The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area The HiPo Shop 69 to 59 front swap

Hi, well getting read to tear into my 59 and had a couple of questons bout this upcomming front end swap originaly i was going to do a frame narrowing like i saw in an online artical but the prob i saw with that was it completely knock out the use of the original front bumper so i think i am going to notch the frame and add peices to the inside to support it rather than narrow everthing from the cab forward if anyone knows of a artical that someone did that already would love to read it, other queston is to lower that 69 front how many coils can i cut from the spings and still stay safe, other thing spindles are they the same from 69 up and if not what years are the same

Spindles are different in '71 and later, though I don't know that '70 and back are all the same (to '63). If you are thinking about disk brakes you'd be better off grabbing a '71 or later front (to '87 on pickups, '91 Suburbans and blazers).

I've seen the online description of narrowing the frame you mention (the HAMB?), or at least a similar one, but I've not seen anyone notch the frame.

You're cutting out the part of the frame that gives it strength so adding that strength back in and doing a good job on the welding will be important. Also given that the places the crossmember bolts to the frame are exactly the same places you are modifying you'll need to provide for suspension mounting.

I'd like to see pictures as your proceed. This should be an interesting project.

Daniel, I did this swap on my 50 3600 and I still used my bummper. I narrowed the front end and used the bumper bracket double as the spacer for the steering box. I'm still playing around with it some because it sits out about 1" too far but that should be an easy fix. As far as the coils are concerned, I cut off 1 1/2 and also utilized 2 1/2 drop spindles. I have several photos posted on the link in my signature.

I used articles from Steve Andereggen Jr. as well as this one and this one by Jon C Peters.
Other than that everything is fairly simple. Hope this helps.

lol mobileortho the 48-55 frame is much narrower than the 55-59 thats the reason i was checking about the notching out of the frame but ty for the artical info

btw Mobileortho the info on the springs and spindle is helpful thanks and your frame and chassis look great did you have to narrow the front member i have a freind with a 54 thats going to have to look into something like that

Yeah, I know the frames are different but I've heard some guys here have 55-59 trucks used this setup on their rigs. If I'm not mistaken, that IFS should bolt directly to your truck w/o any modifications. Someone correct me if I'm wrong.

I did have to narrow mine about one and a half inches so your friend will need to narrow his or use mounting plates.

yeah the front is about 2-3 inches too narrow for the 59 to be a straight drop in unit here is the artical i am referencing and you will see what i mean http://www.thehollisterroadcompany.com/C10ifs.html
great artical well written but their has to be a simpler way thay what he is doing here the notching i and thinking of doing won't shift the entire front geometry like this guys work

I hadn't seen that description of the process. There was a thread on the HAMB about this same swap but I could not find it just now. I think this other guy modified less of the frame.

I have to wonder if there isn't a better way to put IFS on a Task Force truck?

lol well some go with the mustang 2 fronts but i find those very weak to use on a truck they were designed for a compact car and have no buisness on a truck i think the chevy truck on is best plus you get the benifit of power steering set up already to go they other way i see don't most is the camaro sub but i find it completely destorts the front and in my opinion is quite ugly

If there was enough interest in the TF trucks I would build a version of my AD crossmember.

I agree that the Mustang 2 fronts are a bit light, remember, years before and years after that front end was on the mustang, it was the Pinto front end (Mustang 2 was 74-78. Pinto was 70-80)

like i said i don't forsee a major prob with just putting a couple of notchs in the frame and reinforcing that its simple and strait forward and the engineering is already done by gm where is migt get tricky is putting the z in the frame to save on dropped spindles later lol i really don't wanna have to carve up my inner fenders too much