Geronimo: 1959 Chevy Apache

[muddermilitia]

11 and 12 hr days are kicking my butt. If its not staying late to cover for my 1 guy that's out on medical leave, its starting early to do snow removal.

No actual truck work. But the drop leaf springs and shocks arrived this week.

Strange Engineering called me on Monday to tell me my axle was ready so I went and picked that up



So this is their bolt in 9" for the 73-87 Chevy trucks. I had them make the housing 2 inches narrower to give me a little more tire clearance from the bedsides. I also told them not to weld the shock mounts on, because I'm not sure if I will be able to use the stock style mounting once the axle is moved forward. I also ordered their axle shaft kit and drum brake kit.

I still need to paint the spring hangers, get spring bolts, u bolts, and u bolt plates. Some of that I might already have, gotta dig through my stuff still.

Then prime the axle housing and assemble it. Then I can install that with the springs and get this back onto 4 tires on the ground

 

[muddermilitia]

My friend sent me these pics of my front fenders that came back from acid dipping. The eyebrow areas above the headlights are great (they almost always rot here)

The back of the fenders need work, which they pretty much all do and the driver side has quite a few dents to get knocked out. I gave him rear patch panels to take care of most of the rust and also bought new inner fender braces.

 

[76zimmer]

Those eyebrow fenders were the coolest!

 

[skunked]

that axle is sexy

 

[muddermilitia]

New 4" drop springs from Western Chassis arrived. Painted the spring hangers and installed. Drop shackles are installed at the 1" mark so total real drop of 5" right now. I can still go 1" lower if desired by moving to another mounting hole.

Clamped up the axle housing to just to see how it sat. I think the front driver side spring hanger is bent or something. Driver side leaf spring looked a little leaned over and then the axle doesn't quite line up with the center pins in the springs. Its very close though.

The entire axle and suspension still needs to be moved forward. EZ Chassis swap, the place I got the swap brackets from, says 8" forward. But I want to get the bed on and be sure that's right before I start drilling holes for the spring hangers.

 

[muddermilitia]

Also may have located the engine and trans I will be using. Stay tuned

 

[beags86]

Also may have located the engine and trans I will be using. Stay tuned

292 with Homebrew 3800 series 2 supercharger??

 

[beags86]

My friend sent me these pics of my front fenders that came back from acid dipping. The eyebrow areas above the headlights are great (they almost always rot here)

The back of the fenders need work, which they pretty much all do and the driver side has quite a few dents to get knocked out. I gave him rear patch panels to take care of most of the rust and also bought new inner fender braces.

View attachment 295451 View attachment 295452 View attachment 295453

Where did you have this done at? I have some stuff i need done....

 

[muddermilitia]

Where did you have this done at? I have some stuff in need done....

I gotta look up the name. But they are outside of Milwaukee

 

[skunked]

moving the rear hanger forward 8" will drop it a bit too. Nice that it has the adjust-ability in the shackle. Will the shackles clear the bed?

 

[beags86]

I gotta look up the name. But they are outside of Milwaukee

Cool, that would be appreciated.

 

[muddermilitia]

Cool, that would be appreciated.

Restoration Specialists Inc
6846 S 112th St, Franklin, WI 53132

 

[muddermilitia]

moving the rear hanger forward 8" will drop it a bit too. Nice that it has the adjust-ability in the shackle. Will the shackles clear the bed?

I'm not sure yet. I expect I may have to clearance a cross sill. Hoping that it will clear the bed floor though.

 

[muddermilitia]

Secured a deal on an engine and trans. Going to pick it up this Saturday.

5.3L LS out of a 2005 Chevy Tahoe. 132k miles. Good running engine, good oil pressure, no smoke, or weird noises. He's pulling it out of the vehicle this week. Comes with all accessories, harness and computer.

Trans is a 4l80e out of a 03 Chevy express van. 100k miles. A tree fell on the van. He already sold the 6.0 it had.

 

[muddermilitia]

The front spring hangers from LMC were pretty craptacular. I decided I'm not going to use them. In the picture, you can see how the spring bolt is at an angle. I contacted LMC, hopefully I can get a refund. I'm going to use the original ones instead.



I assembled the axle. Just for mocking up right now. Didn't tighten everything down, or use all the hardware just yet. I will tear it all apart later and have the housing powdercoated after the shock tabs are welded on.



Also just bought a NOS tailgate. Going to go get it in a few days

 

[skunked]

wow, those are totally craptastic. Gonna blast and use the original hangers or buy something else?

 

[muddermilitia]

wow, those are totally craptastic. Gonna blast and use the original hangers or buy something else?

Yeah just the front ones though. The LMC rear hangers seem to be ok. I will have the original fronts blasted and powdercoated.

 

[76zimmer]

Where did you have this done at? I have some stuff i need done....

I have an acid stripper right close to me as well. I’ve had them do a lot of parts for me.

 

[muddermilitia]

This week has been good. Went and got the 4l80e trans on Saturday (engine wasnt out yet), Monday the conversion engine mounts and high clearance trans crossmember from Tejas Steel works was delivered, dropped off some parts for powdercoating, went to Indiana yesterday and got the NOS tailgate, I ordered some necessary bed parts, and the engine guy delivered the 5.3L today.



Once the bed parts arrive, that will be the next thing to do. Assemble the bed so it can go on the frame. Then move forward the spring mounts. Then I can turn the truck around and start on the engine and trans install

 

[muddermilitia]

The truck is off Jack stands and on 4 tires for the first time.



I realized that my frame had the wrong motor mount brackets. Of course that was after I had them powdercoated.....this chassis originally had a 4.3L V6. A call out on Facebook and in under 24 hours, I had the correct brackets in my hands. In this picture you can see how the v8 brackets are farther forward.



Last night, my brother and I assembled some of the bed and set it on the chassis so I can make sure how far forward the axle and suspension need to move