The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area The HiPo Shop 49 chevy 3600

hello everyone this is my first post as I am new to this forum. thank you all for having me. I just purchased a 49e 3600 a month or so ago and have begun doing research to change the stance and drive train on my truck. since it is a long bed I am going to have to shorten the frame and the box so I figure I am going to swap rear axle out. I have searched on here but have not found a deffinate answer to what axle form a salvage yard I could buy that would be the same track width as a mustang 2 suspension on this truck. that is my next mod so I wanted to find a rear axle the same width. I plan on doing a four link and bags so it does not have to sit on the leaf springs in the same spot as the oem axle but I have no deffinate answer to how wide the 3600 8 lug axle is drum face to drum face and I have no answer on what is in salvage yard that would be very close to fitting and give me the disk brakes for the rear . I would post pictures but cant figure it out on here

Why are you shortening the frame and bed?

Changing the rear should not mean things have to be shortened. Driveshaft's can be made to what custom length you would need. And a lot less work.

Im shortening becuase my truck is a long bed and i want it to be a shortbed

A lot of us that go the salvage yard route use Camero/TransAm stuff. Plenty out there and lots of aftermarket support. You can use wheel back spacing to fine tune the width. With a tape measure, torch, welder and a grinder you can make most anything fit. Drive Shafts can be custom fabricated to match your needs. There are a lot of how to's on frame shortening, pick the one that suits your needs. Check the list at the top of this page for some ideas.

With as much as you plan it sounds more like you should check out the S10 chassis swap for your first step then. Then after that is running upgrade things from there.

hmric7 where are you located in Illinois? Maybe some one close by and come by and check out what you are doing.

hey guys glad to see so much support. i have not started this project just trying to get all my ducks in a row. i considered doing the s10 swap but the majority of the s10s i ve looked at thata re regular cab long bad have swiss cheese frames or someone wants 800 bucks for the truck and it doesent run. my frame on my truck is solid so i figured i would just shorten it and upgrade the front end to the mustang 2 with air ride and put in a diff rear and cnotch the frame. i live by peoria

Just checked this thread - kind of "been there, done that", with a 3/4 ton to 1/2 ton frame conversion - but I didn't do air/low ride thing. Build thread here:

http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/showthread.php?t=660718