[Bob1193]

Using square or rectangular tubing will increase the torsional stiffness but not enough to cause you any problems and using the longest arms possible will offset this somewhat. I have the same setup on a nascar lookalike 73 Monte Carlo and once I got the spring rates worked out it actually rides better than the original suspension. I also have no wheelhop and this used to be a serious problem with the car.

[fast68]

trailing and panhard rod type rear suspension was 63-72 on c-10 and c20 trucks

2wd only and not on 1 tons

very nice suspension, they used two stage springs and they can take tons of weight better than leaves and also ride nicely


they should have not done away with it, i dont know why they did, was pretty stupid to stick with leaf type suspension

but they are good about doing away with good things


ive owned alot of these trucks, i miss them all, i need to get another one

nascar uses a very similar suspension

the truck version of 12 bolt isnt as storng as the 72 older car ones the truck pinion stem diameter is way smaller than the car ones were

but thats not the only thing weaker/smaller in them

you can pick up a dana 60 rear from a GM truck this era for dirt cheap out of a yard
but most all were 8 lug full floating type,
but they almost always have a POW-R-LOK unit in the and the gm truck dana 60 were commonly 3.54 ratio and sometimes 4.10, and a few were 4.56(base ratio)
taller ratio 3.54 and 4.10 came with auto trans and 4 speed manuals with the larger option engines, 3 speed manual and/or a 6 cyl usually got deeper 4.56 ratio



put that powrlok unit into an SF dana 60 housing



good luck

[AHotRod]

Good reading, I built this type of suspenion from scratch under my Model A. All I'm waiting on is my 401 Buick Nailhead engine to be finished and Dyno'd, and then I'll have it on the road.
Glenn

[Youngster]

Seems like the early Nova's are a natural for this type of set up. I got involved with one in the late '70's.

To make a long story short, it was a '63 model with a full frame and the body mounted uni-body style. The rear suspension ended up being a truck arm setup. But we came from a Ford Thunderbolt angle.

We found that mounting the front of the trailing arms 6" on either side of the front U-joint seemed to work the best. we also used heim joints at the front end and OEM rubber bushings at the rear.

When this baby launched of the line, it acted just like the Thunderbolt did. Straight up and then skating to plant the rear. The 425 horse, 396, 4spd. gave me a scare that I can still feel today. That car is still around today with the same chassis it had in '77.

Youngster

[HOTROD41]

Originally Posted by Poopy 62

While this thread is being dug up from the grave...here is some relevant info from my truck arm build on my 62 nova. Its still not quite done, my rear axle is being shipped to me, but once that arrives I can finish it off:

My floors were rusty, so I cut them out to get this project underway:



Here is my rear suspension donor, i got this whole piece and a 12bolt truck rear end for $100 CDN.



Here is the truck arm crossmember getting cut in half so it fit:





The crossmember with cut down mounts now welded on instead of riveted:



Mock up of the crossmember and subframe connectors, I've decided to go with 2x3 tube(its 2x2 in the pic) for the crossmember tube so I can drop it an inch lower and still have the 2x2 subframe connectors line up. Still to do is build a tub bridge over the driveshaft to tie the two sides together:

I am planing on this for my Henry J anybody done one

[SSedan64]

May find some Tips here>> http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php?t=387475

[timothale]

the 49 olds we had in high school had that design also my donor 46 olds. It tended to lift the rear on burnouts. WE did a couple of all olds swaps in 59 and 60 . first was a 36 chevy then a 30 chrysler roadster. the olds had rubber biscuits between the arms and the frame mounts, we used a pipe on a breaker bar to torque them as hard as we could pull to compress the rubber. , the roadster was quick off the line excellent reaction, no hop like the 50 ford we raced against, On the chrysler we extended the arms and that got rid of the rear body lift. we ran 4 rear shocks, and panard bar and a rear sway bar.

[freeskier]

just saw the pics, im trying to put the same thing is a first gen f body, im also putting in new straight back boxed frame rails. what do i do for the arm mounts?

[1ownerT]

http://www.hotrodstohell.net/truckar...y_truckarm.htm

[freeskier]

i have the arms on the way, im gonna have to find a cross member alone or make one