Quote:
Originally Posted by chevybuilder18
I've drove my truck a couple times after i lowered it and it sucks on handling. i did cut 1 1/4 coils off so i can drop the front 2 inch's and a half. however i noticed this strange tire squeal going down the road, ever time i accelerated, i would swerve just a hair without losing control. even if i managed that, getting the truck to go over hills was hard especially accelerating to 60... its scary. but my theory is the tie rods are pushed out, and take more abuse on this set up. i have not been driving it, ever since i dropped the LM7 in it, lack of a power steering and alternator on the engine. i didnt figure parts like these wouldnt be laying around. especially after 11 years since the vehicles fitted with these engines could have been wrecked... but anyways the thing is i believe i may be able to fix the short cuts we make to save money and time on new lowering springs. the new tolerances on each cut individual coil has changed. hence the load capacity has dropped. if you have cut your coils and not satisfied with handling, this is why. another factor, is the heat you put on them to cut them, of coarse i made sure mine were cool through the whole thing so it wouldnt take strengths away. i have a remedy that may fix this. since load capacity has changed, and there a lil weaker, the springs are bouncing more, causing the ride height to change in the front but not the back. since this happens, the tie rods are pushed and pulled by the height change. I've noticed this, since our trucks rear leafs and axles aren't independent or as heavy as the front. to balance this, there's coil stiffeners out there on the shelf at autozone, aka coil spacers. these spacers are my tactic to try and stiffen the ride, not only that, but better than factory shocks are going to be needed so will an entirely new way of balancing the tie rods.. any one ever think of this?  |
Cutting coils increases the springs rate over a given amount of travel (if it took 350# of force to compress the spring 1", now it might take 400# to compress it that same inch).
That being said, cutting the coils decreases the amount of available travel but doesn't increase the spring rate enough to balance the difference. This is why you shouldn't cut more than 1 coil. If it takes more than that to set your ride height, you need coils w/more spring rate.
Did you align the front end after cutting the coils? The toe must be reset since the geometry of things has been altered. Caster/camber also has an impact depending on the alignment specs used. What was the alignment set @?
Using the 'coil spacers' is a bandaid @ best & not a good one. Better shocks w/the correct range of travel are a great idea.
Anything worth doing is worth doing right....