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Did Chevrolet use the torsion bar type suspension on trucks other than light duty pick-ups in the early '60's?
Thanks Don

Yes, some pretty big trucks. I have seen several, and know of a junk one near me.

Grigg

I think my old 63' GMC 4000 had torsion bars up front.

thinck they came in 5000 ,7000 and 9000 pound front ends

Hi , Yes I had one many years ago- a 1960 long wheelbase 1 ton chevy windowless panel truck, if memory serves. Surprised the heck out of me that it was torsionbar front. TerryJ

Hello, My C-60 has the torsion bars, nice ride, Ball joints?? where do you find them for the bigg'ns.

The 1960 Chevrolet L80 series LCF roadtractor, I owned had the Torsion Bar Suspension.

The big trucks used them from 1960-1962. Farmers loved them because you could drive across furrows and never feel them.

The problem was that you had to align the front end at one position, somewhere between loaded and empty and then when you operated at the other end, the alignment was different. Trucks that were loaded one way wore out the tires on the empty return. If you aligned it for empty, you wore out the tires loaded.

After a year or two, a lot of the fleets wouldn't buy them and they returned to the I Beam.

So did they only use torsion bar suspensions from 60 - 62 or could you get a conventional I beam front end in place of the torsion bar set up? I'm wondering about big trucks. Thanks Don

No I Beam from 60-62, I Beam only before and after.

my dad was telling me he spent one winter changing one to an I beam.he had younger brother driving it's 3 day of working he came by in his other truck it was in the field with no axles left under it and his brother sittig on front tire.
so it can be done but it was a lot of work.he said the parts came of another wreck he bought for parts

If I remember correctly there was a one year only of a certian type torsion bar, but not 100% sure, on the trucks 60 to 62/63, the only years that GMC put it in and I have a 4000 series that had worn lower ball joints, NO LONGER SERVICED is what I found everywhere, NAPA could have them sent out and reconditioned for 600 a piece, but I got lucky and found some nos from a 60 series Chevy that are identicle for 125 a piece, but this was almost 10 years ago.

i have a mostly complet front end from C60 .
i just can't bring my self to take it it to the junk man.
i don't need it

They had some serious accidents from broken torsion bars. G.M. discontinued them after awhile.

I have a '92 GMC K-3500 with torsion bars, I hope it is not the dangerous ones your are talking about.

Danny

Back when I first began my career as a School Bus Mechanic, we had several '60-'62 Chevy Buses still on the road, with the Torsion Bar Suspension. I don't recall us ever having much trouble from them. I do recall reading some type of Chevrolet literature, stating the reason this type front suspension was discontinued on Big Trucks, was because of the high price of manufacturing,& servicing them. I will tell you this, the 1960 Chevy L80 series roadtractor, I had, had the most comfortable ride of any Vintage Big truck, I've owned. My wife didn't even mind riding to Truck Shows in it. That says alot.

I have two modern Chevy trucks with torsion bar front suspensions parked outside right now. I don't know why they quick making them in the 60's, but they started again in the 80's for four-wheel-drive trucks.

We bought our 61 4000 series used in 63 and used it seasonaly for hauling sugar beets untill about 69 then it became the main truck for cattle, equipment and general ranch work, along with my grandfathers 57 6500 Chevy, that 61 rides like a caddy next to just about anything else loaded or empty, with just a little over 100,000 orginal miles we replaced the lower balls at about 95,000 or so. My understanding why they stopped building them was cost and weight could have been a factor, lot of extra parts on them.

Great truck,I have 1960 viking 60
The front ends what you described I haven't had a problem yet and am dredding the day I do.

The torsion bar fronts were expensive to manufacture and much harder to keep adjusted for front end alignment. I have the remains of a 1960 M70 tandem dump truck with this front end and it's completely worn out. Dumps were especially hard on this type of front since the front was often overloaded to 12,000 to 15,000 pounds. By 1962 Chevrolet offered an 11,000 lb. I-beam front as an option for max use. This was the last year of the torsion bar front. Most light to medium usage of this front end won't be a problem, however parts can be hard to find. Keep everything up front lubed well They do ride soft and smooth and Chevrolet advertised heavily on this feature. JAMES

If memory still holds, there were two types of indepedent front suspension the torsion bars for 60/61 then coil spring 62/63, I may be mistaken but I seem to remember something along those lines.