Every day there are people thinking about plunking down their cold, hard cash for an independent front suspension setup for their vintage truck. The demand of today's classic trucks is far beyond what was expected of them in the past (not in the utilitarian sense-far from it in fact). Trucks are almost expected to ride and handle like most cars these days-which is a bit of a stretch-but there are cars on the market now that will start to apply the brakes for you when you get close to an object! The argument that these kind of ultra-modern features are making up for careless, distracted, and totally non-mechanically minded "drivers" is for another time and place. Nonetheless, most people now want their old truck to ride less like, well, an old truck.A company called Helix has jumped in the IFS ring with their new CornerKiller RX IFS suspension packages. The kit is available in either a deluxe or economy version. The deluxe CornerKiller RX kit includes TIG-welded tubular upper and lower control arms and the crossmember with ground and smoothed welds, while the economy packages include an ungrounded crossmember. All packages include 11-inch drilled, slotted, and vented rotors with bearings and seals, coilovers, stock height spindles, calipers with brackets and pads, a front-mount manual rack-and-pinion with tie-rod ends and bushings, a spindle nut kit, and all mounting hardware.
There are also options that include Helix's Magnum Mustang II forged, 2-inch drop spindles, power-assist rack-and-pinion steering, or the Helix AirShock suspension system. To make installations easier, Helix offers complete air suspension packages that include everything you need in one box, including compressor, manifold, tank, lines, airbags/shocks, digital control with eight presets, a remote control, and a plug 'n' play wiring harness. Helix also offers an upgrade program that allows you to exchange your old aftermarket suspension parts toward a CornerKiller RX IFS at a nominal fee, which is pretty sweet.
Right now, Helix has kits for '53-56 Ford F-100s and '55-59 Chevy trucks, but they also offer a universal crossmember that can be trimmed to fit just about anything. Join us at Jimenez Brothers Customs (JBC), in Riverside, California, as they walk us through the installation of the CornerKiller RX into a '53 F-100.
 Here we have your basic stock...  Here we have your basic stock suspension setup on a '53-56 Ford F-100. Obviously there's a bit of work that needs to be done to strip the frontend of its parts as shown here. |  After more work, everything...  After more work, everything is stripped from the front of the frame, except the bumper, which helps hold the framehorns in place during the install. With the frame safely on jackstands, it will need to be leveled from front to back as close as possible. A traditional bubble level should work. For those who need to really know how level things are, there are digital levels out there. |  One of the first things that...  One of the first things that needs to be done is to make patterns for the boxing plates of the inside of each framerail from the original front crossmember back to the transmission crossmember, or about 36 inches. The boxing plates should be made from 1/8-inch mild steel, and cold-rolled is preferred over cheaper hot-rolled steel. You'll need at least 6-feet of it, by 6 inches wide. |
 With the boxing plates cut...  With the boxing plates cut to fit and the frame prepped, it's time to tack weld them in place. Don't forget to chamfer or bevel each edge of the boxing plates and the frame where the two meet for proper weld penetration. |  Remember to jump around while...  Remember to jump around while tack welding the perimeter to avoid warping or misalignment. The same rule applies when it comes time to fully weld the boxing plates in; give them some time to cool between welds if needs be. Next, dress the welds with a grinder to smooth things out, but not to remove too much metal. Avoid hard stones for grinding. They can quickly and deeply scar the surface you are trying to make nice. Try rubber-backed 36-grit sanding discs instead and replace them often. |  Next, grab the TIG-welded...  Next, grab the TIG-welded Helix CornerKiller RX crossmember and dress all the edges to be welded with an aforementioned 36-grit sanding disc. Doing this will help for clean welding and make it so you won't have to remove it and do it later after the crossmember is in place. |