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B3B suspension frightful experience


pflaming

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Several weeks ago, my son in law drove my truck home from dinner out. He was trying to shift down fron high to 2nd and turned a corner a little too fast. At first I was not too concerned until I heard the tires start to squeal.  We made the corner but had he pulled that  steering wheel sharply some more we may have rolled.  

We forget that this truck is a wagon on steroids and really has little stability when turning. We are so customer to the very keen independent s. suspensions and vehicles with a lower center of gravity so that a dangerous driving experience can quickly develop. As you know, my truck is lowered 2" front and back, has radial tires and 3:73  rear differential, so that it scoots very nicely at 70 mph. I personally now am convinced that is far too fast for safe driving on my truck. Last spring I rode to our spring BBQ with a friend in his 47 Plymouth. He drove 55 / 60 most of the time and I fell in love with that speed in an older car. I now drive my truck slower than I did, seems much safer.

I was going to install an OD before I gave it to my daughter and this son-on-law,  but now will not do that. This is my experience and personal decision. What are your experiences with your trucks? 

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I've never been scared in any of my trucks. They drive fine for what they are.

 I'm a careful driver especially in any vehicle  I'm not familiar with.

In a vehicle you are not familiar with go easy till you know how it drives and handles.

 

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I am working out the bugs on our flatbed. 

Drove it to a few local car shows this summer and it was all OVER the road! VERY scary! Put me in a "death wobble" Turned out the front bias  tires have a couple bad spots.... I replaced them with two from the rear..... Bingo, no more issues for me with steering

Every time I hear a squeal from a  tire ,one has been low 

but then again I don't hot rod my trucks :lol:

Edited by Brent B3B
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Our trucks were built in a different time.There were no highways and just in general the speeds that they were driven at were much slower. I wish I could find it but a while back I was doing research on posted speed limits during the 40's and I found a page that listed them state by state. If I remember right the average speed limit was 45 to 50. Many states didnt even have a speed limit, it was more of a case of what speed was prudent. The roads were just not designed with high speeds in mind. Personally I have no problem with keeping the brakessuspension and just my whole truck in general stock but I drive it the way it was intended. I remember what my Dad always told me when he turned the keys to his B1B over to me when I started driving.... "be nice to it, its a senior citizen". He let me drive it every day and it was my daily driver until I got my '69 Charger R/T.  I think a lot depends on where you live and the conditions you drive in and of course what your looking for in your truck and how you want to drive it . I live in a small town and outside of town we get from place to place on Hwy 80 which for the most part has a 55 to 65 speed limit. Much of it is lower. We are surrounded by wide open space aka desert and the roads are pretty much flat and straight with a few slight hills and curves here and there thrown in. No bumper to bumper stop and go traffic My B1B has 3:54 gears and is more than capable of traveling 75 or more but but I just stay local. Mechanically it is very sound and all.I will drive to Tombstone or Sierra Vista if I get the hankering and usually no farther not because I cant, but because I think its better to drive my '94 Mazda pickup (Ford Ranger) that Dad left I just drive the speed limit and enjoy every moment of it. I drive it like it was intended and designed . I make sure there is a lot of room between me and the person Im behind which is usually pretty easy to do because Im driving the posted limit (55) and most folks dont. At least until the snowbirds arrive who generally drive 10 to 20 below the speed limit at all times. It is not uncommon for some to drive 25 to 30 in a 55 on HWY 80 . Grrrrrr :) .

             I can see why folks would want to update their brakes and front suspension especially if they live in a place or drive in conditions that make it better to have the updated components or just because they want to and can. Me.... Im lucky, the roads in my area aside from I-10 that passes by my town haven't changed much in the past 60+ years so they are just perfect for our trucks . For me a major part of it is the charm of driving it the way it was made right down to the 16" bias ply tires that go bump, bump, bump when they are cold  hahaha. If I lived in a bigger city or regularly drove it in a congested conditions or at high speeds I might be inclined to perform some updates too. To me its all about your vision of what you want your truck to be and the conditions that you drive in.

