The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area The HiPo Shop 1953 3600 leaf springs

hi. i am new at this so please bare with me. i have a 1953 3600 will the posie front and rear lowering leafs work?

Welcome to the Stovebolt Page! We would love to see pictures of your Chevy. There are others who know more and maybe one of them will respond soon. This I know from owning 3 Advance Design 3600 trucks: they are quite different from their 3100 brothers, especially in the axles/springs/suspension department. Interestingly though the front springs are the same for 1/2-ton and 3/4-ton. I am not familiar with the Posies but Patrick's sells a single-leaf front spring to lower the front. What do you really want to do with your truck?

well, basically it will kind of be along the lines of a rod instead of a restoation. i do want to lower it but i will keep the 8 lug wheels now that i can buy aftermarket steel ones and white walls. i am undesided about the engine but i think i will keep the 235 but i will need to do something about the rear end gearing.

I was dreaming about doing something similar with mine a few months ago. I think the front might be fairly easy: take the springs apart, reverse the eyes of the top spring (reverse arch the spring actually), and put them back together less a couple of leaves. The rear offers fewer choices, maybe. Another trouble with the rear axles of 3/4-tons like yours and mine is the lack of available gearing. "They" say that 4.10 gears are out there but apparently hard to find. I think I want to keep my low-speed (4.57) gears and add an overdrive somehow. Whatever way you decide to go, good luck, and share with us what you come up with.

The Posies or Patrick's lowering springs are for the 1/2 ton (3100) truck. They will not fit in your 3/4 ton (3600) truck. The springs are of different length and width. If your interest is in "lowering" the truck you could remove a couple of leaves from the rear springs. It will also soften the ride and you will not have the load carrying capacity of the stock spring. I wouldn't remove any leaves from the front springs because you'll constantly be bottoming out. You could go to a spring shop and de-arch the front springs, so they'll retain the near stiffness of the stock spring. I don't think there are any "dropped" front axles available for the 3/4 ton truck.

Actually for 1953 the front springs are the same for the 1/2-ton and 3/4-ton. Same. I think for the entire AD run 47-55 it was that way. The 1-ton and larger trucks have longer and wider springs. As far as dropped axles go Nostalgia Sid shows 3/4-ton dropped axles on this page. (Who knew.)
Good luck with your truck!

The 1st series 3/4 ton Chevy has 1-3/4" wide springs The GMC has 2" wide springs. I drop axles for both the half ton and 3/4 ton trucks. The 3/4 ton seem to be getting more popular....SID