'57 3200 w/ solid axle. Tires or upgrades first?

[yossarian19]

The truck handles better than I would expect but it is still a little loose on the freeway, leans a little in the turns. I've got fresh(ish) shocks, wheel bearings, disc brakes, steering linkage & fixed-end spring bushings into the front end. Shackles are still shot to hell and no sway bars.
My dad is swearing up and down that the first thing I do for handling should be 17x9 wheels & tires, that the rest will seem unimportant by comparison.
I'm thinking that the chassis is the weak link, performing well under what even the 235/75/15's will do on a tighter front end.
So - who's right?
If I was going to spend $$ on making the truck a little more highway friendly, are tires or bushings & sway bars going to make the bigger bang for the buck difference?

[nvrdone]

one thing that people seem to forget is that the frames on our old trucks are very soft & flexy compared to new trucks.
having said that, when I built my '49 I did the springs, bushings etc first. then I added a front & rear sway bar. cost wise, it was a better bang for the buck with my budget.
the truck handles much better than it did, but my grand Cherokee will still out handle it.
also, tires wont cure the body lean or improve handling. it will stick better in corners. but wide tires on a beam axle tend to follow every rut in the road.
just my thoughts.

[yossarian19]

Hah! What year Grand do you have? My 2004 is my benchmark for how well a solid axle *can* handle, though I'm not about to duplicate the 4 link + panhard front end that's under the Jeep.

[1project2many]

To heck with the tires. Bars and shackles. Pull sway bars out of a stock vehicle and go for a drive and it will seem roly-poly like your truck. My truck had 225/75R16 tires for years and it always handled well enough to drive in the fast lane.

[nvrdone]

07 wk 5.7 awd overland. I still enjoy driving the '49 it just drives different