First assignment: getting it lowered

 

It has been two weeks since the truck arrived and would you believe this is the closest I have come to checking out the front end? I have been trying to source a dropped axle for the truck, and the nearest thing I can get is a 3" drop from the USA which will set me back close to $1000.  

In the hope of finding someone local, I threw it out there on a Facebook group and a guy got back and said there is a guy in Melbourne who makes them (Garry Page). 

I have never met Garry, but by all accounts he is a very nice guy who has been doing this stuff for a very long time. I gave him a call up today and he advised he was snowed under with jobs and call him late July. I was also advised he could do the job if I supplied stub axles and steering arms and that it would cost around $1200 for a straight up bolt in affair with a two inch drop.  That sounds like a possibility, but the cost of it is making me think about other options, such as a Jag front. I have done a few of these over the years on a 54 and a 56 F100, but I believe the jag front is actually an ever better fit on these earlier model trucks, and I know how good these front ends are, and as a bonus, disk brake front, power steering and excellent road manners. So, why would I opt to mess around with archaic stuff?

The other thing is, as you can see in this crappy photo of the undercarriage, it has front springs as well, and I am guessing we might be able to get it down an inch closer to the ground just by removing some of those springs. And, you know what? That might just be enough. 

I wouldn't be changing a thing except for the truck just clearing the top of the garage door, and I still haven't taken it out for a drive as it is too damned cold in Goulburn and I am also waiting for a blinker set to arrive.