Home Brewed Monster

BRIAN BICHANICH’S CUSTOM CREW CAB ’52 CHEVROLET 3100

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Classic ’50s trucks are cool without a doubt. But they are not exactly spacious, especially for a family of four! When 52-year-old Brian Bichanich of Union Grove, Wisconsin, began to work on his 1952 Chevrolet 3100 more than 10 years ago, his sons Max and Zach were around 7 and 11 years old and he and his wife Karen wanted a cool truck that they could cruise in with the whole family. So the idea for a crew cab ’52 was born and Bichanich took the challenge on himself.

After picking up a rusty old truck for only $300, Bichanich started fabrication in his home shop. He started with the chassis and suspension. Of course, young boys (and the kid inside Bichanich) love monster trucks, so he opted to go tall with his one-off creation rather than bring it down to the ground. The chassis was lengthened to accommodate the coming crew cab body with the standard ’52 bed. He wanted a massive lift to run huge 44-inch-tall tires, but he also didn’t want it to be impossible for the family to climb in and out of the truck, so he designed the four-link front and rear suspension with air bags to allow it to drop five full inches from maximum ride height on demand.

The Dana 60 axle up front is from a 1980 one-ton Chevy pickup and is held in place with a parallel four-link setup plus Panhard bar. To match the narrow width of the ’52 pickup he narrowed the Dana 60 by 5 inches. Bichanich fabricated a crossover steering setup with a hydraulic assist to make it easy to turn the massive 44-inch Super Swamper tires he planned to run. He also mounted a Rock Jock universal antisway bar to keep the truck flat in the turns.