                                 John

Edited by John Rogers
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my wife gets frustrated at the drivers in the local area...they pull right out onto a posted 55 highway and go 15-20 MPH...then without fail will often turn with no notification left or right, per their mood or what I don't know.  She asks why they drive like that....simple I say....they think they are still in the field on their tractors....we have farmers in the area that use both lanes when changing fields...very large farming rigs, it is to be expected......for the most part they are extremely courteous and mindful of traffic...only once in a while do you get behind or approach a blithering idiot. (a hired hand usually)

Edited by Plymouthy Adams
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I drive my 52 blue truck according to both the vehicle and the road conditions, but it seems that travelling at around 50 mph on the freeways seems to suit the truck much better than travelling at the posted 60 (or 70) speed limits. I'm still running bias ply tires so there is some slight movement to the contours of the road, which has been greatly minimized by a rebuilt steering box! The old blue truck has done a few of short bursts at 75 mph, but 50-55 mph seems much better to me. I will change over to the 3.54 diff soon... not for more speed but rather to decrease overall engine revs whilst travelling.

I recall back in 2012 when I took the original owner of my 52 truck for a drive around his block - he (Ernest) was only a young 95 years of age back then! I told him that we would go around the long block which would include a short trip down the freeway. He questioned me as to whether the old truck would drive fast enough for the freeway, so I thought that showing him would be the best way of answering his question. I stuck to about 55 mph as I didn't think that he would appreciate any quicker than that. It appeared to be the trip of a lifetime for Ernest and a day that he said he would never forget.

In my opinion though, things are a little different here on our Aussie highways in comparison to driving in USA. I have driven with Hank (and Rod) from Torrance to the BBQ in Clements on 2 occasions now and found driving on California highways a real experience. It seems that most people over there drive at 15-20 mph above the limit, and they think that anyone who passes them wants to race! A lot of the driver's appeared impatient and agitated, and sounding of the horn and offering hand gestures was not uncommon! I am grateful that freeway driver's are a lot more forgiving here in Oz as that makes for more of a pleasant journey along the highway whilst travelling slightly below the posted speed limit.

Edited by Desotodav
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To:pflaming

 let's start with a thank you for previous help I got from you. I seen you said youtruck runs along nice at 70- wow. That's way more than I figured they run. I have a 53 B3 and put a jeep 3:55 rear in , I'm still running the 218 motor. So iwas wondering what my top speed would be?. I was wondering about  not having any power left for short inclines- I'm still got the original 4 speed.. Iwas told to put in 2degree shims in the rear spring mounts to compensate for drive line angle?. Did you do this? I did not remove the spring mounts- I just narrowed them down to the spring width and reinforced them. So maybe I need the shims? I'm working on rusty hopes disc conversion presently ,and mounted a dual master mounted in reverse off the side of the transmission. I still have about 2-2 1/2 of pedal travel,hopefully it will work. Thanks for your help

bergy

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I seldom drive at 70 mph, I usually hang back from a steady semi at 60 -+\_ which is fast enough, yet when I want to pass I can. I did NOT put in the two degree shims. I achieved the desired angle when I welded on the replacement axle perches. I do have 15" rims and radial  tires.  Thank you for your response, a lot o members taught me. 

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  • 2 months later...

My truck was designed to scare me. Then I realized it was me, scare'n myself. The truck had nothing to do with it.

Apologies to my truck.

48D

"I drive it slow enough just to stay conscience, which is, actually, pretty fast"  (something dumb I said to sound smart at the racetrack, lol ) Tim Estrada driver of the #45 

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I cruise around 55-60 in my ‘41 WC 1/2 ton Military 4x4. With the IND-7, ‘41 Spitfire head, high duration cam, 900-16 NDT’s vs the original 750-16’s and 4.30’s vs the original 4.89’s,  I’m taching around 2440 RPM’s. The brakes are adjusted and function well, but still, I tend to keep a very safe distance between myself and the vehicle in front of me. I will be changing out the third members to 4.10 ratio’s and returning to the 750-16 NDT’s. Should give me a bit more acceleration at the cost of about 100 more RPM’s at 60 MPH. This should be fine for the IND-7(236.6) as one book I read said you shouldn’t run them at more than 70-75% of max RPM for sustained periods. Don’t know if this is correct or not, but that’s what I’m running the motor at. 

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