Just got a 51 chevy 3100, Its pretty rough but I like it. Plan on driving it a month or so then doing some work during this winter on it. Two things I need to address right away, I dont like the stance it sits too high. I have never owned any thing with a straight axle before, What is the best way to lower one of these a few inches? Blocks in the rear and remove a couple leaf spring in the front? Or do something with the shakles? Or ? I dont care for the wheels too much, I just want some old steel rims with beauty rings, It has the same pattern on all 4 corners and an S10. Any suggestions on type, size, ect. I'm sure some have seen the truck for sale here or there. the 54 is a example of what I'm looking for in a rim
you could leave it a truck for a while, you might like it. that's not poopin' on your idea but you never know you might give it a while before you go to all that work for a rougher ride.
The rear shakles are shot, short of ordering what other options do i have. are there newer model shakles that will fit this truck. If not, anybody have a good source for these parts, like LMC ect.
On my '38, I removed the two shortest leaves in the front and that brought it down 1". I'm waiting on a 3" dropped axle to finish the front end. In the rear, I removed the center bolt in the springs, took the bottom two leaves and inverted them and bolted them back into the top of the pack. Acted as a .6" lowering block, de-arched the rest of the leaves and also made the center of the spring pack stiffer to counteract the fact that the springs are only 1-3/4" wide and might wind up on acceleration. I used some 1-3/4" square tubing to make some lowering blocks for the rear too. All that brought the rear down 4". The truck rides smoother too. I'd back it out of the garage for some pics, but with a steep driveway and no e-brake or driveshaft at the moment, it would wind up in the street before I could stop it.
You really need to replace those springs. It looks like the bolt has worn into the curved eye of the main leaf. That's a high stress point where they're prone to breaking anyway. If you go pulling leaves and changing the arch it's used to working at it's almost certain to break in the near future. At least that's my experience when adding arch to 4x4s. Good luck with a cool ole truck
Thanks for the info. With the dropped axle are you going to change the steering or will the stock steering work with the axle? Only guy in town the didnt give me a "what the fuck" look when i showed him the shakle, only has 1'3/4 shakles in stock so looks like I'll have to order anyways
speedway motors has some parts for your truck.You could always make the shackles if you're up to it,they're pretty basic. www.speedwaymotors.com
no limit sells a kit to that has shocks leafs mounts shackles hardware and bushings that will lower the truck 4 to 6 inches. its $595 dollars
you beat me to it by a matter of minutes. They're a great place to grab stock parts for cheap. I think I priced it out at about $148 to replace every piece of glass in the truck, precut to fit. Can't beat that.
I'm planning to knock out the ballstuds on the steering arm and pitman and use the later model drop-in replacement tie rod ends and a piece of threaded rod to make a new drag link. That way, I can position the tie rod end on the forward part of the drag link under (instead of over as per original design) the steering arm. It ought to drop the front of the drag link vertically enough to compensate for the 3" dropped axle. My axle is supposed to be here late this week, so I'll soon see if all my supposing is going to work at all. Whatever I work out, I'll post about it and add to the collective knowledge, so to speak.
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