The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area The HiPo Shop 3 Inch Drop Axle

Well here we go again. I know the subject about the drop axle has been discussed before for the 55-59 Chevy's, but I couldn't find anything in the search engine and I need some up to date answers. So everybody hold on cause I have a few questions.

In the latest issue of Classic Truck magazine they had a Tech article about lowering 55-59 Chevy trucks. A few of the procedures for lowering these trucks has me concerned, because I plan on lowering my 59 Chevy fleet long bed myself and have never handled such a project, and would like to know if a few of these procedures are necessary. And if so how did you go about doing it.

First they say that when doing the 3 inch axle drop that the steering arm needs to be heated with a torch and bent usually down, to level out the drag link. I guess when there is too much of an angle in the drag link, you get bump steer?

Second the drag link needs a little bend to the left (with the help of a hydraulic press) to clear the axle when turning all the way to the left?

Are all these procedures necessary? They recommend getting short bumpstops,new tie rods,and 3 inch dropped monoleaf springs. Again are these necessary?

Do i need a certain drop axle if i want to install disc brakes? Or can I use the axles offered by Droppedaxles.com, brothers, classic performance products. I thought I read somewhere that you need a narrow drop axle for disc brakes.

And last which company do you recommend buying from. Seems like most of you seem to buy from droppedaxles.com. Any reason why? I've yet to hear about any of you buying axles from brothers or classic performance. Any help would be appreciated, I'm trying to do my homework on this subject before I spend the money. Thanks for being patient..........Josh

Jawdy,
As a dude ive known all my life an a pretty good friend always tells me ..Tim if you ask the ? of DO YA NEED TO DO THAT ..ya most times have answered your own ? ..an 99.9% of the time YA DO NEED TO DO IT.

wow Radial that was deep.

JAWDY,

Where to start, the Mag. states you need to modify parts of your steering, you do. As for the drop, that depends on what you want for the overall drop. If you want 3 inches, you can use 3" drop springs or a 3" dropped axle with stock springs and get the same results. If you want 6" drop, you need to do both. You probably need new springs anyway.

I have not had any experience with the axle from Brothers or CPP, but someone here posted some problems with fitting the spindles to the after market axle.

Sid's axles come highly recomended by many here on the Bolt. He can also custom bend the axle for you. Give him a call and discuss your project.

To be fair, there are others bending axles, that do a good job. I have heard bad things about the latest MorDrop axles and would not consider their product. Do a search on HAMB for some more info on dropped axles.

So i take it that even if I do just a 3inch drop with a drop axle and not the total 6 inches with mono leafs I will have to heat and bend the steering arm and bend the drag link a little bit?

only if you want it to work right.

jawdy.

i have a 57 1/2 ton and did the 3 inch dropped front from sid at droppedaxles.com.

http://www.droppedaxles.com/

i can not tell you enough how happy i am with his axle, and you get way more personal service from him than you would with one of the big companies like brothers or classic parts.
he gives you his cell phone number, and i probably called him
6-7 times with questions, and even more times before i even spent a dollar with him, and he awnswers his phone every single time.

http://s251.photobucket.com/albums/...00/?action=view&current=DSC01357.jpg

on my truck, i also took 1 small leaf out for another 5/8" drop, for 3 5/8" total.

http://s251.photobucket.com/albums/...00/?action=view&current=DSC01373.jpg

yes, you have to modify the drag link, either by heating it up and twisting one end 1/2 turn. i am a welder, but stupid me dont have a torch, so i cut and rewelded.

http://s251.photobucket.com/albums/...00/?action=view&current=DSC01379.jpg

i also had to modify my driver side steering arm to clear the shock and u-bolts. again, heating and bending is best, but i cut a section out and rewelded.

http://s251.photobucket.com/albums/...00/?action=view&current=DSC01381.jpg

with a dropped axle you still have full front suspension travel. believe me, 3-3 1/2 inches dont sound like much, but it is a big difference over stock heigth. look at my entire web album. i have stock height and lowered pics.

if you have a mechanical mind you can tackle it yourself, no problem. i did mine all by myslef entirely in a weekend.

my truck rides awesome and even better than it ddid originally. much softer. i would like to got about 2 inches lower, but it rides so nice i am leaving it alone for now.

