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Old July 16th, 2015, 09:52 PM
PLYONS11 PLYONS11 is offline
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Join Date: Jul 2015
Location: Westfield IN
Truck: 1963 1500 Long Bed Fleet
Age: 40
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Default 3/4 to 1/2 ton Conversion

Hi all,

First post on this forum. I have been a member of another forum for a while now, but just learned about this forum specific to the GMC's!

I'm currently working on my grandfathers old farm truck that I got about a year ago. He has passed and it has been sitting for years. I was able to get her running after draining the fuel, cleaning the carb, and replacing the fuel pump. She has 47,xxx miles on her.

Currently I am in the middle of a 3/4 to 1/2 ton swap/ leaf to coil rear. I have completed the rear end (except for a trailing arm) and am searching for info on the front end. In the rear I swapped out the D60 for a '71 12 bolt. Bought a trailing arm kit from CPP that worked great! I have also lowered it 4"

My questions about the front are many, but the main issues I am running into is the drop spindles. As I understand it, I can find/buy an x-member from a '73-'87 and swap it out, but that's proving to be difficult here in my area. Not to mention that I have not found an answer to whether or not the 305 mounts will bolt to this x-member without modification. I have also found a set of drop spindles on Earlyclassic.com that will allow me to convert to a 5 lug wheel and retain the rest of original parts. Going with the latter will obviously not ever allow me to be able to use tubular a-arms as no one makes them for the 1500. I would like to use tubular a-arms for 2 reasons. It will match the rear tubular stuff and it will allow me to bag it.

My plan for now is to finish the swap and drive it as is for a while. In the future I plan on bagging it and maybe even an engine/trans swap. Maybe a 496 and a T5.....

Anyway, anyone else out there already run into this and could provide some insight/suggestions/answers?

Thanks!
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