BJ,
Nothing left on that black cab. It was so rusted the roof literally almost blew off when we were hauling it home. Maybe I'll make a porch swing with it lol....
Vince

 

Just hate to see an ole 56 pass on to the rust pile.

 

Eberhama,

I'll do my own research so that I'm not "that lazy guy" but how can I measure that? Do I just measure outer wheel to outer wheel and then compare that measurement to the truck's fenders? I don't want it sticking out like a cholo lol. I'm looking for the wheels to be centered front and rear and to fill the wheel wells.

Thanks
Vince

 

You guys in the mood for some picture??? Well, here you go. What am I looking at? Be gentle..........

 

Looks like a few crossmembers are missing in the back. Did the PO have fenders on the cab? Unless the PO was savvy the original position of the front wheels was approximately 1” toward the cab, not centered.

Wheel and tire fitment depends on your wheel & tire selection.

 

Yeah I got that regarding the tires. I'm looking at an 18" front/rear on lower profile tires.

I'm not sure if they did or not. I can ask. Pretty sure the PO just acquired the black cab as it was with intentions of doing exactly what I'm thinking about. Oddly he didn't seem to have too much knowledge about the build. I don't suspect he was trying to pull a fast one on me. He's just a car guy, a metal head that had his own vision that failed to health reasons.

 

This truck is not mine, but I would love for mine to look EXACTLY like this when I'm done. Stance, height, rims/tires, color etc. shall be mine. Oh yes....it shall!

 

That rear suspension setup is ‘special’. The rear shocks should be almost vertical, not angled back like that. The panhard bar should be about double that length and nearly horizontal at normal ride height.

 

Pull the front clip off the gray one and bolt it on the frame with the black cab. Check for clearance.

 

Still can't tell if it's a twin I beam but I've never seen one with a power rack .

 

Well...where to start? Let's go to the back. Behind the axle, 2 cross members have been removed, and in their place is 1 piece of random angle iron. This is also the coil over mount, so the structure of the the rear, and the weight of the back of the truck are all on 1 piece of angle iron. The coils appear to be motorcycle or atv maybe? and are at such a wicked angle, the rear might as well be fixed mounted. As was pointed out, the panhard bar is too short, and at the wrong angle, and also appears to be made from a hardware store turnbuckle, rather than an automotive grade part.
On to the front, the cross member for the tranny that connects the front cab mounts and keeps the cab mounts from sagging is gone, as is the front cross member that mounts and supports the whole front sheet metal. To align the front sheetmetal on these trucks is a big job, to have to do it without having the front cross member in a known location to work off of would be a very big job. The rack and pinion is not stock to the front stub. I seem to remember having the steering arms running towards the back of the vehicle(not in line with the rack) is a big no-no(I wish axracer was here to say why). The twin-I beam suspension is a bugger to work with in terms of lowering. You would need dropped i-beams which are expensive, and the ride and handling will suffer if done incorrectly.
Back to the track width. I would start with drawing some lines in the dirt parallel with the outside of the tires, and throw a tape measure on the ground and see where your at width wise, and compare the 2 trucks. You can compensate for a wide track with negative offset wheels(like on the front of the blue truck you pictured) but with 5X5.5" bolt pattern, your wheel choice is limited allready, finding negative offset in that pattern is all but impossible(unless you spend big $$ for custom made ones).
I am 100% backyard hack myself, and I'm not saying you need a bunch of 1-800 parts to make it worth building. I just don't want to see another '56 guy throw good money after bad, trying to make this work, when the clean slate would be an easier(and cheaper in the end) path. I'll get off my soapbox box now.

 

Oh no Sir, you stay right up on that soap box. That response right there is why I joined the forum. Thank you.

Like Olboy said, that suspension is special. I knew it when I bought it but a I figured getting aftermarket crossmembers and welding them in wouldn't be to big of a hassle. I was really hoping I could take out whatever parts I needed from tge 56 frame and use them in this clip. Probably still could but with what else you pointed out what's the point?! Hmmm....what to do

Seriously contemplating plucking the motor/tranny as recommended prior. Anyone looking a 9" Rear?? Selling to pay for TCI chassis lol.

Thanks
Vince

 

A lot of the black truck stuff can be cannibalized into the other truck. You can get cheap motor&tranny mounts to bolt in and use the 460/c6, headers and exhaust can be re-used. The 9" gears can be swapped into a '57-72 f100 9" housing and bolted onto the stock '56 leaf springs. If you want to keep the 5X5.5" pattern to match, you can re-use the rotors and bearings off the front for a disc brake swap, using a cheap bare bones kit. Driveshaft might be a bolt in depending on where the motor/trans ends up. the big bearing 9" housing will bring a few bucks from the race car guys, and I'm sure the stock 460 motor mount towers would be valuable to '73-79 ford guys. If the firewall mounted master cylinder/swing pedal seems to work and function ok, that all can migrate too. Even the old school aluminum wheels would bring some money you found the right guy. You got some lemons there, but plenty to make lemonade I think.

 

I am putting an 07 Crown Vic front end under my 53 and going with a 95 on explorer rear. I suggest you look at doing the same before you get a TCI kit.

 

It's really looking like a fresh start would be a far better decision . IMHO It's far more work - money to " fix " than to do it right the first time .