coil rear lowering concerns
 

i am about to lower the rear of my 71 half ton with coils. i believe the previous owner heated up the coils to lower it somewhat because the springs look funny compared to normal ones. the thing that i am wondering about, is when you put in the lowering springs, it will move the rear differential to the passenger side and make it not centered with the rest of the truck,,right? because of the traction bar. can you just shorten the bar, or do they have an aftermarket one to go with the springs. thanks for any lignt on this situation.

chevyforever:bowtie:

You can purchase an adjustable panhard bar. I bought mine from Early Classics Enterprise.

Also, the springs are supposed to be like that. The center 3 coils are almost touching...right?
They are a variable rate spring. (onless you have H.D. springs, then they should be evenly spaced.)

i have 4-inch lowering springs on my truck and there is no significant difference at all. if you are going lower than that, you may encounter a problem, in which case an adjustable panhard rod will fix you up!

Brave dave, how wide are your rims, and how much back spacing do you have?
A 4 inch drop with the stock bar seems a bit exsesive to me. I can load down my truck with stock springs, drop it 4 inches with the weight, and have lots of rubbing. (I have shiney metal in my wheel wells).
You need to keep in mind the variables. Stock sized wheels and tires would pass with a 4 inch, real wide stiff would shred on the sheet metal.

I'm with andy on this one, I have 4" drop springs and the early classic adjustable track bar isn't enough to pull the rear over dead center in the frame. My guess is my worn out trailing arm bushings.... I've had a pair of poly bushings setting on my desk for over 6 months. :rolleyes: I'll be installing them soon though.

How much adjustment is in the early classics track arm?

Hmmm, good question mothertruckers.
Anyone able to answer?

I havn't adjusted mine yet, but looks to be at least 3" to 4"

I can't remember it's been on my truck since the first of the year.

Thanks.

The Early Classic Super Track Bar Kit has nowhere NEAR 3" to 4" of adjustment. Mine isn't installed yet, so I'll measure how much it does have when I get home.

I lowered my 68 4" and used an adjustable bar, I probably only changed the length by 1/2" or so. Not much difference as far as I could tell.

Red68, I had that same problem..... No i'm going to drop the rear more than 4" and I'm going to have to go ahead and buy the whole kit with the longer bar..... If I could only keep my mind made up for once....:rolleyes: