Front & rear suspension for 1955-1959 Chevy trucks

Hey guys

I am looking to build a nice quality every day driver 1/2 ton Chevy

What front & rear end suspensions would recommend to replace in a 1955-1959 Chevy 1/2 ton truck?


Thanks

 

I have a 79 Trans Am front clip on mine. Rear is later model Chevy pickup springs and mounts with the Trans Am rearend. Kinda depends on your skill level and budget.

 

professional skill level budget is $5000

 

2nd gen Camaro/Firebird is a good fit for those trucks for front. Why mess with success on the back, parallel leafs work good and easy to swap a matching bolt pattern rearend, such as the same donor cars as the 2nd gen.

 

We left the stock leafs and beam axle on the front of my dad's '58 Chevy pickup. We did an axle flip, added power discs and cross power steering. It rides, stops steers and handles awesome. People cannot believe what it has after they ride in the truck.

 

I second that. I have a camaro clip on mine as well (1950) but it was that way when I bought it. Getting all that to line up is a PIA. If I were doing it over I would stay with stock frame and do posies springs front and rear and a drop axle with some good shocks and call it a day, no front sheetmetal drama...

 

I think it's a lot easier on the 55-59 trucks. Width isn't an issue either as you can see in the pic. On mine there is no cutting of the sub frame rails. It just welds to the bottom of the stock truck frame. It's fairly low in the front and I can still run 8"- 0 offset wheels on the front with 255-40-17 tires with no clearance issues.






The tires in this pic cause problems when turning because they are actually to wide for the wheel. They are 275-50-17. They are getting replaced this weekend.

 

I have stock on my 59 truck, and 72 camaro on my 57 suburban. I though the pickup rode pretty nice, until I drove the Suburban. Big difference. But I still like driving both of them.

 

If you go with Camaro clip there are tons of tube A arms,$ drop spindles,$ brake kits, swaybars $ that will make a truck come close to a pro-tour car ! Better plan on a new set of wheels $ and tires $ in your budget you will be going from 6 to 5 bolt , also rear diff $ and a possible new drive shaft.$ You must upgrade the brake master/booster/prop.valve set up, $ new brake lines, and power steering pump,brkts and hoses $ If you use all the original A arms plan on new bushings, shocks, rod ends, idler arm as they will most likely be worn out by now. Your 5k budget will be strained but it can be done if your a frugal shopper and don't buy junk you cant use.

 

...used a 72 Nova clip in my 55, flipped the rear spring hangers to the top of the frame. moved the rear axle to the top of springs, worked great.

 

I did mine many years ago with a Chevelle clip. Fits quite well but you do have to consider as others mentioned the cost of rebuilding the suspension, brake issues etc...the price begins to climb. I found that you will spend a bit of time moving the front sheetmetal mounts and bumper brackets. That was easy and cheap. For the rear I went with a four bar, coil overs and a 9" ford with disc brakes. I believe staying with the parrallel leaf and the flip job is far cheaper and easy too. My project started in the 90's so thats the reason for some of the older techniques and pieces yet I do feel it all works together and she does sit dead on.

 

2nd. generation Camaro front clip and rearend (flipped) on my truck.. It drives and rides really well. 15X7 wheels with standard offset front and rear.

 

I used a 72 Cutlass wagon clip in the front. Slides right in to the cut off truck rails at the Cutlass kickup. And you can adjust the height at that point. EASY,EASY. Particularly for a first timer like me in 1984. PS, PDB, IFS; what's not to like? Just had to fab a small crossmember to mount front bulkhead and radiator. Still have it.

 

thanks guys for all your input

yes I did take into consideration the cost to upgrade the brakes, suspension etc

 

I'm building a 59 GMC for a daily driver. Just rebuilding the original front and rear suspension with all new springs, shackles, bushings, etc. Did swap in a narrowed 59 Pontiac rear axel though.

 

I also am considering this now. I was looking at a cradle in an '87 c10 suburban today, looks like it bolts to the frame. I didn't have a tape on me to get any measurements yet, but was definitely curious how close it would be.

 

The front frame of an 87 suburban is 28" wide, and rather high, while the front frame of a 55-59 truck is 34" wide, and flat relative to the rest of the truck.

Not a good swap.

