Aftermarket chassis choices

[Scott2]

When I bought my truck I wanted to take on a project that I thought I could handle (from a complexity, skills and amount of work perspective) and have some fun with, and I wanted a cool old truck I could drive around and enjoy. I am not going drag racing or slalom racing or anything but racing moderately down to the Friday night car show or gun range or cruising around town. I do want it to be as safe as reasonably possible with more modern suspension, steering and brakes so I feel comfortable when my wife takes it. I looked at all the options and got tangled up in some of the specifics for a little bit until I realized my needs were pretty simple and I just really didn't want a 65 year old chassis or an S10 swap either. I wanted a good solid new chassis designed specifically for my truck that would meet all the needs I already mentioned.

At that point it came down to features and budget and when I ran all the numbers my assessment was that the TCI chassis offered me everything I needed - maybe not engineering perfection or the coolest design or the very latest components, but one that really checked all my boxes. I am actually not promoting one chassis over another. I love the look and the design of some of the other chassis out there - the Roadster Shop, AME, etc. and I think there are a number of great choices.

For me it was a pretty straightforward business decision - given all the options for chassis and what each builder included, and what they were each asking when I was ready to write the check, the TCI chassis setup was the best deal for me by a few thousand ($3k - $5k). I think that probably changes from time to time.

I can tell you that I thought about the 8" side rails being too big, at least until I initially assembled the truck and realized you can't see them. I did order the chassis with the 7" frame mounted booster and then switched to a firewall mounted 8" after talking to a few guys who said from experience I would get far better braking that way. I worried a bit that the cross frames would be in the way but they aren't so far and the exhaust is already set up nicely. I do wonder about the adjustments for the "custom MII" front end but expect they will be fine even though they are definitely basic and not elegant. I also don't expect the truck to ride great - it's a lowered truck with 30 series tires and most of all I live in Colorado and the roads are rough. My regular drivers get a beating so the truck won't be any different.

All-in-all, I think it's awesome that there are so many great choices out there and I think if you stay with any of the mainstream shops you can't go wrong.