whats different from a 1/2 ton to a 3/4 or 1 ton? as far as

exline · Post by **exline** » Thu Nov 30, 2006 9:03 am

I have a 1/2 ton 68 and was wondering what the difference was between them. are the frames the same? I want to upgrade to be able to haul more weight but finding a good truck is hard. my 1/2 ton is nice and i was wondering if i could just upgrade the springs and mabye the axles from a 3/4 or 1 ton? There are a few of them sitting close to me in a junk yard. I wanted to putt the 318 3 speed and put in a 440 with 4 speed. its 2WD and i even thought about upgradeing to 4wd but would kind of like to leave it 2wd because there is less stuff to break and wear out.
how would it do if i just installed more leaves in the rear springs? does the front need to be heaver when theres not a lot of weight going up there when i am pulling anyway?

Post by **Seabee** » Thu Nov 30, 2006 9:42 am

I believe the frames are the same. Axles on the 3/4 are heavier. My 68 has an "overload" spring pack that allows it to carry quite a bit of extra without squatting badly (in past years I've had heavy loads of wood, and 2000lbs + of cattle feed in it). You could swap in the springs and rear end from a 3/4 without difficulty. The only issue is you'd have a different wheel on the back (have to carry two spares).
If you're gonna load it heavy now and then; spring upgrade would be fine. If you're gonna squash it a lot and put a lot of miles on loaded; I think I'd put the 3/4 rear under it.
(you could grab the front axle assy from the 3/4 and put in on as well)

exline · Post by **exline** » Thu Nov 30, 2006 11:59 am

how about air bags? anyone ever used them . i would think that would keep the truck riding the same empty and i could level it when its loaded right?

BigJ · Post by **BigJ** » Thu Nov 30, 2006 1:07 pm

by looking at the picture, next time try to move the load on the trailor over the axles a little more, that will help alot. Make the trailor carry the weight, and let the truck pull it.

66patrick · Post by **66patrick** » Thu Nov 30, 2006 4:14 pm

Your trailer should be loaded 60/40 front/back. The way yours is loaded, you're more like 80/20. This will cause you a great deal of problems in towing, not only in the way your truck/trailer handle, but also in braking and controlability. It's hard to tell how much you have in the back of your truck in the picture, but that isn't helping you. The brakes on that truck alone aren't going to stop you. The front brakes on the truck are nearly useless the way your rig sits, and you are using only the rears on the truck to stop. You DO have the brakes on that trailer hooked up, right??? I sold trailers for a number of years. If I were a cop and saw you coming down the road with that load, I'd give you a ticket in a heartbeat! Going with tallzag's front disc brake conversion is going to help you in the braking department.

You can take the springs from a 3/4-ton and put them on your half-ton, but you will need the spring mounts and perches from the 3/4-ton, not just the springs. They will not mount up to the 1/2-ton perches.

Overload springs are another option, but they will not make your 1/2-ton a 3/4-ton at all.

The 1/2 and 3/4-ton trucks share the same frame. The one-ton is different. If you are going to do that kind of hauling on a regular basis, I'd strongly recommend you find a 3/4-ton truck.

exline · Post by **exline** » Thu Nov 30, 2006 8:48 pm

no i know you dont haul loads like in my picture! i only drove 2 miles that way and its because the forks on the loader would not go around the wheel wells so we just slid the load up past the wells. i only went 2 miles so no problem. its the only picture i have of the truck hauling anything so thats what i posted. but even a regular trailer thats loaded right is a load on this truck. i get the brakes hot just going down the side of the mountain empty in second gear!

Website · Post by **wideblock** » Thu Nov 30, 2006 10:12 pm

one issue you will run into on the 1/2 to 3/4 swap is the shackles. the half ton shackles are one bolt size smaller then a 3/4 ton. so to run the whole 3/4 axle and spring pack, youll have to drill out the holes in the shackle brackets to fit the bolts. another theing, yes the frames are the same, but the location of the shackle is different. when i did the conversion on a 66, we noticed the shackle location on the half ton was higher on the frame as compared to the 3/4 ton. thus making the truck sit lower then a stock 3/4 ton would. its really not as much a location difference as a slight bracket variation. you can avoid mods by combining a 3/4 ton spring pack with just the top leaf of a 1/2 ton pack, then you keep bolt size the same as the half ton. helper springs work well but will stiffen your ride and raise the truck. coil assist shockes work well also, but with the same empty result as over load springs. air bags tend to give guys an over confidence that leads to things breaking. LOL pretty much anytrhing you do to upgrade load rating is going to make the truck ride rougher. i have used air shocks in the past with great success. kinda old school, and i always run upgraded tubing with a higher burst rate. but for the occasional big load, they work well to get things back level. and when empty, you just let some air out. same goes for air bags, JC Whitney sells a nice frame mounted air bag kit i have been eyeing.

Roger · Post by **Roger** » Thu Nov 30, 2006 10:39 pm

Trey, Its nice to know I'm not the only one on here eyeing in a JC Whit. catalog. Mine is a budget thing. Some friends of ours has a purpose show built 69? cheby. Beautiful truck, all the trimmings and bling, especially under the hood, including pollished blower. My wife says I want your truck to look like that. So I asked the the million dollar question, "are you gonna allow me to invest 40 to 60K$ in a truck that I would be afaid to drive on the road for fear of crying over a 10K paint job getting chipped by road rash?" Heck no was the answer. My answer was it'll look good and not cost an arm and leg and I won't be afraid to drive it, or let you smoke in it, or let the dog ride in it. Build me a garage, with lift, air etc.,,, then I can hobby one out. Until then you'll have to be happy with my "do it in the yard" results. Her eyes actually glazed over at the 40-60k remark. Obviously thinking about how much jewelry that will buy...........

Post by **cowboy** » Thu Nov 30, 2006 11:41 pm

exline, we have a 69 d100 (1/2) ton with 77 3/4 springs under it 7 with the bigger axel it sat like a 3/4 ton , you do need to ream out the shakles like trey said , but all is good 7 it does ride like a 3/4 ton

Rodger · Post by **Rodger** » Fri Dec 01, 2006 10:04 am

Sir

The weight ability to carry or tow is from the size/type of tires ( 75's yay - 70's nay ), the ratio of the rear axle ( 3.5 some towing - 3.9 getting better, the strenght of the springs ( the small trucks all seem to have small bolts and to be "adjusted" to accept the larger bolts ).

The size of the larger engine only means it will get to max towing/load speed sooner. Then stop and wait at the gas station sooner. ( Rock Crawler types only idle )

There are some other items in the towing or load list which relates to the vehile holding up to the task such as more lugs, transmission coolers for the automatics, clutch seven blade fans, larger u-bolts, large diam alternator pully's and etc.

Rodger & Gabby
COS