 

2 best swaps for these trucks is probably 2nd gen camaro as has been repeated several times followed by jaguar xj. the camaro will get you a little lower a little easier(you can notch the jag into the frame like i did on my f100 to do the same) but the jag does cut the front frame off like the camaro does. the 34" wide frame does mean you have to slightly notch the jag crossmember at the back of the "towers" as it's like 33" between them. i think it took me all of 30 min to notch and plate the small notched area on mine

my goal with the jag in mine was to be about the same as f100s with the camaro in them if not an inch or so lower. i went 3" into the frame and am about an inch lower than most with the camaro.

either are good choices and can be done way under the 5k mark. you should be able to buy either front donor for $150-300. i haven't priced out the camaro stuff lately but you can completely go through the jag with new bushings/balljoint $200, tie rod ends $30, rebuilt rack and get the urethane rack bushings $270, calipers/rotors $300. add in brake lines and a steering joint or two and you might be around the grand mark on the jag front full rebuild. the one we picked up 2 days ago had a newer rebuilt rack and new bushings in it and it was $175. even if you gave $400 for the front and it needed ALL of that you're in at about $1500. you should be able to find a good to go rear from whatever gm you choose(jag is 5x4.75) for less than $500 but lets just use that figure and add in replacement iems of the same amount. $2500 in and all you need is master(booster if you choose) and some lines.

unless some parts have went sky high i'd bet the camaro rebuild would be about the same.

so i'd say if you have the skills to do all the work yourself $3000ish should get it done leaving $2k of your budget for nice shiny new wheels....

 

Another vote for the 2nd-gen Camaro/Firebird clip. A buddy and I did that to a '59 truck and even a '56 sedan - but I thought doing it to the car was a mistake!
My daily driver for several years was a stock-suspended '59 (with a small-block 400 and TH350) and if I ever have another '55-'59 truck I'm picking up fresh sawzall blades on the way home with it!

 

I found a 1981 firebird 4.9 turbo at the salvage yard today that I can ha e the subframe and goodies off of for $100. Heading over tomorrow to pay for and get it in the works.

Sent from my HTCONE using H.A.M.B. mobile app

 

At $100, the subframe alone is a steal- nice find!

 

I am also putting in subframe. I'm putting a first gen F-Body clip into a 57 Pontiac. To set up ride height on the clip, I'm told that I need to "level" the lower control arms. At what position is "level"? How do I measure this? I am using an all-thread to compress the spring.... but at what point do I call it level? Any help would be appreciated.....

Thanks!

Please see the pictures

 

I'd probably set the suspension so it's at the midpoint of it's travel. One way to do that would be to measure between the rubber bump stops, and the part they contact. Set it so the upper and lower gaps are the same. Probably around 2" or so each. Or maybe a little more room on the bottom.

 

Thanks! Okay... that sounds logical. Unfortunately I haven't rebuilt the front end yet and the stops are pretty worn out. I guess I could just do the same measurement without the rubber stops. I also have been told that if I were to make the lower ball joint level with the front inner pivot of the control arm that would be good also... Thoughts?

Maybe level these two points in the picture with the yellow line?

Any feedback is appreciated.

 

If the suspension is designed to "rest" with the ball joint and pivot on the same plane, then that would work. It may or may not be designed that way, since there are some tricks with locating the pivots, to get the car to handle as desired.

 

I went out and looked at my Suburban, which has an early 70s camaro clip. The distance between the mounting points for the snubbers, and the contact points, are about twice as big on the bottom, compared to the top. This makes sense, since you need more wheel upward travel, than downward travel. At this height, the ball joint pivot is about 2" lower than the A arm pivot. When I had shorter springs, the ball joint and arm pivot were about level, and the truck bottomed very easily.

We could just go look at the shop manual for the donor car, too...

 

I would have to guess on the "rest" position. But I will do a midpoint position as you suggest. With luck they will be close. I am doing this to set the wheelbase. I read a bunch of posts about the wheel position moving forward/aft as the it goes through its travel.

Thanks again squirrel!

 

Good info. I just have the sub... I will keep looking. I figure the forward/aft movement can't be too much once I get it in the ball park. I think?

Thanks! You are giving me good stuff to work with!

 

The for/aft should not move much near the center of travel. I have the overhaul manual for the 67 camaro, it has the specs for front end height, but not the measuring technique (the chassis manual has that, I don't have it for 67, only for 66). The spec is 2-3/4" lower at the ball joint, but I'm not sure where they measure from, it's different on each model.

 

Okay, great! I will attempt to get a chassis manual for a 69. I would assume that spec of 2-3/4" is likely lower than the pivot of the control arm. At least that is what I'm thinking. And I am sure you are right about the for/aft movement near the center of travel.

Just trying to "measure it with a micrometer, mark it with chalk and cut it with an axe"!

Thanks squirrel!