Had some big problems with lowering the truck!!
 

Well...Our Susp. and Steering Class was at the college tonight in Midland. We were lowering my truck for a lab. 3/5 Drop..Flip Kit and spring. Well...The front end went fine. The back was totally different story. First we messed up and had to take it all apart to get hte pinion set. Then....We hadd the take the drive shaft off the set that. ok...Then The drivshaft woudlnt FIT!!! So we took it out and buff it up a lil and it still would fit. Since I got a turbo 400..I cant take off the extension out the tranny easy. So....after that. My shocks were bottomed out bad. The guy at talked to about the Kit said I didnt need shocks or a lowering kit of my old ones. ok.....And my lower Ball joints and SHOT too. So.....Tonight....We lowered the truck but to only find that....

1. I have to get hte driveshaft cut and Inch and a Quarter
2. I need new shocks for the kit
3. I need new ball Joints
4. I need a J.O.B.!!!!

Oh yea..I lost my walet today TOO!!! This just aint my day. I have now come to relize that nothig is ever as it seems. Its not just a lowering kit...its everything within 5 inchs of it lol. But yea....It looks sick. I crapped my pants when i saw it. Looks dam good. But....all need all that by friday lol. Time for some serious overnight shipping lol. Yall will see me ridin soon enough So please pray that nothing else goes wrong I kno i have lol. Yall take it easy!!!


Tyler

P.S. Josh our site Creater (Oh yessiams) Was there in the fight to make it work. He can vouch to how hard it was haha. Spent 45 mins alone on gettin the ball joints off HAHA! :P

*EDIT*....Yall kno a link to where i can find some Lower Ball Joint for my 78' Silverado Short Bed? If u do I loved to have them THX ALOT!!!

Those ball joints were a PITA, but in the end it looks sweet. You forgot about you flat tire today too, which explains the ugly spare on it in the pic below.

Looks more like a 3/6 than a 3/5 :D

But nice work. Turning out pretty nice.

looks real good.

you should be able to get that ball joint at the local parts places. but these places have them too

http://www.p-s-t.com/
http://www.performancesuspension.com/

WHy do you have to have the driveshaft cut? I've never heard of that just by lowering.

Sounds like some of my luck. Looks good though!

Yea neither have I. The thing was we had to take the drive shaft off the get the passenger side even on the pinion angle on the leaf spring right. So the shaft had to come off. It was really crooked. And it would turn anymore. So it came off. Then by that time everyting was good in the back end. The only problem we had was the driveshaft was now i dunno...2 inchs to long for the diff. housing connection. So yea. I hope that helps u understnad a lil. But even if the drive shaft worked fine. I have no shocks so it really doesnt matter lol. You kno wat I mean lol.

Uh, it sounds like you put the rear axle perches in backwards. ESCPECIALLY if you "think" you need the Driveshaft shortened and the pinion angle shimmed and the axle was in a bind. The long end away from the hole faces toward the rear (moves the axle back) What kit did you use? And what components?

Shocks: The ONLY way you can use stock shocks is if you ONLY used dropped spindles in front (1" springs you can get away with....), and shock extenders in the rear. Otherwise you need new shocks.

With a truck that old balljoints being bad isn't that shocking.

CaptK beat me to the punch..... it sure sounds like the rear end flip brackets are installed the wrong way. I used a flip kit on mine w/a t400 & didn't have any driveshaft problems @ all.

Those brackets are offset to compensate for the drop & if installed backwards I would bet you would run into the very same problems your describing.

I agree, I had the same problem on the flip with my 98 a few years ago and flipped the saddle around in the correct location and it was fine. :read:

Ditto on the last three posts something is not on right, the flip kits are designed to pull the driveshaft back and set the pinion angle when the spring pads rests on them(aka the offset hole):D

Ok..are perches the hings that sit under the axle that the leafs lay on? or is it the plate for the U-Bolts...And I am still confused on wat to do. my AIM name is MonkeyMayHam6969...IM me so we can talk or post up here QUICk....if i dot need to cut the drive shaft i need to kno soon. Thx alot guys!!!!

Tyler

When we did the rear axle, we set it as far back as it would go with the kit. I tried ot get a pic of it last night, but the lighting wasnt right. From what i can tell I think he's gonna have to cut the shaft about 1-1.5"

I believe his truck originally had a th350 in it, and has had a th400 swapped in, not sure what was done to the driveshaft during the swap. As it sets now though, with the shaft fully bottomed out in the tranny, its about 1/8-1/4" too long to fit.

I'd hate to have to get the shaft cut too, anyone have any ideas how to get it to fit without cutting? We tried putting the weight of the truck on the axle and its still just a hair too long to fit.

Yes these are the perches. They should have a hole in them for the center pin of the leaf spring pack. That hole should be off set front to back. If you have them turned around, the axle will move forward. If they are correct, the axle will move back.

Unless what Josh is saying about going from a TH350 to a TH400 is having an effect on the results, you should not have to cut your drive shaft.

You will need to replace the shock, like everyone else said....

The perches are in the farthest back hole, we checked that and tried them both ways possible. I'm thinking its the th350-th400 swap thats causing the problems.

So you can't get the driveshaft into the rear yoke, right? Well, that re-inforces my previous post. The axle sandle/perches are in backwards. Nothing on the truck should be effected from simple flip kit. See the attached pic, the perch will look like that. The front hole goes over the bolt holding the spring leafs together. DON'T cut the driveshaft. You got it installed incorrectly. Previous setup has nothing to do with it, unless you had trouble before. Which way did you put the shims in if the driveshaft went in before the flip? Tall side goes toward the front if the yoke was too low (pointing down) and toward the back if it was too high. I am telling you, you got it installled wrong, Cut nothing before you check that. If you want to email me it is chris.g.lucas@elpaso.com

Every shortbed truck I have done never needed anything as far as a drop was concerned. If you had a long bed, maybe.

