Projects When is the BandAid just too big?

This is more of a dilemma question than anything. I've been driving my 49 Chevy truck for a little while now and I want to lower it and maybe put some discs up front for a safer ride.

Scenario: Buy a dropped axle/monoleafs at about $350-$400 and get a disc conversion kit at about $325. Now I've got a lowered truck with the stuff I want, but I'm out abour $700 when all the incidentals are accounted for.

Is that $700 better served in sourcing a front clip for the truck? maybe. Am I comfortable doing a clip job myself, not even close.

Feel free to add your 2 pennies or guide me in the right direction.

 

Do it the real way, the way it should be done. Dropped I beam, otherwise its headed toward street rod territory.

 

If you see the truck, you'll know it's the furthest thing from a street rod, but I can certainly understand your perspective. It's just a rusty old driver I want a little lower and a little safer.

My angle is this: I know I can do an axle or monoleafs and the conversion over a weekend in my driveway/garage but I don't have the means to do a clip correctly.

 

Well I have the drop axle for mine and have not done it yet, to many other things to do. It would probably drive a lot better with a properly done clip but I don't know how much more or less $$ it would be. A lot more than suspension is changing there! Okay.....I guess I am no help.

 

Do the first option where you can do the work yourself. Otherwise you have to depend on someone else's work, so that's another unknown in the process. If he doesn't do it correctly, how will you know?

 

I put an MII in my 49 car and regret it. I should have just lowered the stock stuff. One thing led to another V8, S-10 trans, nova rear. It would be on the road by now if I stayed with stock. And it would be more traditional (not that it's a streetrod). So my advice would be to go the traditional way or else you'll be changing and upgrading the entire driveline before you Know it.

 

I think you answered your own question...

Dropped axle and disc brake conversion gets you "I've got a lowered truck with the stuff I want".

Your concern is that you'll be out approximately $700....for the stuff you want.

So...you are debating about the alternative...spending the same $700 on a clip....which you don't want, nor feel comfortable with, at your current skill level...but somehow you percieve that the expenditure of the $700 is more valid if...

...you spend on something you don't want?

Here's your answer: "Dropped axle and disc brake conversion gets you "I've got a lowered truck with the stuff I want".

That wasn't so painful, was it?

 

By the time you account for rebuilding the clip suspension and brakes, the time, effort and materials refitting the front sheetmetal and possibly paying for the structural aspect of this project, $700 looks inexpensive and correct. If driving a solid axle car is good with you, there is no reason to clip it. If you don't like driving a solid axle car, think about getting something that has IFS. The vast majority of clipped cars don't get put back together 'cause of the not so fun complexities of the job.
Then maybe I'm becoming a traditional snob.

 

If you want to keep driving it, put the straight axle under it. A clip is gonna take longer, cost more, and IMO, not add that much value to the truck. Plus you can say "I did it myself".

 

does Chassis Engineering make a bolt in MustangII for those trucks? I know they make them for cars of that era.

not a fan of clips. I like axles on other peoples trucks, but I'd go with a FATMAN Ultra low weld in MII if I had my own truck.

 

i think DollaBill nailed it. i had a stock 48 years ago and wish id never sold it. if i still had it, id have used an axel.

 

I don't think I fully understand why everything has to have disc brakes. I guess they are OK but I've never even entered the notion of putting disc brakes on my Ford. A good set of drums will stop just fine. Hell they did it for years. Granted one can't road race with them but they are still on 18 wheelers and they seem to stop if they have to. Maybe I'm missing something here but I just don't see the expense involved in the change.

 

I'd vote dropped axle and discs. A clip may be cheaper to start with, but as said above, by the time you get done, you'll have more than $700 in it.

Live anywhere with lots of hills? I had an O/T car with 4 wheel drums as a daily years ago. By the time I got to the highway on my way to work they were faded so bad, I had to stand on the brake pedal to get it the car to stop at the final light before the onramp. And that was driving normally, not pushing it.

 

Well yeah, actually, I have. I was raised in southern MO with tons of hills and hollers, twists and turns. I cut my drivin' teeth there starting with my Dads Chrysler's. I then had a Studebaker Golden Hawk and a '55 Chevy I terrorized the country side with and all of them had drum brakes and I have yet to fail to stop when I jumped on the binders other than lockin' them up and slidin' past where I intended to stop.

 

Speedway has a disc kit for like $250, I put it on my F1, not bad. Send your axle to someone to drop it for you and you will save a bunch. You shouldn't have $700 in brakes and an axle drop.

I still have the CD tray and cd's that were in the Cranbrook. Are you coming to the showdown?

CHAZ

 

Do what you can do yourself. Go with the dropped axle, buying a good kit will help you learn what you need to know.


I will have a similar issue on my (SShhhhhh 63 Jeep Pickup) I'm thinkin about a straight axle and disc setup for the front and an axle flip in the rear. I just haven't found out which axle will match the spring width in my Jeep. Good luck with the swap.