you tell sid that you will add power front disc brakes, and he compnsates for the extra width of the rotor by making the width narrower.

here is my power front disc setup.

http://s251.photobucket.com/albums/...00/?action=view&current=DSC01552.jpg

im sure waldo53 will chime in on this thread, because he is another happy customer of sids axles.

hope this helps you out on your quest for a front dropped axle.

any questions, feel free to ask more.

leonard

Well Leonard I appreciate your input. I will be calling Sid sometime next week. Sounds like The process is pretty straight forward and something I can handle. What Disc setup do you go with upfront? Also what did you use to drop the rear, 3 inch drop springs? I probably will be taking you up on your offer with asking questions, cause I'm sure once I start tearing stuff apart I will have lots of questions..Thanks again...Josh

Yep. Totally happy with my 3" dropped axle from Sid.

Josh, you hit the nail on the head - the drag link needs to be parallel with the frame rails to minimize bump steer. When you lower your truck, the steering box drops down lower than your steering arm causing the drag link to angle up. Heating and bending the steering arm is the easy fix. You may also have to do a tie rod "flip" to allow the tie rod to run under the springs for clearance but Leonard is more the expert on the TF trucks than I am. It all sounds worse than it really is.

Depending on how low you want to go - a pair of mono leafs on your stock axle will get you down about 2" or more without any other modifications (except maybe some shorter shocks).

Like Leonard says, there's plenty of help around here so feel free to ask any other questions you may have.

Good luck on your project!

I'm also going to be buying a 3" drop axle from Sid in January.
Abt 8 years ago i bought a 4" drop axle from Mor-Drop in Oakland,Ca. I'm very happy with it but.........it took a long time to get it done,and very hard to get ahold of the Mor-Drop guy on the phone. Its understandable,,,he's been doing these things since the '50s and hes probably ready to retire. Last time i talked to him, he had waaaay too much going on, and no time to do it. He's a genuine old blacksmith though!! His shop is unbelievable.
Ive shopped around,,,and Sid is the man if you want a top quality axle done NOW.

yes jawdy, like waldo said, it sounds worse than it really is.

and i forgot until waldo53 chimmed in, that you will have to flip your tie rod to clear the leafs.

when i bought my axle from sid, i had him install the spindles, and taper the tie rod holes for modern tapered tie rod ends from speedway.
i didnt want to mess with the king pins, fearing that i would have to ream my spindles or come across more headaches, so i ordered a complete unit from him, with spindles and king pins already mounted to the axle. i also had him send me the modified steering arms.
if i wanted to i can send him my old unit and recoup some money, but i think i will keep my original axle for a future rat rod project, hopefully one day.

i got my complete power front disc brake kit from performanceonline.com

http://www.performanceonline.com/store/customer/product.php?productid=16775&cat=1061&page=1

great looking kit, and for the most part it turned out fine, but i had a few problems with customer service. if i were to do it again, i would buy their caliper mounts, master cylinder mount and booster, tapered bearing bushing that goes on the spindle, and the rest i would get form a local parts store. all it is is 1970-1978 camaro rotors, calipers.
search my past posts for detailed info on what i ran across with this install. but once it was done, i am very happy with the results of the power brakes.

as for the back, i took out 4 of the original 7 leafs to get it lowered to where it is now, then also installed a lowered shackle kit for about another inch.
in the future i want to maybe flip the reat on top of the leafs, or get lowering leafs, as every time i see waldos truck i drool. LOL. i love the stance of his truck.

well, good luck and fire away with the questions. i try to get here every day or night, and will help any way i can.

leonard

I will be using a 3 inch drop axle from Cenpen it is the same axle sold by classic performance and others. I will be using updated tierod and ends from classic performance as well as power steering conversion kit. After talking to John from Cenpen I have decided that my best route would be to take 2 of the shortest leaves out of the original spring pack as well. Classic performance and cenpen are wonderful companies that can help the novice builder. With this approach and using a replacement pitman arm and a adjustable drag link there will be no need to manipulate or bend the steering arms. I hope I have been of some help.

