53 five window

[53_fivewindow]

Hello all.
Brand new to the forum, purchased my first 3100 series chevy recently. I plan to do some work on it over the winter. The truck had been in storage for ~ 20 or so years. It has solid bones and a nice petina for a northern vehicle.

I really dont know much about these trucks. Currently the vehicle runs and drives. It has a replacement 261 inline 6 with 848? heads and a 3 speed on the column and torque tube driveline.

My goal by springtime is to clean it up go through brakes and get the truck lowered to improve the stance(-3" or so). I plan on driving it with the 6 cylinder for a period while I work on interior and some other small items.

I plan on lowering the front end with a dropped axle/springs combination. My question to the experts is, what are my options to lower the in the rear with the torque tube?
Te rearend looks to be a replacement with the axle on top of the leafs, with some sort of a pivot joint at the mounting points.

Attached are some pictures of the rear end. Any thought on an inexpensive approach to lowering the rear 3"?

Thanks