'63 - '66 Chevy Truck Front Suspension Question....

[Kustm52]

Going to be helping a friend out with a new purchase soon - '63 Chevy shortbed. He wants to convert to 5-lug and disc brakes. I know the '73 - up truck front crossmember and suspension will fit with a few mods. We have a '72 parts truck (w/ discs) ...will the front suspension from it bolt in as well? Will the five lug rear from the '72 fit the '63 without fabrication? I know some of you have these trucks and performed these swaps... trying to get the best plan of attack before we start. No need to reinvent the wheel...!

Thanks...Brian

[ELpolacko]

The entire front suspension will bolt on with a few modifications.

The lower control arm holes need to be enlarged to 9/16 before the 1973-1987 suspension can bolt to the 1963 front crossmember. The steering gear will also work, the steering shaft needs to be shortened one inch and you need four 3/4 inch spacers to stand the box off the frame rail. Only one hole will line up so you will need to locate the other three and drill them out on the frame. Like wise for the idler arm bracket, once the steering box is mounted, level out the center link and locate the bracket on the frame and drill out the holes.

pretty straight forward stuff,

As for the rear axle, yes it will work but I recomend buying a kit to mount the later axle in the earlier truck if it is a trailing arm suspsension. Otherwise if it is a parallel leaf truck I do belive they will just bolt in.

[Yosemite Hermit]

If that's got the torsion bar front suspension, I'd highly recommend not changing it out. They ride great and are height adjustable too. IMO it's a far superior suspension design to coils. I'd recommend upgrading to 5 lug discs. There's a shop in Fresno (I think, can't remember the name right now but I can find out if you like) that offers the disc kits as well as dropped axles, etc. You can get a sway bar for it as well. My buddy has done all this to his '60 and it rides sweet.

[Kustm52]

Thanks for the detailed info, el P. Do you know if the '72 is the same as the '73 up? That's the one we have sitting here..I haven't compared it to a '73 up the see if there is any difference. The rear in the '63 as well as the '72 are both trailing arm, so the rear should be a direct swap (maybe!). Hermit, this truck is the coil spring one, I think the torsion bar ones were only '60 and '61 ... if this was the case I'd leave it too. Anybody else done one of these swaps?

Brian

[ELpolacko]

72 is in the same family as your 63. 73 up are identifiable by the rubber bushings on the control arms vs the steel on steel "bushings" on the 72 and earlier.

The only difference on the rear end may be the panhard rod. I blelive the 63 style bar is longer than the 67-72 style. I personaly would make it even longer than it is. Like this, click here (http://www.earlyclassic.com/catalogpg22.html)

[burger]

Brian,

Check out the stuff that Classic Performance Parts has for sale. They have a lot of parts aimed at lowering the truck and converting it to disc.

http://www.classicperform.com/6092chevtrk.htm

Ed

[R&C Lee]

Early Classic Enterprises also has a lot of stuff and very helpful. 559 291-1611

[mrbent50]

Going to be helping a friend out with a new purchase soon - '63 Chevy shortbed. He wants to convert to 5-lug and disc brakes. I know the '73 - up truck front crossmember and suspension will fit with a few mods. We have a '72 parts truck (w/ discs) ...will the front suspension from it bolt in as well? Will the five lug rear from the '72 fit the '63 without fabrication? I know some of you have these trucks and performed these swaps... trying to get the best plan of attack before we start. No need to reinvent the wheel...!

Thanks...Brian
Hi Brian my name is Marv i live i Littlerock CA i have a 1965 Chevy truck and have already changed the front suspension to a 1977 Chevy truck and added 1977 front bumpers front and rear also added 2 1/2" drop spindles if you would have any questions you can call me at 661-435-5240 have a good one.

[LeadFooted]

I would swap out the spindle with hubs off the 72 onto the 63. Swap out the rearend from the 72 under the rear of the 63, and call it a day. No need to swap out the whole front ifs saddle since they are the same from 63-72 trucks. If the 72 had ps, buy the rez adapter and bolt on the ps steering box on the 63 frame.
David

[Old wolf]

Ive swapped several 73 up front suspensions under 60 thru 69 trucks. Use the complete suspension including the crossmember. You will need to drill two holes for the idler arm. You can retain the original steering sector just change the pitman arm. I prefer the 73 up because the rubber bushings seem to hold up better than the steel shaft& bushing that are subject to wear. If is a GMC the leaf spring rear will bolt up. Most 64 up GMC,s and a few chevy,s had leaf spring rears.That torsion bar front may be desirable to some. however those lower ball joints are high dollar to replace. Torsion bar front end,s have ball bearing,s instead of taper roller wheel bearings. There is a reason why they only used them for a few years. OldWolf