lowering

[popstick]

I cant decide on which way to go with lowering my 83 C-10. Will shackels, hangers and spindles be the way? Or, go air?

[old Rusty C10]

welcome to the board how much of a drop are ya looking for?

[knightlife]

if you are wanting to add hellacious performance in the future I heavily advise just dropping it... especially if you have a lead foot like most of us.

if you are going for show... air is teh way to go...

[Malo83]

Do you want a static drop or Air? static would be the cheapest way while air can get expensive. the quick way would be a flip kit for the rear and spindles and coils for the front, this is my 83 with a 4/5 drop, 2 cut coils in the front and flip kit on the rear

[copperchevy]

If you're going with a static drop, 3/5 is the way to go. Djm suspension sells 3" spindles, plus you'll need them if you were to add air ride later on.

[chevyman8]

Originally Posted by Malo83

Do you want a static drop or Air? static would be the cheapest way while air can get expensive. the quick way would be a flip kit for the rear and spindles and coils for the front, this is my 83 with a 4/5 drop, 2 cut coils in the front and flip kit on the rear

Did you use spindles or just cut the springs. If you did what kind of drop are they?

[andresco50]

Cut the springs?? What about your ride quality???

[BowTieOgre]

Originally Posted by andresco50

Cut the springs?? What about your ride quality???

I was about to ask the same thing. I went that route when I first got my truck and the ride around town as a DD was a bit rough, come to find out I was hitting the bumpstops on all but the smoothest roads. As soon as I found that out I ordered 2.5" spindles and 2" coils and havent had any problems since.

[Malo83]

Originally Posted by andresco50

Cut the springs?? What about your ride quality???

I had 2 coils cut out and an alignment kit installed which is the black bar sitting behind the alignment shims and longer bolts that keep everything in alignment, the bumpstops were cut off for free travel, I had this setup put in when I bought the truck new and has been troublefree since, i've only bottomed out once when I hit a rut in the road at speed and it was too late to brake all this was before spindles and lowering springs for our trucks, still a nice ride, not rough at all.

[knightlife]

thank you copper... that is something I had always wondered...

[Slonaker]

If you have, and plan to keep, 15" wheels, you might be better off with 2.5" drop spindles. With most 15" wheels (likek my 15X8 rally wheels), you have to do some grinding to your calipers, lower control arms, or both if you use 3" spindles. I opted for 2.5" to avoid those problems.

Shackles, hangers, and spindles will make it look about like mine. I have drop leaves in the rear, but they are supposed to give the same amount of drop (about 4") as hangers and spindles. If you want to go lower, do a flip kit with spindles, and add drop springs until you get to the right height.

As far as air bags go, the only limit is the thickness of your wallet.

For pics of mine, look in my photo gallery. There is a link to it on my truck page, which you can get to by clicking on my signature at the bottom of this post.

Slonaker

[Mr79C10]

Or just get the 3" LCA from DJM

Easy bolt on, and ya get new LCA bushing done at the same time,,,,,

[slash crashley]

Originally Posted by Mr79C10

Or just get the 3" LCA from DJM

Easy bolt on, and ya get new LCA bushing done at the same time,,,,,

i've heard spindles are the best way to go. where do 3" lower control arms come in price-wise in comparison? any disadvantages you can think of?

i'm about to drop $1200 on a set of used 20" foose spanks and i wanna get 'er dropped asap. if it was considerably cheaper i'd order em right now.

i'm thinking it's $230-250 for 3" drop spindles? ..is that about right? DJM lca's easier to install than spindles?