Howdy folks......just a few things gained from years and miles of driving my '47 as a usable work / fun truck. To make your truck sooo much nicer to drive you might want to consider the following :
1. first thing, get rid of the knee action shocks. Best thing you can do is upgrade to tube shocks. Forget about new springs, Teflon inserts blah blah blah. The stock suspension works fine as soon as you loose the knee action shocks.
2. get some 225/75 R16 (or15) tires. Stock rims work well and look good.
3. check the king pins and replace them if necessary. It's really easy on a 1/2 ton.
4. insulate the cab with floor matting. I used the back floor mat out of a long bed Ford van c/w under mat. This works well and it's cheap. It's just such a treat to drive a QUIET AD truck.
5. put about 200 pounds somewhere in the box or on the frame. Pre-loading the rear springs just helps the ride so much.
6 Next best thing costs a bit of money......get a 235 engine and a 3:55 gear set. If I had to do it all over again, I might just get a T5 trans and an open drive shaft/rear end. A 3:55 rear with stock 3 speed lets you run at 60mph at about 2400 rpm......right in the torque zone. I don't think a 235 really has enough power to warrant an over drive trans but it's possible if ya care. 60 mph is where I wanna be.
So just sayin'.....the above really really make your truck so much nicer to drive and apart from the drive train, they're all cheap , easy and effective.