Well Leonard and Waldo I shot an e-mail of to Sid this morning, He must of got back with me within 2 hours. That's something you don't get with the Big name company's. Anyway he said That he he has a couple of cores in stock and to give him a call Monday

Leonard I like the idea of having the complete unit of spindles and king pins already installed, and the tapered tie rod hole. Seems like a headache saver. And what I'm getting from your post he sells modified steering arms? Did you have to send him yours or did he have them in stock? And the spindles, did he use yours or is that something he has?

Anyway I want to show you a guys a real short list of things I think I need to ask him on Monday and if I leave something out please let me know.
1) narrowed axle for power disk brake set up
2) complete unit of spindles and king pins already installed
3) taper the tie rod holes for modern tapered tie rod ends
4) modified steering arms?

Oh yea how do you go about with flipping the tie rods? Is it a pretty straight forward deal or is there more torching and bending? Thanks again guys for all the support. JOSH

hello josh,
you wont go wrong with getting one of sids axles. please tell him the guys from stovebolt reccommended him to you.
and a good thing with him is, you can even call him on weekends, when you are probably going to be working on your truck and need questions answered.

anyway, yes, letting him put the entire thing together is such a relief, no worries. thats why i let hi do it. i have never messed with king pins before.

yes, he seels everything modified that you will need. you can send him all your stuff, and he will modify them, then send back to you, but i didnt want my truck down that long, so he did the parts he had in stock and sent then to me. that way my truck was down only 1 weekend.
he should have all the required parts in stock, he will let you know when you call him on monday.

i got the 3 inch dropped axle, spindles mounted to the axle with new king pins, tapered steering arms and new tapered tie rod ends, amnd shipping, for $625.00.
if i want to and send him all my original stuff back, it came to something like $180.00 he would have given me back, so basically about $445.00 for all that. you cant beat it. and he is an expert at what he does, and also a nice guy to boot.

i did the mods on my original drag link, but you can get one of those from him also. the mods to my drivers side steering arm was something new to him, and he would have happily sent me another one from his shop, because he said he never had one interfer with the u-bolts as mine was, but i told him no problem, i just modified it myself. no problem.

i ordered a custom length tie rod from speedway motors to accept the new style tie rod ends.

1. yes, narrow axle for disc brakes.
2. yes, get a complete unit from him.
3. yes, have him taper the tie rod holes on steering arms.
4. the tepered tie rod hole should be the only mod for the steering arm, but ask him. ask him if he has had any other people with problems of the tie rod hole hitting the u-bolts and shock on drivers side when turning. for some reason my original left side steering arm was 1/2-1 inch more outboard than the one he sent.

when he taperes the tie rod end holes on the steering arms, the tie rod and ends will only go one way, and it will be opposite, flipped, from the original position.

you will curse a few times with this install, but overall it is so easy. like i said, i did it all by myself, no help.

good luck, and remember to tell him stovebolters sent you his way.

leonard

oh yea, josh, do you have any pics of your ride you could share with us here ? we love checking out the members trucks.

leonard

Hey leonard thanks again for your help. I wouldn't have known to ask all those questions. As for the pictures of my truck I posted them about a month ago when i bought my truck. I was the one that posted NO LONGER A STOVEBOLT VIRGIN....but what the heck I post the pictures again.
http://i466.photobucket.com/albums/rr25/JAWDY101/IMG_1681.jpg
http://i466.photobucket.com/albums/rr25/JAWDY101/IMG_1682.jpg
http://i466.photobucket.com/albums/rr25/JAWDY101/IMG_1687.jpg
http://i466.photobucket.com/albums/rr25/JAWDY101/IMG_1684.jpg
http://i466.photobucket.com/albums/rr25/JAWDY101/IMG_1688.jpg

Thanks for the good comments on my axles guys. I'm trying to get some tech. articles on installing a dropped axle posted on my web site but have not found the time yet. Hopefully real soon. You guys can always call me and I'll help you all out with what I can. I myself am a die hard car buff. Original or hotrod...I will always find time to help. That's what's real car people do....SID

np problem josh, anytime.
yea, now i remember your truck. its gonna look great when you lower it. when you do, please post the pics.

leonard

also, hello sid.

I've been watching this thread, and all I can say is I want to see that front bumper on the pavement!

Devin

DEVIN I'LL TRY