I’ve been non-aggressively hunting locally for an old pickup for the past couple of years. A customer of mine(I’m a barber) recently told me a few months ago that he had a completely original 54 Chevy pickup with an automatic transmission, that he might be interested in letting go. Being that I’ve only seen 2-3 factory Hydra-Matic trucks in my life, I knew I had to have it. Mainly because I have an Olds 303 that I’d like to someday stick in it. My plans are to just clean the body/paint(or lack there of) up the best I can for now and pull off the tool boxes and headache rack(I am gonna keep them though). For suspension I’m gonna run 3” dropped springs all around and a 3” dropped axle for the front(hopefully end up with a 6/4 drop). I’d like to convert it to 5 lug, so I can swap wheels around with my 53 Belair. I have an extra set of front hubs from my belair that I can put on the front. I also have a Powerglide rear/Torque tube from my wife’s 50 Chevy styleline. Can someone tell me if I could swap that whole setup into the truck(and hopefully run the trucks backing plates and brakes) or maybe just swap the axles and get the 3.55 gear set that Patrick’s makes for the truck rear. Once I get it swapped to 5 lug, I’ll run 15” steel wheels with Wide white G’s and H’s and 57 Cadillac hubcaps. Anyhow, here are a couple of pictures.
Little known fact … '54 Chev 3100 Hydra-matic torque tube is about 6'' shorter than any other '41 up car or truck. Learned this by accident, of course. None of the '50 pass. parts would work anyway - still Huck brakes. ''Dropped'' or flat springs don't work on the front. There's only a couple inches travel. The old days method is axle on top of the springs with about 6 degrees caster rolled into it. (For those who can't drive lowered cars, this just doesn't work out.) The dropped stock axle is the best way ... The pitman arm is shortened to do away with bump steer, or the shorter '55 - '59 pitman fits if the drag link is modified. Rear springs should be de-arched, unless you want a bunch of blocks & bolts hanging under it … The picture is a friend's '54 dropped as described above. axle on top.
The Jalopy Journal
