Hey, I have a 1960 Chevy apache long bed with a 6 and 3 speed, I also have the torsion bar front end, has anybody lowered there truck with this front end set-up, I looked through all the other threads for 60-66 trucks on here but not much info or picks on the 60's I'm looking for the cheapest way possible, its just and old farm truck but it sits a bit high,
Just turn the bars down till you get it where you want it...lowering springs in the rear from early classic, brothers....etc.
The torsion bars ride like a couch. They're VERY comfortable. Chrysler sued GM over the torsion bar front end, and won... hence, the switch to coil front end in '63. Chrysler used the set-up for a decade after that, and they ride pretty well. As for the rear, they handle pretty damn well too. Like others have said--to lower the fronts, just crank the adjust bolt at the crossmember by the trans. It'll bottom out on the bumpstops when you hit bad bumps, and it also takes a lot of travel out of the shocks, but it'll get the job done until you can get some spindles and a disc brake kit. -Brad
a cheap way to lower the rear is to cut the coils from the top and then either drive it like that or for extra safety drill the frame and use a u-bolt to hold the coil in place on top, ive done both ways, or if you do have some cash get some jeep springs that bolt in with the stock spring plates in the rear supposed to lower the rear around 3 or so inchs... The rear Jeep TJ/LJ springs. There are four different versions of the springs that were used from 1997 through 2006. These are the ones that can be used on the C10. Similar rear springs could be found on the Jeep Grand Cherokee ZJ. All four versions are the same length wise but vary in rate. The only way to tell them apart is by the color coded tags that are on the springs from the factory, they read as follows: 103AA (or 3AA) 130lb. 104AA (or 4AA) 140lb. 105AA (or 5AA) 150lb. 106AA (or 6AA) 160lb. so what this saying here is that the 106AA are the best because you can carry more of a load, just remember if you do use jeep springs dont expect to be hauling the same weight as stock springs....."Sometimes thats the price you have to pay to be cool" as far as the front your pretty limited because the torsion bars with out spending some cash or work id just turn the torsion bars and call it a day if your just trying to get it a little lower!
I agree. The rear suspension is the current Nascar setup. CPP makes a grand slam kit if your really serious about the truck being dropped and handling.
like the other guys said .On my 62 i just wound the front down cut the bump stops in half and replaced the rear springs with manual airbags,airvalves at the rear bumper.I run about 40lbs and it rides fairly low and rides nice
http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/showthread.php?t=442745 Seems like a killer price, doesn't it? Maybe carry a portable tank around for a while... Great info on the Jeep springs, LostHope! I need to save that info - plenty of wrecked jeeps where I live.. Gilles d - I was wondering if that could be done, but I had never seen it before. What rack unit did you end up using? P
GM used torsion bars on 1/2 ton 4wd and (to my knowledge) all 3/4 and 1 ton trucks up until the 2007 model year. Of course, there are exceptions to the rule, like the occasional 1/2 ton 2wd with torsion bars. :| To the OP, you should be able to drop the front by an inch or so with a torsion bar key adjustment. Jack the front and put it up on stands. You may find a need for a torsion bar tension tool; the proper tool is recommended, but some folks make do with a big c-clamp or a two-jaw puller. I'm not recommending anything other than the proper tool. The use of the tool is to unload the spring tension from the adjusting screw. Make an adjustment one complete turn at a time, then drop the front back down to the ground. Be aware that you may need a front end alignment after the adjustment is made.
Gm would still be using torsion bar but chrysler sued them for patent issues and they stopped. find a k-member from a later gm truck 63-67' to keep 6 lug or 71-87' for a 5 lug swap. damm near a bolt in swap. 67-72 chevy truck forum has lots of tech on swap.
Heres my old 60 shortbed. Turned torsion bars down as far as I could safely, and added 88 jeep tj rear coils to rear of my truck. Just that simple and cheap...
Interesting,any proof of that? GM used torsion bars on the 66 Olds Toronado front driver also.The story I heard was the torsion bars were more expensive so GM switched back to coils.
Torsion bars were still used up to 05, unless Im mistaken. I had a 76 chevy luv used TB to lower that, 92 silverado ext cab with TB, and my 05 z71 has TB. My 61 C10 was lowered in front with torsion bars also.
On Chevy trucks, torsion bars were uses from 60-62. Then coil springs from 63 - on. Torsion bars were used again only on 4wd's from 88 on. Sent from my DROID device using the TJJ mobile app
hey grumpy thanks for the info approx. how much do the 88 tj coils drop it and also if im not mistaken you cant cut those jeep coils down shorter, and if you bought yours or ordered them where did you get em. any info would help thanks
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