Spring and Coil Cutting

[myoldchevytruck]

I am having a discussion with my son and i am trying to tell him that it is NOT possible to cut the back coils of my 69 C10. he is saying you will be able to cut them. i just did a swap from leaf spring to trailing arms and he wants to cut the stock coil spring just to see what it looks like. any information on this or pictures of them would be great thank you.........

[PanelDeland]

Don't argue this one.I saw a rear coil cut once.I have to admit the 1/4 plate and U-bolts holding it on did not look safe to me but "the coil was cut"....

[Longhorn Man]

physicly possible, and if it is JUST for figuring out the stance and NOT for street use... go for it.

[shifty]

Take the rear spring off and look at how it tapers to a half-sizeed circle at the end and it will be abundantly clear why it won't really work. The spring pocket mounts won't work anymore. I would cut the fronts in a heartbeat as a cheapo solution, but I wouldn't bother with the rears. Whatever you do, don't heat them (that's the worst thing you could possibly do)

[Longhorn Man]

eh, I've heated plenty back in the day, other than a real crappy ride, it worked fine.

[shifty]

The person who had my front end heated the front springs, and they kept sagging and sagging and sagging until he had to put wooden 2x4 blocks in the top spring pocket, then they kept sagging and sagging, and ... well, lets just say that when I pulled the control arms out, I didn't need to bother with a chain, even with the 2x4's still in the top spring pocket. I have some pics of the springs if you wanna see em

[Longhorn Man]

wow.
I guess there IS a right way to heat them and a wrong way to heat them.
I have NEVER heard of that.

[shifty]

These are literally bent like ( and ) respectively. It looks like they wedged a shoe in on one side and heated the other. I had always heard that if you excessively heat a spring, with any amount of driving and bumps, they will continue to shrink and compress over time until they either break or your suspension bottoms out. This is the first time I'd seen it.

I wish I could have taken a picture of the look on my face when I had to smack the 2x4 blocks out of the spring pockets in the crossmember. It was a serious "WTF?!"

[myoldchevytruck]

Man am I glad You 3 guys responded. Were at a point were we can't decide whether to go with a 6 inch drop spring or to bag it. For stance only, I guess cutting it is ok, but for ride absolutly not. We have been going at this today. I even went as far as saying that I would buy him drop coils If it could be done. FOR RIDE, NOT STANCE. I said I wanted feedback from the best C10 GROUP 1ST. Well, he thinks he won. But I proved my point. But Me the Dad, I'll probably give in - What the h---, it's my truck too.

Thanks Guys
Harry

[shifty]

Technically, you are supposed to increase spring tension/stiffness 15% per inch the spring is reduced from factory height in order to preserve handling characteristics and response. You obviously don't do this when cutting a spring.

If you want some pics of what a stock rear spring looks like, I have a couple I cut outta my truck. I can take a pic of the end and show why it won't work worth a damn.

Bags are not a bad solution, to be honest. Bagging the rear of a truck is pretty easy, but takes some holesaw cutting.

[Longhorn Man]

The reason I say it is not for driving... you'll have to RIG a way to secure the spring. Since you just installed the rear set up, I'm sure you remember the springs are pigtailed at both ends, so there is no way to seat it in the mounts.
Now, if it had a pig tail on ONE end, I'd say chop away for a mild drop.
So it can be physicly done to figure out what kind of drop you want... but before it hits the street, it'll need new springs.

[myoldchevytruck]

Guys, let me assure you. We ain't cutting no coils.
He's the kid, I'm the dad...I rule. HaHaHa Now the wife...She's the boss.
I just talked to Bill Athey. 6 inch springs are $115.. plus $10.50 shipping to Fl. We'll order those in a week or so. I'm awaiting a Super Track Bar from ECE and I want to paint the frame since the step bed is off. P.S. Anyone wanna buy some Stock Coil Springs? I have em listed in the classifieds.

Thanks, Harry

[Longhorn Man]

double check... I think you'll need a c notch for a 6 inch drop

[myoldchevytruck]

Andy,

ECE says no C-notch needed for 6 inch drop coil. Anything more than that, C-notch is required. Also asked the guys at Suicide Doors, they said the same.

Thanks Harry

[Longhorn Man]

kewl

[matthufham]

i have a 5 inch rear drop spring, and i also needed shock relocators/shocks, and an adjustable panhard (tracking) bar. i need a c notch too because i only have about 2 inches between the axle tube and the frame. it bottoms out all the time, and i removed the bumpstops.

you can safely cut the front springs exactly 1 coil and get 2 inches of drop. that's what i did, safe smooth ride with the bumpstops removed and i also have drop spindles.

[shifty]

Andy and anyone else interested -

Here are those (heated) springs I was talking about above, and apparently what happens if you over-heat your coils and chop them. Meanwhile, to the OP, note teh rear coil in the picture - see how the coil tapers at either end? The spring pocket on the trailing arm and on the frame are designed to fit that taper, if you cut the rear spring, you'll lose the taper and the coil won't fit into the retainer anymore.

[Psycho71]

Can those technically be called springs anymore? I think the only 'spring' left, was in the sidewall of the tire?


Jay

[hiridn69gmc]

heh, those look familiar. That is exactly what my whole suspension looked like from PO. What's even better were the stock shocks completely compressed still under there too. I'll tell you what, you sure wouldn't fall asleep behind the with those bouncing the truck around