How far could you lower a truck for free?

[Syco67]

Well maybe not entirely for free. My sister would like to lower the 69, not too earth scraping levels, but just enough so the tires fill the wheel wells a little better. I have heard talk of cutting coils, and removing leaves from the rear. How low could you get the front with cutting the coils before it couldn't be aligned properly? If we were to get a lowering kit, what would it be comprised of? How hard would it be to go from the top pic to the bottom pic? thanks again to whoever chopped this pic for me.

[boraxman]

I wouldnt go more than a 3-5".

I actually had this, front cut and rear heated. I bought new dropped springs and the ride is about the same.

[mer316]

anytime you go cutting on springs and such can cause troubles. I would look into a kit that would keep everything alined

Robby

[dubie]

you can lower the truck by 2" all the way around by cutting 1 coil off each front coil spring and then installing 2" lowering blocks in the rear to drop the back end

[shifty]

You're supposed to increase the tension of the spring 15% for every one inch you remove.

If you cut the coil, you're reducing the size of the spring, but not increasing the stiffness. The more you cut, the bouncier your ride will be and the more you risk damaging your vehicle.

Lowered springs are really cheap and so are blocks. I'd consider lowered springs in the front and blocks in the back.

[tomatocity]

LMC has a chart that shows the different stages of lowering. If you have the money I would add 2.5" drop spindles and 4" lowered rear springs. The drop spindles keeps the same front suspension and the best lowered ride. The 4" lowered springs will work but are borderline whether you should notch the frame.

Originally Posted by Syco67

Well maybe not entirely for free. My sister would like to lower the 69, not too earth scraping levels, but just enough so the tires fill the wheel wells a little better. I have heard talk of cutting coils, and removing leaves from the rear. How low could you get the front with cutting the coils before it couldn't be aligned properly? If we were to get a lowering kit, what would it be comprised of? How hard would it be to go from the top pic to the bottom pic? thanks again to whoever chopped this pic for me.

[silvertonguedevil]

A friend of mine dropped his approx 6 inches all the way around by cutting the ends off of two trailing arms and putting them on top of his trailing arms and then heating the coils. He said that it still aligned and he can still pull a trailer.

[chevy_fatman]

Originally Posted by silvertonguedevil

A friend of mine dropped his approx 6 inches all the way around by cutting the ends off of two trailing arms and putting them on top of his trailing arms :

That is just basically a real cheap way of putting blocks on the back, and lower the back end whatever that height of the trailing arms are.

[pissonNOS]

lots of people cut down the idea of lowering by cutting but i did it a year and a half ago and havent had a single problem to date and the ride is no more bouncier now that it ever was

[modifiedGMC]

Here's mine I just dropped about 3" in rear and about 2 to 2 1/2" front. I cut 1 1/4 coils up front and heated the rears. Mine actually feels like it rides better than before dropping. I still got to get front end alignment but basically drives good.

[BowTieMan]

Can I use any lowering blocks or do I need certain blocks?

[Syco67]

Would't I have to use an axle flip kit to use lowering blocks? This is a spring over setup. Maybe there are some blocks in there I can remove now. My sister ran off with the truck so I can't check right now. I was gonna check the LMC catalog, but my sister ran off with that too . Does anyone make dropped spindles for trucks with front drum brakes?

[BowTieMan]

Here is the rear. See where the block would go? Between the arm and the axle.

[72shadetree]

leaf spring or coil rear.you metion leafs in youre first post and everybody else is talking coil rear.some of these did come with leaf rears.

if its leaf rears then youre looking at a axle flip and c notch frame 5-6 inches

or you could remove some of the leafs from the pack

or lowering shackels which will be 1-2 inches

[71Dragtruck]

Originally Posted by 72shadetree

leaf spring or coil rear.you metion leafs in youre first post and everybody else is talking coil rear.some of these did come with leaf rears.

if its leaf rears then youre looking at a axle flip and c notch frame 5-6 inches

or you could remove some of the leafs from the pack

or lowering shackels which will be 1-2 inches

AHH yes the mighty edit button

[special-K]

Yes,you can buy drop spindles for drum-types.You can buy drop control arms,too.On the rear,try less leafs/low shackles.You may not need c-notch then.

[jhah71chevy]

Iwould like to know where to get some drop spindles for drum brakes also!!!!

[FirstGen]

where are you guys getting the lowering block kits from?

[Syco67]

Yeah, it's got the leaf sprung rear. Didn't all the old old GMC's have leaves and the chevy's had coils, or is it the 1/2 tons had coils and the 3/4, 1 ton trucks had leaves? Where would I look for the drop spindles?

[bigred66]

http://www.classicperform.com/6092ch...ing-block-kits (were i got mine very nice looking kit)
http://www.gmcpauls.com/67-72_d&s.htm and http://www.performancesuspension.com/TruckLowerTwo.htm
and i think these http://www.stockcarproducts.com/trkarm1.htm would work

[modifiedGMC]

Originally Posted by Syco67

Yeah, it's got the leaf sprung rear. Didn't all the old old GMC's have leaves and the chevy's had coils, or is it the 1/2 tons had coils and the 3/4, 1 ton trucks had leaves? Where would I look for the drop spindles?

Not all of them. My 69 GMC has coils and my wifes dad's 70 or 71 has leafs. Both are 1/2 ton trucks.

[swissfacade]

This site has a large selection of high quality parts at a fair price

the following items will only cost you $242.00 and lower your truck 3" in front and 3-4" in the back safely.

Front: 3" lowered springs

Rear: 2" lowering blocks and 1-2" Drop shackles

Lower your leaf spring truck the easy way with a set of drop shackles. Designed to bolt in place of the stock shackles. These units give you the choice of either 1" drop or 2" drop. Shackles come painted with polyurethane bushings installed.

Then just enjoy the ride

[Fat Tom]

For those of you that have heated your rear coils, did you just heat up one or two coils, or try to evenly heat all of them? Did you use a rosebud tip or regular cutting torch tip?

[modifiedGMC]

Originally Posted by Fat Tom

For those of you that have heated your rear coils, did you just heat up one or two coils, or try to evenly heat all of them? Did you use a rosebud tip or regular cutting torch tip?

I used a regular tip and heated the bottom coil until thefirst touched the arm then heated the top coil until it touched the frame. Be sure to stop heating BEFORE you get to where you want it because truck will continue to drop some after removing the heat.