Has anyone lowered a 4 wheel drive?

[Cbrown67]

Has anyone lowered a 4 wheel drive?
I am talking using the solid front axle
what did you use and I know the obvious would be a two wheel drive frame but That I do not have

[chop_shop]

A friend of mine did this years ago. It was an early 80's Chevy with all time 4wd. He made a four link front setup with a panhard bar and ajustable coilovers. It wasnt easy. The rear is just like droping a 2wd. The bigest problem he had was getting the coilovers right along with the steering. There is alot of time and work in doing that to a 4wd. It was fun to drive but it eat front tires like crazy...

[Cbrown67]

Thanks Chop!
Im thinking of just going axles over the springs kind of a reverse of the spring over conversion

[chop_shop]

Well You can do that too. Hahaha! Most poeple ask about lowering something, They want to go low... It really depends on how low and what you want to do with the truck.
What ever you do just watch out for pinion angles and steering.

[Cbrown67]

Thats what I have running through my mind now is the steering

[chop_shop]

If your just going to flip the axle you might not run into any problems at all. Why do you want to lower it anyway?

[Cbrown67]

My ultimate plan is to put a 12 valve cumming motor in it so the 4wd would be good for racing, building boost and luanching

[chop_shop]

What is the truck? What kind of racing are you wanting to do?

[chop_shop]

I have a 65 2wd that im building a 250 for and im going to turbo it. Should be around 350-400hp when im done. 12v is a heavy engine.

[Cbrown67]

69 C20 and drag racing

[N2TRUX]

You need to take a closer look at the front suspension. In most cases there is not sufficient room to move the axle over the front springs.

[Cbrown67]

N2trux I also thought of that as of right now i have 4 inch lift springs in it so I think I may have enough room in there. Chop i agree there are heavy but i don't have the money to build an engine

[Shane]

so you are going to use lift springs to lower a vehicle?

[Cbrown67]

I'm not sure yet

[stealthy '69]

Originally Posted by Shane

so you are going to use lift springs to lower a vehicle?

Wait, I'm confused. It has to be your bull. or was it the butchers bull.

[LONGHAIR]

The issue with lowering a straight axle 4x4 is oil pan clearence. The springs and/or mounts are really not much of a problem, but unless you are planning upon raising the engine to clear the axle housing, it's not going to fit.

In completely stock form, at full compression, there wasn't much clearence to begin with.....You aren't going to be able to gain much, certainly not enough to make it noticable.

[Cbrown67]

Thanks long hair!

[scorchingeng]

Hi,

I have a 4x4 that is lowered to look like a 2WD at stock height. I had a shop re-arch the front stock springs and shave the blocks which gave me about 3 inches less than stock. I liked the pitched forward look, so I kept the rear springs stock. I didn't have to make any adjustments to steering etc. to do this.

[LONGHAIR]

How does it ride? It has to have almost zero "jounce" (upward travel of the wheel when hitting a bump)
The stock reverse arched springs allow for only about 3-4 inches before hitting the bumpstops.

[scorchingeng]

Originally Posted by LONGHAIR

How does it ride? It has to have almost zero "jounce" (upward travel of the wheel when hitting a bump)
The stock reverse arched springs allow for only about 3-4 inches before hitting the bumpstops.

You know, I thought the same thing until I had it done. It actually softened the springs some so it rides better than it did on normal pavement. I had the same concerns and was surprised. I will try and get pics this weekend of the setup, the truck, etc. And post it. Right now it's camped in my garage since I'm doing a 700R4/NP205 upgrade.

One thing I should state as a disclaimer though - I am not all that in to 4 wheel driving offroad. I just like to have 4x4 for winter. That's why I didn't mind lowering it to a 2wd stance in the first place.