The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area The HiPo Shop Suspension swap for '53 gmc.

Guys,
I've been looking for many months in the gallery, searching posts, google searching, etc.
I have yet to come across someone who has done a suspension swap or front clip swap that kept their truck at the original ride height and wheel spacing.
IS there no such thing?
Is the reason for this lack of information due to the fact that those who go to this much effort want the truck a little lower in order to handle better? IF so, does it handle a LOT better lower? That is, would it just be unsafe feeling at 60mph speeds at the original ride height?

I have a '53gmc in good shape that has a '76 chevy c10 crossmember and suspension on it with drop spindles. It rides good but the wheels stick out of the fenders which I hate, and the control arms are far too low which drag easily on uneven dirt roads which I also hate.
ANy solutions?

I'd like a stock looking truck that I can drive safely down the road with a decently smooth ride. What's the way to go?

Thanks for all the help so far,
Jason

Looks and handling are two of the reasons most people perform suspension swaps. Better brakes and ease of installing power steering are others.

While a lower center of gravity generally improves cornering these trucks can be drive safely at any legal speed with the stock suspension. I'm thinking your best bet might be to go back stock.

I'd like to see detail pictures of your IFS install, especially of how the crossmember meets and is attached to the lower frame. Do you have any pictures?

Not to toot my own horn, however here is a solution if you want to keep IFS,

https://www.stovebolt.com/ubbthread...;Main=72952&Number=567780#Post567780

You could also get negative offset wheels to pull the wheels in, or use a pair of big-bolt front fenders to cover the wider track width.

I bought the truck with the IFS installed. I will take some pics of it as best I can this week if possible. I am a bit confused by some of the things I've read about this IFS swap because it says you have to narrow it or use spacers on the frame. I don't see any spacers and it's not narrowed. It's a bolt-in, also. The only spacers I've found are on the steering gear. It also is missing a bracket that should have been welded to the frame for one of the steering gear bolts to bolt to. I'm going to fix that this weekend, hopefully. I believe it may take some of the flex out of the gear and make the steering feel even better. I don't think neg. offset wheels would get me very far in without hitting the control arm edges. I am considering some neg. offset wheels that are narrower than the 15X7's that are under there now, but I also want to take out the drop spindles. I wish I knew how to narrow this thing but don't really see how to do it, even after looking at some pics of a narrowed one on webshots by one of the members. I'm strongly considering finding a junker and using it's stock front suspension and rebuilding it. However, I don't want to if I can't have power steering and power brakes. I'm thinking the original suspension with disc brake kit and power steering kit would be pretty darned expensive. (too much for me right now)
Thanks for the replys,
Jason

If you really don't want it lower it, try putting the stock spindles back on. You'll pull the wheels in some by doing this.

Mobileortho,
If you don't mind repeating yourself, are you saying if I put the stock '76 spindles back on it, the wheels will come in some?
How does it do that?
If it would pull them in some, I'd really like that!
THanks for the reply,
Jason

The kits for disk brakes and power steering on the stock suspension are not a lot of money. You should already have the right steering box. The total cost would depend on how good you are at findind the rest of the pieces cheap.

Jason, there is an IFS front end with disc brakes, power rack and pinion, and EXACTLY the same width as the original; unfortunately it's getting hard to find. It is the 1975-1980 American Motors Pacer. Chassis Engineering sells a mounting kit for about a hundred bucks and you can even keep the original factory crossmember so all the front sheet metal and radiator support fits right. You can set the front height by how deep you set the frame rails down into the Pacer crossmember. Here are a couple of shots of a 49 that the customer did NOT want it to set low. Note the gap between the top of the tires and fender bead and that the tires are inside the fenders. http://s32.photobucket.com/albums/d41/coilover/

try finding parts for a pacer front end these days.

Yeah Jason, can't remember where I got the info, but that's the way it was explained to me a while back. Take a paperclip and bend it into the shape of a "V". Place the legs on a solid surface and slightly press down on the point. As you do so the legs will spread out. This is the same principle with the control arms. The lower the vehicle the farther the arms stick out. I want a lowered stance but not slammed. I have dropped spindles and cut coils currently installed, but I'm in the process of experimenting with lowered control arms and regular springs.

As far as the Pacer is concerned, I searched high and low for one a couple of years ago but to no avail. It would be good alternative to the Stang and installation looked like it would be fairly simple. Even if you could find a crossmember, locating replacement parts are next to impossible.

58evinrude, this is why you don't find that conversion very often. Unless you want to slam your truck to the ground, I have found NOTHING out there to keep the stock truck height. Shoot, you can't even buy the smoother-riding springs unless you're willing to drop your ride height down 3". What's up with trying to make these trucks into cars? And why can't we find real truck parts to keep them trucks?

The only alternative I can come up with is that whatever IFS you choose, you're pretty much on your own to come up with it, adapt it, and make it work. I'm sure it's possible, nothing's impossible. But it is frustrating. I think there is a market out there if someone were to come up with something. That's yet to happen though.

my IFS is close to stock ride height and at the correct track width just because so many folks here wanted it that way. however it is a 5 x 4 3/4" bolt pattern.

We have a stockpile of Pacer IFS units that I got by giving a couple of the largest car crushers in this area a reward for phoning me whenever they moved into a yard where one or more were scheduled to be crushed. The top ball joint is replaced by a mid-70's Monte Carlo joint which has the same pin length and taper, the holes must be welded up and re-drilled on the upper A-frame, and the bottom is replaced by a Chrysler screw in joint. The brake caliper and rotor are Ford in design, the caster and camber ecentrics are easily replaced by Chevy pickup units, the A-frame bushings can be bought by size, and any rebuilder can go through the rack and pinion. None of these are major obstacles but for people that don't have the facilities and have to be able to buy everything ready for bolt in replacement then disregard this and go to the restoration forum because your sure not hot rodders.

About 15 years ago I installed the Chassis Engineering Pacer kit for my 52 AD truck. The instructions show how to install the kit plates that are welded to the crossmember. The crossmember is then placed under the frame rails and bolted in. I don't see how you can set the frame rails any deeper to lower the front height. I thought I was saving money by doing this but the costs of all the front end parts, crossmember, brakes was just a little less that a Mustang II kit at that time and I should not have done it in retrospect. Back then Pacer parts were starting hard to find and today good luck.

I believe I have just been banished to the restoration forum.
Thanks for the info, though. I just am not ready for the learning curve, yet.
I'm thinking the best bet might be the original as suggested. I just wish someone near me had one that had new bushings and such so I could see how it felt. As one of you guys said, I don't want a car, I want a truck, too. I don't plan on selling this truck and one day WILL get it exactly like I want it, even if I have to get some "schooling".
thanks for all the info. and your time,
Jason

Holy hard to remember Batman. We all know that AMC was a mishmash of parts from all suppliers making it a mutt. So your broke down in Hopkinsville KY. Do you think they will have parts on hand for this, or a '78-87 G-body or an 82-2004 S-body?

The simplest and best way is the Pacer front end. Trim all the excess junk off the Pacer front end and set your frame level on it. Weld a Couple short angle iron pieces on each side of your frame - front and back - and bolt it on. I've got this on my 54 GMC and on my 36 Pomtiac (narrowed 3"). Works great. All parts are available from Rare Parts or Rock auto. The Pacer front is the right width and heavy enough to handle the truck. You can also drill and tap the hubs for the 6 bolt wheels if you use lug bolts instead of studs and nuts. This what I did on my Pontiac. Joe