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Re: Front suspension kit?

PostPosted: Mon Apr 07, 2014 10:30 am
by Ethan
Such a hard choice great handling vs that cool look of giant leaf spring packs with a giant front I beam axle

Re: Front suspension kit?

PostPosted: Tue Apr 08, 2014 8:24 am
by suprjohn
yet another choice would be to keep the beam axle and upgrade to disc brakes and power steering.

john

Re: Front suspension kit?

PostPosted: Tue Apr 08, 2014 4:39 pm
by Wildmanbill
I have one of each, one with IFS and one with the stock I-beam with disc brakes. They both drive and ride nice and stop good. The IFS with sway bars handles corners better though. Red one has IFS, the yellow one has the stock axle and springs.
Bill
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Re: Front suspension kit?

PostPosted: Tue Apr 08, 2014 5:38 pm
by Ethan
if you upgraded to stiffer shocks and a thicker swaybar would that sort of make up for the roll in the corners?

Re: Front suspension kit?

PostPosted: Tue Apr 08, 2014 6:14 pm
by nikkinutshop
These are awkwardly shaped trucks with a high centre of gravity and great handling was never a priority. Unless you are going to do auto slalom one suspension might be just a little better than the other. If either suspension is not installed correctly, the best option could become your worst handling. If you want go fast and corner hard, buy a sports car. My R1120 weighed 5577 pounds and it had an 1150 pound 6.9 Diesel powering it. The R was a slightly lifted 4X4 to clear the DANA axles. My son did some drifting with it, just for fun. There was lots of smoke from the cheap import tires and it came around like a big turd pile. It handled just OK for what it was and probably much better than the original lump.

Re: Front suspension kit?

PostPosted: Tue Apr 08, 2014 6:29 pm
by Ethan
Well I have a really bad habbit of taking 35mph corners at 60.. alot of times without even thinking about it

Re: Front suspension kit?

PostPosted: Tue Apr 08, 2014 7:01 pm
by Scottso
Here's a link for the mfr.
http://www.streetrodengineering.com/index.htm

Click "Products" then "Mustang II Independent Front Suspension Crossmember Kits"
More options under "hub-to-hub kit" and they can custom build kits too.

Re: Front suspension kit?

PostPosted: Tue Apr 08, 2014 8:01 pm
by Ethan
Do those kits come with all the springs shocks and such?

Re: Front suspension kit?

PostPosted: Wed Apr 09, 2014 2:31 am
by DanJ
The article in Classic Trucks using the Street Rod Engineering IFS was my 1950 L-120. Tom Pierce is the SRE owner and was very accommodating in providing what I wanted. I examined and talked to Fatman, Heidts etc (four or five) but they wouldn't offer me an IFS kit with the 60" track that I wanted. Tom made the crossmember (very stout) to suit my frame and provided the track I was looking for. We kept in touch during the installation and Tom was very quick to respond to my queries. The kit was complete; can't think of anything that I needed to add. The kit required the frame to be boxed so I took care of that. Others that I spoke to who used this kit took out the front frame 45 degree angle gussets and boxed all the way to the front of the frame. I chose to keep the angled bits and everything works like a charm. So far we've got about 10k miles on and still happy motoring. The original solid axle and I got along well but this IFS is such a big improvement in handling and ride. With the power rack, my wife uses it, whereas she didn't with the original armstrong steering. If you choose one of these types of kits, the only issue you may need to address is the choice of coil spring. Mine came in too low for my liking (prairie pot holes come to mind) so I changed to a higher spring rate, but Tom was willing to help with that too. I've gone on enough. Cheers.

Re: Front suspension kit?

PostPosted: Wed Apr 09, 2014 7:36 am
by Buzzman72
Thanks for sharing that, Dan!