I'll take a look at it tonight, I wasnt there when they first started the install, I was working on another project. I'll snap some pictures of it all installed also, it was running late last night or i would ahve grabbed more then. When they first installed one side I know it was backwards because the axle was moved too far forward. I didnt get a chance to inspect any of the brackets so I'm jsut going by what i saw of it last night.

Ok guys I just got off the Phoe with Western Chassis. Yall are right. We od have it installed wrong. I am thiking our Perches are wrong and our plates. On both or one side I am sure. He said...All holes should be faceing the front...on hte perches and the plates. And the first hole on the plate should be used not the center one. I will look at it tongiht for sure. I got shocks and Ball Joints comming tommorow. Friay i will try and make it work. One way moves the axle forward and the other way, the rgiht way moves it back. IF it turns out it is right then I dunno lol. But...I will check and makes sure..that 1. Our perch Holes are facing the front...and the plates are facing the fron and in the holes clostest to the egde and not the center. He told me if we did it like that it would work fine. If not...I am keepin my th400 and cuttin the shaft lol. But lets pray for me that it works on friday :) Thx alot for yalls help guys. Any more suggestions would be great :) Thanks!!

Tyler

Should look like this when done:
http://www.captkaoscustoms.com/images/U-notched4.jpg

I bet it would work better with an actual pic attached....

Oh, I see how the bracket is now. I didn't know there where 2 holes in it, that should be fairly simple to fix, I'll see what hole it is in tonight.

Josh,
There "might" not be 2 holes (most of the ones I have used had 2. Just put it in that configuration and it will work.

I'll get a good look tonight, I was in the middle of doing a project for another class im in, while in this class, so I wasnt around the whole time to help.

yea..that should fix it up. Makes me feel alot better I dont have to cut the Drive Shaft haha. Plus its cheaper so that good haha. We'll check it out tongiht. *NOTE*....I do not have C-Sections**

I put 2.5 tons in my 79 c10 with a 5/7 drop and no c-sections and it did just fine, so don't worry :)

Whats with this pinion setting too? When I installed my flip kit I took the driveshaft off, installed the kit, put everything back together, put the driveshaft on, and drive down the road n/p.

I dunno whats with the pinion part, i was putting together an engine at that point. Looks like it'll be friday before we get a chance and free time in the shop to get it figured out, hopefully without a new driveshaft now.

Yea We looked tonight. The U-Bolt Plates are fliped wrong and we will check the Perches tommorow night in class I hope :) If not friday we will. Thanks alot everynoe for you help and Info on this lil mishap haha. It really help us!!!!

Tyler

Well...everythin was fine with the kit installed right and everything. Not a single flaw in it. But...that wasnt the problem..the problem wa my transmission. The kit is for a stock lowering Kit. I have a turob 400 and not the 350 it orginally came with. There for the drive shaft will not fit. So tommorow morning at 8 AM I am getting it cut and installed. I got the shocks in...and could only put on the front ones....Sport Truck Direct forgot I guess to send me 2 of the top bolt i need to the rear shocks. I got hte one in the front but not the ones i need in the back. Needless to say I was very ticked off. Cuz...we re use the old bottom ones ok. ANd the top bolts on the old shocks wil not come off. SO i need 2 more and I wont pay for it lol. But yea...Just to let yall kno ti was the tranny. So tomorow its getting a shave. Thansk to everyone who helped. Yall had GRERAT info!!!


Tyler

As I said before, the drop has nothing to do with the transmission. Since you have problems now, you had them before, its that you just didn't notice them. The transmission yoke should have 3/4"-1" of play in it before you dropped it and the same amount after. Glad you found the problem though.

Yea I understan that it has nothig to do with the transmission. But It was swaped before i got it to that 400. So...that would effect the driveshaft lenght I guess. It would hav to lol. I wrote down all yalls and Western Chassis's instructions and it checked out great. But..the drieshaft is ready and I am about to go pick it up and put it on :) I CANT WAIT TO DRIVE IT HOME!!!!!!!

It jsut seems to me that the drive shaft would not have fit in the first place. Isn't the angle of the pinion the same?

it should be, never removed the drive shaft when doing a flip kit before, but i agree, something doesnt sound right, but hope it works for ya!

Yep, when I did mine a couple of months ago I didn't even touch (un-hook) the driveshaft. I suppose it's possible there was no free-play @ the yoke/output shaft which was a result from the tranny swap & the flip kit only exaggerated the problem. I didn't check mine for a before/after measurement.

It sounds like there is an unknown variable here. It's possible that the drive shaft is not the original one. We know the transmission was swapped. We don't know why it was, or what else could have been swapped at the time....

Yea I dont kno wat it was but I am pretty sure its either the tranny or its not the orginial driveshaft. But I dont care lol. It drives great....I got it installed today...so its great. i went out driving around town for like an hour lol. I got so many look. I was just chillin with my 2 12s bumpin lol. It was great haha!!....I washed it today Will show Brand New pics tommorow!!!! Be on the look out!!!!

Well, They had to change the Yokes because the TH350 and the TH400 use different yokes. No telling what happened there, but the good news is you got it fixed. Now... Where are those pics! ;)