58-62 Suspension & Front Crossmember

[Dino L.]

How do you tell the differences year to year on the front suspensions.....will they interchange and work across the board?front suspension.jpg

[Mike M.]

Re: 58-62 Suspension & Front Crossmember

53-62 pretty much the same and all c-1 vet pieces will interchange with c-1 vets. mike

[Jim L.]

Re: 58-62 Suspension & Front Crossmember

If the crossmember hasn't had any parts swapped on/off it, you could look at the hubs and (as far as I know) the third arm support to get an approximate age. Late hubs, which started in either '59 or '60 are beefier than early hubs. I'm not sure what the differences in 3rd arm supports are but I'm dimly aware these evolved over the years also.

Jim

[Paul D.]

Re: 58-62 Suspension & Front Crossmember

Just curious, but aren't the late 40s thru 54 pass front suspensions very similar if not the same as the Corvette? If so, are there some readily noticeable features to be sure you are getting a Corvette set up or should you even care? Chip.

[John F.]

Re: 58-62 Suspension & Front Crossmember

Tom Parsons wrote some good threads on this. May need to search.

[Jim L.]

Re: 58-62 Suspension & Front Crossmember

Just curious, but aren't the late 40s thru 54 pass front suspensions very similar if not the same as the Corvette? If so, are there some readily noticeable features to be sure you are getting a Corvette set up or should you even care? Chip.

The 3rd arm on passenger car cross members looks totally different. The arm pivots on a small bushing rather than on a large bearing, as on a Corvette. Too, on a passenger car front end, only one tie rod is adjustable. Also early passenger car front ends ('52 and older, I believe) didn't use Bendix brakes. They used the older Huck style of brake. Passenger cars used different steering arms to account for their longer wheelbase. Of course all these features could be unbolted and replaced with correct parts.

Harder to deal with (but not impossible) is that some (maybe all) passenger car cross members have two holes in the top side where motor mounts attached. You'd have to weld these closed and do some finish metal work to disguise this bit of passenger car DNA.


Jim

[Paul D.]

Re: 58-62 Suspension & Front Crossmember

Thanks Jim. Chip.

[Ian G.]

Re: 58-62 Suspension & Front Crossmember

You gotta drill some extra holes (4 - at least on the one I have) in the mounts, to bolt to the frame as well.

[Jim L.]

Re: 58-62 Suspension & Front Crossmember

You gotta drill some extra holes (4 - at least on the one I have) in the mounts, to bolt to the frame as well.

Not quite following you, Ian. You mean the passenger car cross member attached to the passenger car frame with fewer bolts than what was used in Corvette applications?

[Ian G.]

Re: 58-62 Suspension & Front Crossmember

actually sorry, scratch that. When I get home I will recheck what bolt holes I'm remembering. necessary holes were missing from the lip of the crossmember.
I noticed the welds at each end were different too, though that is aesthetic.

[John H.]

Re: 58-62 Suspension & Front Crossmember

'53-'54 passenger car spindle supports (uprights) are different than the Corvette spindle supports - they carry the spindles higher, effectively lowering the front end without affecting the suspension geometry; lot of Corvette racers used them.

[Gary C.]

Re: 58-62 Suspension & Front Crossmember

Photo in the OP's original post appears to be a C1 front cross member. IIRC the 4 holes Ian is referring to are for the Corvette front bumper bar brackets. As John said the Steering Knuckle Support Arms are different for Corvette; part # 3733451 & 3733452.

Gary
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[Ian G.]

Re: 58-62 Suspension & Front Crossmember

Here are pics of my original front crossmember and a front crossmember from a 53 or 54 chevy (if I remember correctly). I circled the holes missing from the chevy front crossmember. I forget what they are all for, but the middle ones are for the 3rd arm. Also at the very end of the crossmember there is a weld that is not quite the same, where the top and bottom halves meet. So you either need to be good with a drill, or run it by a machinist to replace the corvette front crossmember with a chevy one..

53_chevy_front_crossmember.jpg59_corvette_front_crossmember.jpg