Hi Steve,
I have a 1949 3/4 ton Chevy in my garage along with complete front and rear
suspensions, brakes, wheels, and steering gear from a 1988 Corvette. I
believe the latter is essentially the same "C4" Corvette suspension set-up
that you have.
I read an article in one of the hot rod truck magazines about Jim Meyers
Engineering in Orgen installing a Corvette independent rear suspension in an
early 1950's Ford. I called them and they said they only work with C3
Corvette suspensions, and had nothing to offer for installing C4 suspension
in my AD truck. They gave me the telephone number of and recommended a "Paul
Newman" in Southern California; the woman who answered the phone at this shop
was very friendly and said they install C4 suspensions only in 1955-57
Chevy's and in C3 and earlier Corvettes if you ship them the bare frame so
they can make the conversion with your bare frame in their jig.
In short, I have not been able to find a source of any kit or information
about installing a C4 Corvette suspension under an AD truck. Unless I can
find a kit or any information from anyone on the oldtrucks list or elsewhere
on the 'net, I plan to tackle the job myself and figure it out as I go. I
plan to use the stock Corvette front crossmember since it has the locating
points for both the front suspension A-arms, steering rack, and sway bar. I
will build in LOTS of adjustability in the frame mounting points for the
suspension pieces and the front crossmember so that when the job is done an
alignment shop will hopefully be able to adjust for any alignment errors or
mistakes I made in locating the mounting points.
I hope to be able to use the stock C4 ransverse front and rear single-leaf
springs, which may or may not be the right set-up for the weight of my fairly
light truck in the rear, but with the 467 big block and 700R4 I'm installing
in the front after I get the suspension converted.
I installed a C4 suspension front and rear suspension about five years ago in
a tubular street rod frame I built from scratch. My biggest question at that
time and now is knowing what are the proper angles from horizontal of the
front crossmember, the rear differential housing, and the rear trailing arms
extending forward from the rear hub carriers to the frame. I went to a
Corvette shop and eye-balled everything and tried to mount everything at
roughly the same angle as on a C4 Corvette. If anyone out there knows the
correct Corvette suspension mounting angles, or has any knowledge or
experience of installing a C4 Corvette suspension under an AD truck, I'd
greatly appreciate an e-mail to save me the grief of trying to figure
everything out myself as I go.
I'd appreciate your letting me know what you find as you tackle this project.
Hopefully we can compare notes and learn from each other.
Best regards,
John Doak in Baltimore, MD
oletrucks is devoted to Chevy and GM trucks built between 1941 and 1959
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