... Shocks are not so great and at some point I may change to modern tube shocks if possible. Radial tires are a huge difference from bias ply tires. Truck is tracking nicely down the road.
John, when you hit a rough surface or pot hole, does your steering wheel jerk all over the place and you have trouble staying in a straight line?
If not, I suspect your thoughts about the lever action shocks are misplaced. These trucks have very stiff springs. The ride is pretty hard over less than smooth roads. Tube shocks won't change that.
When Ol' Roy came to me, the shocks were shot. None of them would expand on their own when compressed. A couple had leaks and no fluid in them. The steering wheel would practically jerk out of my hand when hitting moderately rough roads.
With proper sized radial tires and working shocks, the truck stays straight on course with no jerky steering wheel, but the ride is still a lot stiffer than you'd be used to in a modern car.
If your truck tracks straight over rough surfaces and you don't have to fight the steering wheel, your lever action shocks are working properly and I doubt tube shocks will give you the improvement you might expect.
1950 Chevrolet 3100 (Ol' Roy)
1939 Packard Standard Eight Coupe (The Phantom) | 1956 Cadillac Coupe de Ville (The Bismarck) | 1964 Ford Galaxie 500 coupe |1966 Ford Mustang (Little Red) | 1969 Pontiac GTO (The Dishpit) I 1979 Ford F-100 | 1976 Ford F-150 (Big Red) | 1995 Ford F-150 (Newt)
