The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area The HiPo Shop 88 front suspension on 53 truck

I have a chassis from-i think an 88 chevy truck. Is there any way to define the year of a chassis without the vin? There are numbers on top of the frame rail(passenger side 9A142123).
Anyway, i want to put the front suspension from the 88?? under the 53. Any suggestions?
I found one guy who has done this conversion with a 63-87 saddle, but i'm not sure how different my suspension saddle will be.(here is his link)
http://antiquechevytrucks.com/Conte.../AD_bolt_on_independent_front_suspen.htm

-Joey

Welcome to the 'Bolt Garfunk18! Can you post a pic of the frame? There is one way i can tell you without seeing it, and that's in how the front suspension is mounted. The pre-'87 (and up to '91 on Suburban) has the boltd in cradle, as shown in the link you posted. The '88 (GMT400 chassis) does not have a removable crossmember, and the upper control arms mount into integral tabs on the frame. They also use a cam bolt style adjustment (although '88-early '89s might not have the bolts if they've never been aligned) as opposed to the shim type adjustments of the older trucks. I have heard of using the '63-'87 cradle to get an independent front end, but it is a little wide for the AD truck, so the tires might stick out past the femders a bit. Another option that is very popular with converting the AD body truck is to use an S10 long wheelbase truck chassis. You would use the entire chassis. The wheelbase is 117", about 2" longer than the original, but it corrects the problem on the AD body having the wheels 2" too far forward in the rear fenderwells. Also makes for easy V8 upgrades, using the many S10 V8 kits. You can also gain 4 wheel disk brakes, if you use the right OE parts, without having to deal with aftermarket parts.

When I started with my 50 truck I was considering the bolt on ifs from pre 87 truck. I ended up mig welding on a Camaro subframe. It fits nicely and rides better than the truck ifs would. I borrowed a mig welder and had it in just a couple days.

I used a narrowed '79 under mine. I'm not sure about the '88. The 73-87 will "bolt on" but if I remember correctly the later years were intergrated into their frames. You could probally still use it but you would have to cut and weld it in.

Thank you both for your replies. Norm84,the reason i have chosen this particular saddle is because it came with the 53 truck when i bought it, along with the rolled 92 silverado(slight body damage-A/C on the 350 still works great).What are your thoughts on this(92)suspension saddle? I just answered my own question after looking at the 92. It is factory welded with a complete different setup. As far as the motor, I want to keep the straight 6 just to be different.
Longbox55, here is a view of the particular saddle(excuse the weeds)!
[email]http://home.bellsouth.net/p/s/commu...pid=362586&folderview=thumbs&ck=[/email]
If you need more pics let me know.
-Joey

The link doesn't work. Are you lining directly from you're own files? If so, you need to host your pix to a site like Webshots or Photo bucket (they're free) then link them in from there. Theres more complete instructins on how to do this in the IT Short bus forum.

Longbox55, I tried the link on another computer and it works fine. Try to copy from close bracket to open bracket and paste in your address bar. If this does not work let me know and i will change to your suggestion of Webshots, Etc...
Also in your first post you mentioned an "AD" truck, excuse my ignorance, but what is it?

"AD"= Advance Design, Chevrolets name for the '47-'55.1 body style. You'll also see "TF" alot here. That would be the Task Force, 55.2-'59 body truck, like my own 3200.
I got it to work. I'm a bit "comuter stupid" so I didn't really know how to look at it :hammering: . However, it is preferrable that you link them i from a hosting site, if only for ease of veiwing by those of us not so computer savvy
Now, on the suspesion ID! You've got a pre-'87. You should be able to use it, maybe narrowing it like mentioned on one of the other posts.