A lot of stories have been written about how to convert your truck from an axle to a Mustang II-type setup, but I wanted to steer off the beaten path and let you know about the option that costs a lot less: the dropped axle. So I headed over to Classic Performance Parts (CPP) in Anaheim, California, where owner Jim Ries and head honcho of R&D, Craig Chaffers, helped put together a kit to lower '55-59 Chevy trucks.
I started off with the idea of lowering the truck from 3 to 41/2 inches, depending on what parts I was going to use. Before we started I told Ries and Chaffers what my plan of action was, and they explained my options. A 3-inch dropped axle is and you most likely guessed right, 3 inches. If you wanted to go lower than that you could add a set of CPP 1.5-inch lowering leaf springs plus a CPP 3-inch dropped axle to get a total of a 4.5-inch drop. With the CPP 3-inch dropped axle it is not recommended to use a monoleaf lowering spring as a simple bolt-on kit because the axle would be placed too close to the frame and the suspension travel would be very limited. Limited travel will affect the ride quality (bottoms out) and cause pretty severe bumpsteer. The bumpsteer can be corrected with some creative fabrication and commitment to the challenge. For the sake of an easy install and not having to fabricate on the frame and other components I chose the CPP 3-inch axle and CPP 1.5-inch drop springs.
I already lowered the truck's rear end, and the truck was sitting in a stance I like to call "reverse stick bug" or a lowered pre-runner. Besides the stance issue, the majority of the front suspension parts have been on there since the late '50s and the term loose would be an understatement. Plus if any of you remember back then they used a torch to heat the axle and a bottle jack to bend it to close enough alignment. In my case the stock axle was warped from end to end and twisted, so I would get a pull and premature tire wear due to the wheels wanting to go in opposite directions. When I removed the stock axle and compared it to the new one the difference in quality was night and day. CPP uses a 2-inch seamless steel tubing with one-piece CNC-machined ends to make the axle. If you are worried about twisting or bending the axle when hitting a huge pothole you can just get that out of your mind and start worrying about your low-profile wheels and tires instead.
So if you're on a budget and have a limited amount of tools this may be the option for you.