 

Another vote for the "you answered your own question". Do the bolt on drop axle and discs and don't look back. It's also cheaper in the longrun and certainly seems to be what you want.

Discs are awesome. Anyone saying drums are equivalent is driving far more conservatively than they acknowledge or driving on roads with low traffic density. The average commuter sedan today has stopping distances better than professional race cars from your truck's era. I sure wouldn't want the only non-race car when the herd decides to stop.

I'm guessing the IFS might also be thrown in there for ride concerns. Study up and do everything you can from using teflon sliders in the springs to greasing the eye bushings. Then spend on decent street shocks, not parts store gas matics or hard full race units. You might really be suprised at how well a solid axle can work, when you let it work. Many are functionally rigid mount and the owners don't realize.

good luck

 

Im going through a similar dilema with my own project. I was trying to decide between an MII or a rebuilt front end that has been lowered and has disk brakes. I have decided that i dont have the time, place or skill involved in installing a MII x member. I want to drive my car and I think that lowering, rebuilding, and adding safer brakes will give me all that I want. There are a lot of small projects that I could get done if I just rebuild what I got. On a side note, my father clipped a 1951 Chevy Panel back in 1987. He didnt do his research and just cut both frames and butt welded them together and added boxing plates to the outside of the weld area. The car now sits like a gasser.....not the look he was going for. As a result of this the panel has not moved or even been worked on since.

 

Drum brakes can be considerably improved by selecting the hardest grade lining from the 2-3 grades usually available.

Do the axle now, start collecting disc brake pieces.

As noted, the Speedway kit is reasonably priced.

A few refurbished junkyard parts, new rotors should get you going for not too much.

Down time would be minimalized as well.

 

I would go with the axle and a brake upgrade. If you do it your self, you can smile and say, "Yup, I did it my self" , with your head held high.
my .02$

 

Add an anti-sway bar and use gas shocks too. Then it'll handle just as well as a clip.

 

"When is the BandAid just too big? "

Band-Aid is in the eye of the beholder.


You answered your own question in your text, and I too think it is a reasonable answer.

To me, a "front clip" is to be used only when the owner decides to do it the hard way because he thinks everything else has failed and is giving up. Most of the time it was completely unecessary.

In my view, it's the front clips that look like piled-up Band Aids.

 

Thanks for all the input guys. I just need to find someone to drop my axle for me. I tried hitting up Jordan a while back but he wasn't ready to do AD trucks at the time. Any suggestions for that?

 

Cen-Pen?

http://www.cenpen.com/truckaxles.htm

 

Have you ever seen an 18 wheeler that DIDN'T stop in time? disc brakes are a welcome improvement when an expensive grill sits in the front of your car. my hot rod goes fast, what about yours?

 

Dollabill is right, Dropped axel and discs, do it yourself and it's what you wanted to start with. Don't overthink this stuff.

 

I think Cen-Pen only does new axles, they don't offer a drop service for your own. I'd rather have mine dropped since I know its been under that truck for 60 years and the kingpins holes will jive and everything. I was also considering monleafs but someone said if there's a failure its pretty catostrophic since there's no other support point. justified concern?

 

Here's a follow up to the first issue: I've got a ton of play in my steering wheel. It's almost completely turned 90degrees from normal going down the road. Is this my steering box? just the bias plys being funny? King pin slop? Since I've gotta rip the axle off to send it out to get dropped I'd like to address this issue at the same time.

 

I am not familiar with that particular truck, but most of the older pickups would definitely benefit from a newer steering box.
The older steering boxes, particularly the "worm-and-sector" ones that were used on nearly all cars of that era, are power consuming and wear out pretty fast. Most of theirs lives are spent as heavy-handed wornout boxes with too much slop. Be careful, after a certain stage, they can actually "skip" at the very worst times.

I took a "newer" GM Saginaw steering box from a mid 70's GM car and mounted it in my Studebaker pickup. (It used a very common ROSS steering box) The tighter steering with the better GM "recirculating ball" system made all the difference in the world.
I cut my steering column, which was a straight shaft as almost all cars were in that time period, and added a steering flex joint just like the post-1965 cars. It looked completely stock.
I then had a safe "modern" steering that made the truck feel totally different and fun to drive. It even had power steering!

I'll bet that will take out 95% of your play. It does sound like your steering box may be at a very dangerous stage right now. I would be nervous about driving it until I found the source of the extreme play. I know, I have had cars like that also, but triple check that nothing is about to drop off.
After you check your tie rods and kingpins to be sure nothing is about to drop, start looking for a steering box that turns the right way.
Most any 70's GM car should have an excellent low cost set.

 

what other parts can you replace/should you replace when you do the swap? does the kit come with a new master? porportioning valve? lines/hoses? are your stock steering parts in good shape? will the rear brakes need to be gone through as well just to clean them up? will your pedal set up work with the new master?

i know i have had a weekend project or two that left me bumming rides to work on monday coz i overlooked some little things that turned into big things.


but hell yeah i would do the drop axle and discs.