truck frame project

[Bib_Overalls]

Be intrested in seeing pictuires of the rest of the chassis build and the body fitting work.  My friend Roger picked up a 48 Chevy cab today in a swap out for some paint work.  He usually uses stock frames with Mustang II crossmembers.  But he might be intrested in building his own frame for this one.

[enjenjo]

There will be more to this, I did some figuring today, and I have the rest of the frame figured out now. I am going to use 1/2 ton 73 to 87 Chevy truck rear springs, so I can do some towing with this if I want. I'll post a picture of the frame shape I am going to use.

[phat rat]

I happened to stop in at old Franks today. The rail work was as nice in person as the pictures.

I was on a mission today, had to pick up a new - new to me anyway - Vision brand under seat steering recumbent bike. It's a 2000 with only 35 miles on it. Looks new. A nice addition to my bicycle collection. I got lessons on how to ride and, talk about a newbie - I've been riding bikes for something like 57-58 years and I promptly fell over on the first launch. There's gonna be a real learning curve on this thing.

The bike was in Elyria, OH - sorry Slo Cro, but I didn't have enough turn around time to drive across Cleveland to see ya - next time.

Charlie

Sounds like you better visit a store that sells BMX equipment, you're going to need extra padding everywhere.

[1FATGMC]

There will be more to this, I did some figuring today, and I have the rest of the frame figured out now. I am going to use 1/2 ton 73 to 87 Chevy truck rear springs, so I can do some towing with this if I want. I'll post a picture of the frame shape I am going to use.

Nice work Frank.  I still have a little bit of the original frame in the back of my truck.

On the springs have you considered camaro?  I went from stock ones to the high performance ones and love them (actually liked the others also).  They give a better ride I would think than truck springs and I've towed with them no problems.  I have air shocks I air up (still the first ones I put on), but you could add air bags for the towing deal.  Besides the teardrop I'm towed over 6000 lb. behind it on a regular car trailer and other trailers in between in weight.

Other than being longer than springs a lot of guys use I don't understand why more people don't use them.  They sure give a good ride and handle good.  I've be in a number of other street rods and they ride so rough in the back.  I also set the springs up so the front and rear mounts are in the same position (ref. to the ground) as they were in the Camaro and I think that helps stopping and handling.

c ya, Sum

[enjenjo]

I considered other springs, I even considered coils but decided on the pickup leaf rears for several reasons. One, easily available, two cheap, three, easy to fab mounts, and four, even the light ones are set up with a helper leaf that will make air bags, or air shocks unnecessary. One change I am making is to mount the axle over the springs, rather than under them.

In the factory application, Camaro springs have the front eye much lower than the rear, so do the chevy trucks. That helps reduce oversteer on cornering. I plan on doing the same.

[WZ JUNK]

I considered other springs, I even considered coils but decided on the pickup leaf rears for several reasons. One, easily available, two cheap, three, easy to fab mounts, and four, even the light ones are set up with a helper leaf that will make air bags, or air shocks unnecessary. One change I am making is to mount the axle over the springs, rather than under them.

In the factory application, Camaro springs have the front eye much lower than the rear, so do the chevy trucks. That helps reduce oversteer on cornering. I plan on doing the same.

I have used the Dodge Caravan springs on a couple of frames and they work well but they would be to light for what you are doing.  The WZ JUNK truck has S10 springs and it rides rough but at the drag strip, those springs and the slapper bars eliminate any wheel hop on launch.  I still want to build a frame using the long Chevrolet truck trailing arms and coil springs.

[1FATGMC]

............... One, easily available, two cheap, three, easy to fab mounts, and four, even the light ones are set up with a helper leaf that will make air bags, or air shocks unnecessary. One change I am making is to mount the axle over the springs, rather than under them.

In the factory application, Camaro springs have the front eye much lower than the rear, so do the chevy trucks. That helps reduce oversteer on cornering. I plan on doing the same.

I started with the used ones off of the Camaro I bought for parts and the sub-frame.  Then in Missouri getting ready to pulling a u-haul back to Utah had a u-joint break.  After getting that fixed along the road in the rain and 30 something degreees(drive shaft banged around some), I put the truck on a lift in Springfield to see if there was any other damage.

Not related to the driveshaft, I found 2 broken leafs on one spring and 1 broken leaf on the other.  I drove back to Utah worried the whole way and when I got home I ordered new springs, the heavy duty ones for the Camaro.  I got them from good old J.C. Whitney and they weren't that expensive.  I would never put used springs in a vehicle again and I'll be checking these more often.  Springs just aren't that expensive, especially for a "fat cat" like you (oh I forgot that is the other Frank).

Also when I got the new springs they weren't near as arched as the old ones and I thought the truck was going to sit too low, but since they were quite a bit stiffer it actually sat a little higher.

   

You are right about the front mounts being quite a bit lower.  The mounts were easy to build, I just cut the ones off the Camaro in the front and welded them under the frame with some spacers.  Not pretty looking, but they have worked with no problems.  Later I added Cal-tracs and really like those.  The back mounts were easy to do. I've looked at air bags, but I don't have any place to put them at this point where they would fit.

c ya and have a good weekend,

Sum

[1FATGMC]

....................  I still want to build a frame using the long Chevrolet truck trailing arms and coil springs.

Frank that is the way to go!!!  Good idea John.  I wish I would have done that and still consider it for the future.  Works really well with air bags also and on weekends you can see if you can qualify for a NASCAR race .

John was suppose to get me some of those, but we got side tracked.  John I guess those were at that yard where everything got crushed :cry:  :?:  :cry:  :?: .

c ya, Sum

[GPster]

John was suppose to get me some of those, but we got side tracked.  John I guess those were at that yard where everything got crushed :cry:  :?:  :cry:  :?: .c ya, Sum

Probably need to look for them somewhere west of the Mississippi. They look like "I" beams but are really 2 "C" channel pieces back-to-back. In Ohio they rust between the two channels where you can't see and then fall apart when you least expect them to. Of course the newest ones would be 35 years old. I seem to remember them using a similar rear suspension on NASCAR cars back in the '70s and remember Oldsmobile used a similar set-up back in the early '50s with the coil spring behind the axel. Just another chance to trick myself into thinking I know something. GPster

[jaybee]

"I seem to remember them using a similar rear suspension on NASCAR cars back in the '70s"

They still do, in fact.  Seems something like that wouldn't be that hard to build.

[1FATGMC]

"I seem to remember them using a similar rear suspension on NASCAR cars back in the '70s"

They still do, in fact.  Seems something like that wouldn't be that hard to build.

This company and I think another one or two sell the stuff both new and used:

http://www.musclemotorsports.com/suspension-truck--trailing--arms.html

Come-on Frank do this, so I will have something to look at later if I do it and you can beat John to the punch .

c ya, Sum

[enjenjo]

To continue the saga. I have decided to stick with leaf springs on this one. Here's how I am doing the rest of the frame.

[enjenjo]

Continuing, the inside reinfocement plates allow the outside to be ground smooth without weakening the joint.