New member restoring 1950 3100, a few questions

[O.C.Barry]

Hi Folks - I'm new to this site, I'm restoring my first old truck. I've done a lot of restoration of classic Corvettes and have built a number of offshore race boats, so I'm not totally green. The truck was really rough, but I felt the old girl needed to be brought back. We've already installed a Heidt's front suspension and we've installed some of the cab patch panels and floor which I bought from Classic as well as some parts from LMC. Luckily the hood and roof are pretty good, but I'll have to replace the inner fenders, fenders, and bed. Here are my three pressing questions:

1.) Who sells the best built, most accurate door hinges? I'll buy a set of NOS if I can find them.

2.) Who sells the best built, most accurate body parts?

3.) I have a 2015 Chevy 1500 and I really like the ride; has anyone used 2015 Chevy 1500 rear springs in the 47-55 trucks?

Thanks in advance for your help.

Barry

[b-mac]

1) I bought a pin kit to repair mine. Haven't done it yet...hope it goes well. You drill out the old pins and install larger ones. Someone posted a video link yesterday to the guy I bought mine from.

2) I've only used LMC and Bowtie Bits. Have a friend to swears by ClassicParts. They all seem to be about the same to me. Re-pop is re-pop, and there always seems to be a bit of massaging necessary to achieve perfect fit.

3) Love the idea. Haven't seen anyone use it (mostly because of newness/cost). Is 2015 Leafs or coil-spings? You will need a more narrow axle I believe.

[O.C.Barry]

1.) At least one of my hinges is bent, so I'd like to find high quality repro's or NOS. I'm hoping someone who may have some NOS hinges sees this post and responds.

2.) First I've heard of Bowtie bits, I'll look them up.

3.) They are leaf springs. We are going with a 5 bolt CHEV pattern, so I'm looking for a 1970 to 81 Nova or Camaro 10 bolt rear to rebuild.

Thanks! Barry

[mr48chev]

Those late Chevy 1500 springs will be too heavy duty for the 50. You want a spring that comes from a similar weight truck if you swap springs. A freshened up set of stock springs can ride pretty good though with the right shocks. You might look under an early 90's Dodge Dakota 2 wheel drive truck as they have springs and spring mounts that pretty well unbolt from the Dakota and should be rather simple to mount under the 50. I have a Dakota donor truck for my front end swap and it is going to donate the rear springs too.

On the hinges, If I had a set of hinges that weren't bent and weren't worn to the point that the pin had worn though the base metal of the hinge I'd just get the pin and bushing kits and rebuild my own.

I can't help on the patch panels as I have not yet bought a patch panel but will have to shortly for the cab corners.

[O.C.Barry]

Thanks Mr. 48 -

That's good info on the springs. As for the cab corners, we already put LMC Truck cab corners on the truck; they worked perfectly.

As at least one of my door hinges is bent, I'm hoping a NOS set comes up for sale or someone responds with good info/experience on a repro set.

Thanks for the input.

Barry

[b-mac]

Might try Paulspickupparts if you want an OEM set of hingrs rebuild.

[47 Fasttoys]

If your planning on using the torque tube rear axle the spring perch is unique to that axle. It has a swivel point above the mount. The springs are also thinner on the early stuff, 1 3/4" I think. Most modern springs are in the 3" wide range but use a lower count spring pack. The late model Silverado is in the 6400# range which is about double the '50 model, so with the late model springs it should ride like a 1 ton without the 1 ton capacity.
Rob

[mdpaulson1]

used TCI 3" drop rear leafs for my 56 and I am quite happy. It was easy to install and came with everything. shocks, mounts, leafs,perches,ubolts. did it in an afternoon.

[mr48chev]

Somehow I read that you were going to 5 lug into the thread but if you are staying with the stock rear axle I'd just rebuild the stock springs rather than swapping springs. You can pull the overload leaves off if it has the as they only work when you have enough load to settle the truck down on them and add unsprung weight but the stock springs ride pretty good when they are in good shape. I'm swapping springs on mine because I am swapping the rear axle and am lowering the truck several inches. Plus I don't really want lowering blocks if I can help it.

[O.C.Barry]

Originally Posted by mr48chev

Somehow I read that you were going to 5 lug into the thread but if you are staying with the stock rear axle I'd just rebuild the stock springs rather than swapping springs. You can pull the overload leaves off if it has the as they only work when you have enough load to settle the truck down on them and add unsprung weight but the stock springs ride pretty good when they are in good shape. I'm swapping springs on mine because I am swapping the rear axle and am lowering the truck several inches. Plus I don't really want lowering blocks if I can help it.

I'm looking for a 1970 to 1979 Camaro or Nova differential to use in my '50. It's not going to be run hard, so a 12 bolt is not necessary.

Thanks to everyone for your replies and help.

Barry

[Loelrider]

I bought a bracket kit from ChassisEngineering and a used set of leaf springs from a 2000 S10. From the measurements looks like it should work with little modifications got the leafs on Craig's list for $40. As soon as the rain lets up I'm gonna start the install. And by the way I picked up a 70 nova 10 bolt as well.
The brackets were I think like $120 or so from Chassis engineering. The come with the shackles and brackets and hardware.

[nvrdone]

for the rear axle you might want to check out one from an s10 4X4. I hear they are almost the same width as a stock axle. the 2wd ones are too narrow