Dan Babb

It's actually the shorter springs that add the stiffness to them. Think about how you can more easily bend a 2ft long piece of flat steel...but you can't easily bend a 6" piece of the same size steel as far. On my truck, I removed the 2nd shortest spring from all 4 corners and it made a nice difference in the ride.

If anyone needs new springs, I found the guys at St Louis Spring to be very helpful and fairly priced. They were way less expensive than Eaton. I told them which leaf to leave out and they made them just how I wanted them.

Sorry to hear of your Dad. 31 hours sounds crazy, but I do guess it's better than a long painful battle. I've never seen a truck like that...really cool.

Wheels look cool on the truck. What rear axle do you have on it? Swapping in one with 3.55 gears will really help make it highway friendly. I used a 96 Jeep Cherokee rear on my 52 project.

When I installed an electric fan, I use a low profile pusher fan. That allowed me to put it in front of the radiator so I could hide it from view. I thought it would look lame to have a modern fan in plain view in the vintage engine compartment. I also got an adjustable thermostat so it would automatically turn on & off. This is the one I used...not sure if this will go between the fins in your stock radiator though. http://www.amazon.com/Hayden-Automotive-3647-Adjustable-Thermostatic/dp/B000C3BB6M/ref=sr_1_sc_2?s=automotive&ie=UTF8&qid=1399936556&sr=1-2-spell&keywords=hayen+electric+fan+switch

Great to see you so inspired to get it done quickly. So many people (myself included) would probably be too down in the dumps to jump right in.

That looks good...better than the original factory brackets. How much were they? What bumper is that?

Adding more. http://www.rareparts.com/ Good source for spring hangers and bushings. https://www.vintagepowerwagons.com/ Some of the power wagon stuff is a good fit for our trucks. http://rustyhope.com/site/ Front disc brake conversion for our trucks.

When I went to Napa, they were getting the shackles from Rare Parts...so probably not much of a price difference. I think I paid a couple dollars more to get them direct from Rare Parts...but they shipped directly to me, so I got them faster.

This guy says he's getting about 200hp out of a 230cu.in. I think I've seen his posts over at the hamb. It sounds great in this video.

Sorry for your loss. Hope you guys are all ok. What caused it?

I'm putting my truck in an auction in early March. I currently have a pretty tame muffler in the truck...I think it barely sounds like there's a V8 in the truck. This isn't really a "what would you like in your truck" question...it's a "what will help it sell at the auction" question. Should I spend the dough and get a muffler that makes the truck sound like it has a hemi in it...or leave it as is? You can kinda hear how it sounds in this video I posted a while back. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HCcR1M8iAuo

Awesome looking project. If I were doing another one, I would go the direction you are with it. The modern EFI and better front suspension will be great and and make the truck a lot more fun to drive.

Good luck with the swap Hank.

Great looking truck. Jealous about the visor...the visors alone go for around $700+ in good shape...lucky score.

Didn't know such a book existed. What type of info is in there for a 1957 354 Hemi?

I was able to get this lined up without pulling the glass or visiting a glass shop. I was holding myself back by wanting to use the original holes for the screws. I simply removed the screws, then pulled the bottom edge closer to the window. That gave me more room to slide the top of the vent window forward and gave me the clearance I needed. The top two screw holes wound up in the right spot...just had to drill a new hole for the bottom screw near the window. It's close, but the window rolls down without hitting the vent. Project done. Only have to get the truck detailed and it will be ready for the auction in March.

If you're going to flush the rear end, maybe use something like this: http://www.mightyautoparts.com/complete-oil-system-flush There are quite a few products offer to help clean the internal working parts of the engine, so that is probably safer than using Kerosene. I guess the only downside could be that you clean out some sludge that's preventing leaks now...but if your seals were replaced, that probably won't be an issue. The rear axle swap isn't all that hard as long as you (or a friend) can weld. It took more time for me to measure the angles I wanted and drive it over to my friends shop than it took to install the new one in the truck.

I also used the rust coverted stuff when I had my truck apart. Rustoleam makes a spray bomb version so you can use it to get to the hard to reach spots if you need to. It doesn't flake off like a spraypaint does either...it really does stick well. I tried to scrape some off after I treated the frame to see how durable it was and it really didn't come loose. As stated, just get the loose stuff off, then spray it on. You can use a bed liner on top of that after it's dry.

That visor looks awesome...totally changes the look of the truck. I tried hard to find one for mine, but the prices being asked for is insane, so I gave up.

Getting parts is the hard part...but guys here can point you in the right direction. New spring hangers and bushings can be found at www.rareparts.com. I used them when I replaced my hangers that were floppy, frozen or busted. There are wiring diagrams here to redo it, but it might just be easier for you to get a whole new harness and start over. I used a 9 circuit harness from Rebel Wire. Only really had to extend the horn wire...other than that, it was a great and inexpensive setup to start with. Looks like you have a rear bumper...if that's an original piece, it's nice because it was an option. The ram head on the hood was an option too (I think it was a dealer installed option, but could be wrong there). Have fun with it. As long as you don't have to replace any sheetmetal (hard to find), it can be a fun project.

If you want something more durable for the floor (and inexpensive) head to the local big box hardware store and get Peel & Seal. It's in the roofing section. It's like poor man's dynamat. Not something you'd want to put on the inside roof of the truck (I don't think it would stick too long), but good for the floor & sides.

If I heat the frame, do you think I cam move the glass a bit without pulling it out completely? I don't need it to move much. Will the tar sealant hold the glass again after it cools down?

I installed new rubbers and a regulator on the driver side. Now I can't get the vent window to stand up straight When I roll up the window, it rubs on the vent glass at the top The window is straight and over to the side as far as it will go. It rolls up straight too I've beat on the vent window to get the top over into the channel a far as it will go. Other than bringing it to a glass shop to have the glass cut to eliminate the interference, I'm out of ideas. Help...it's driving me nuts!

I did the same thing as pflaming and it worked out well. The ride is better and the drop in height isn't very noticeable at all. The softer springs combined with making sure the shackles were all greased and moving freely and getting the toe setting done on an alignment rack made a real nice difference. Probably not a great picture to compare, but here's a before & after. Before After Couple notes...on the before picture, the driver side rear shackle was seized, so it looks a bit higher in the before picture. I think the total change was less than an inch, so you don't really change the stock appearance by removing one leaf. Also, in the after picture, I do have a larger motor in the truck and the modified springs handled it fine.