The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area General Truck Talk 1960 Front end- convert or restore?

I just purchased a 1960 C-10 short step. I am planning on lowering it 2" and possibly swap in disc brakes so it is safer for my 16 yr old. Should I look to replace front end w/64 or later or restore/modify existing suspension? I have seen the spindle conversions. Gotta keep it cheap, kids fist truck! I have located a donor '64 if necessary.
Thanks for any advice

what is wrong with the original setup? I learned to drive in a 66 with drum brakes.. drove it over 150,000 miles with no problems.

My uncle who owns the truck tells me it is hard to turn corners and it wears the tires on both sides badly. Don't know if it is because it needs to be rebuilt or is the nature of the set up. I would like to put on discs, we live in Dallas and figure the kid will need every advantage to keep her intact.
Thanks!

I would change to disc brakes, which would lower it, if you buy the lowering spindles, but I'd keep the original suspension. I think 60 and 61 were the only ones with torsion bar suspension which gives the truck a nice ride. You might want to install power steering if it's to hard to steer for your son.
Joe

'60-'62 had the front torsion bar suspension.
It rides very, very comfortably.
The problem is that the parts to rebuild it are very expensive. There's a guy on ebay (bestsuspension, I think) that has lower ball joints pretty cheap. That'll save a ton of money.

From the factory, the truck shouldn't be wearing tires. Either the front end is very worn out, or it's way out of alignment.

It's a crap shoot: you can either spend a lot of money rebuilding the stock front end (which is what I'm doing with my '62), or you can spend money buying a new cradle and swapping out a later suspension, which will also need to be rebuilt.

If you swap cradles, you'll get the new spindles and disc brakes, but it'll most likely be 5-lug, which means you'll have mis-matched wheels front and rear (stock rears are 6-lug).

You will have to rebuild the calipers, turn the rotors, replace the seals and brake lines, and also rebuild the front end. Lots of work, but very do-able.

You'll also either have to buy drop coils, or drop spindles. With the torsion bar front end, you just have to crank down the torsion bars at the alignment shop, and then align it. Did it on my Suburban, and worked really well.

More than disc brakes, you need to convert to a dual reservoir master cylinder. That's far more important for a 16-year-old. Discs aren't a bad idea though.

Also, convert the drums to self-adjust. Shafer's Classic parts carries an 11-inch self-adjust conversion kit that is very simple to install. I've found that's the biggest problem with drum brakes--they don't self-adjust, and most people aren't out there adjusting the drums every two weeks. Or even every oil change.

My '62 is getting a rebuilt front end, self-adjust rear drums, and a power disc conversion kit.
Brad

You guys are the best! Sort of have a wide range of suggestions. I will look at the condition of the front end first and go from there. I will have to modify the hydralic clutch if I do anything with the master cylinder. Any easy fixes? If I swap cradles, guess I will have to fabricate new engine mounts as the 6 mounts on the front of the cradle.
Thanks

www.mpbrakes.com sales a power booster setup for a 60.