No Limit and/or Porterbuilt...

[Moostifer]

Have you ever done a weight comparison with your front suspension kits vs. what you take off?

My girl is a little on the big side, but is always looking for ways to slim down.

After Turkeydrag in December, she's going under the knife to do a bed raise and figured that would be a good time to redo the suspension (static drop).

any info is much appreciated!

[andrewmp6]

If you want it to lay frame Porterbuilt is your best bet.

[Moostifer]

Originally Posted by andrewmp6

If you want it to lay frame Porterbuilt is your best bet.

thanks, but i'm not asking which is best, and i'm not trying to lay frame.

just wanting to lower it more with a static drop (some tracks don't allow bags), and maybe take some weight off the front end while I'm at it (it's a speed thing).

I have a pro street ladder bar setup with coil-overs on the back that I fabricated 15 years ago, so the only thing in my way on the back is the bed floor, I don't like the look of a notched bed, so I'll be raising the bed floor.

as far as the front, I could get by with dropped spindles, springs, new bushing kit, new rotors, etc... but, if I'm going to do all that, why not go a little further and do a dropped member kit, especially if it will knock off a few pounds

[robnolimit]

I'm not sure of the weight of the stock stuff, but I know what ours weighs. A complete coil-over Wide Ride IFS, hub/hub, with p/s, 12" discs, and a sway bar weighs in at 148.6 lbs. Swap to a manual rack, save 4 lbs. (only a good idea if you don't street drive it much) Drop the sway bar, save 12 lbs (I bet the truck will leave harder with the bar) But, add in appx 20 lbs for the frame boxing plates. I'd guess the OE parts will add up to appx 270 lbs. Safe to say you could save appx 100 lbs. = .1 sec to .2 sec (it's all off the nose)

[67cheby]

man that thing is going to look killer lowered more !!

[SCOTI]

I weighed PB's C4 Dropmember stuff vs. OE steel suspension. There was 100# savings just w/the a-arms, spindles, & brakes. I didn't have all of the steering gear but the difference between the OE parts (tie-rod ends, drag link, steering box, idler & pitman arm) & a R&P should only add to the savings. The C4 Dropmember would allow you to run coil-overs too & not have to worry about track rules prohibiting your set-up.

I never had any of his C10 a-arm's to weigh & from what I remember the x-members were pretty close.

[aggie91]

Porterbuilt also has a coilover option. Another place to look is Scott's Hot Rods. They seem to have a nice set up that looks like it would save weight also.

[jimmydean]

Originally Posted by SCOTI

I weighed PB's C4 Dropmember stuff

The C4 Dropmember is such a work of art, too. Would the C4 arms be lighter than PB tubulars?

[SCOTI]

Originally Posted by jimmydean

The C4 Dropmember is such a work of art, too. Would the C4 arms be lighter than PB tubulars?

They're lighter than Ride Techs for sure. I remember reading once upon a time when PB's arms came out that he could make a set in ChroMo @ a higher cost for someone looking for weight loss.

[PBFAB.COM]

I will get some number up for weight comparisons tomorrow.

We do offer the control arms in chromoly to save a couple extra pounds as well.

[jmedero]

Scott's coil over unit weighs in at 196 hub to hub. If you go with the wilwood brakes an hubs your down to 166lbs. Just some facts from Justin at Scott's. If you go with the weld in not the bolt in saves you a few more lbs.
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[Scottshotrods]

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[Scottshotrods]

What are your plans for your truck are you going to do street driving only or do you plan to go to your local drag strip and do some 1/4 mile passes or 1/8 mile passes?

We have several customers who drag race only with there trucks and all of them are running a drag lite rotor and a 4 piston caliper and this will save you some pounds over the oem rotors and gm caliper

If you plan on drag racing a lot I would use a manual rack over power and this will save you some weight as well

Our frontend weighs in on the scale at 176 lbs and this is with a power rack and gm calipers and stock rotors

The weight of 196 is with all the packing paper and boxes when we ship them out.

I am at a show in AZ this weekend and if you want you can send me a e-Mail at justin@scottshotrods.com or scotts@scottshotrods.com I only have my blackberry with me this weekend. I will be able answer your question a lot faster this way if you have some you want to ask.

Justin
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[jmedero]

I stand corrected lol. Actually I'm sitting in a theater... This movie sucks. Haha.
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[andrewmp6]

Nate has a c4 dropmember and hes working on a protouring one which would be better if you want to keep the stock size rims.The c4 would be nice but you would have to run a 16 or 17 inch rim to clear the brakes it uses.

[SCOTI]

Originally Posted by andrewmp6

Nate has a c4 dropmember and hes working on a protouring one which would be better if you want to keep the stock size rims.The c4 would be nice but you would have to run a 16 or 17 inch rim to clear the brakes it uses.

Early C4 front suspensions came w/both 12 & 13" discs. The later years came w/13" only.

[PBFAB.COM]

Moostifer-

Here's a little breakdown:

The Dropmember assembly with all mounting brackets and hardware shaves off 23.5 lbs. when compared to the factory crossmember assembly.

Our lower control arms in mild steel will shave off another 24 lbs.
(Since our Dropmember incorporates the lower control arm mounting shaft in the crossmember I subtracted the weight of the shaft and added it in the comparison of the crossmembers. In other words, the weight savings in the lower control arm was found without the factory cross-shaft.... hope that makes sense).

Our upper control arms only save you 2 lbs.

If you decide to run a power rack, the weight savings over factory steering components are 34 lbs. (A manual rack will save you another 8 lbs.)

Our Dropmember is designed to use your factory/factory replacement spindles and brakes.... so I didn't bother weighing those.

If you run an air bag or a coil-over, you will save more weight over the factory coils. The factory coils weigh in around 15lbs a piece.

Hope this helps answer some of your questions.

There are several good options available, just do your research and choose the one you feel fits your project goals best.

As a few have mentioned, we also offer a Dropmember that utilizes the C4 suspension components... that will shave off quite a few lbs.

[jimmydean]

Originally Posted by porterbuilt

We do offer the control arms in chromoly to save a couple extra pounds as well.

Damn.

Not to hijack, but what would the price difference be for chromoly over the mild steel arms, Nate?

[Moostifer]

Thanks a lot guys for the quick responses!

As I get closer to doing this (late Dec, early Jan) I'll contact you all to discuss the particulars... fab techniques, mig, tig, materials used, quality control, etc...

I am at a delima as to which way I'm going to go with the rotor sizes. I like my old school pro street look with the fatty/skinny, but they are 15" rims. guess I could go bigger and buy new 17" fronts to match what I already have. That way, if I ever do get out of the 1990's, and decide to put some 20 front/24 rears on her, i'lll be set.

[Moostifer]

Originally Posted by 67cheby

man that thing is going to look killer lowered more !!

hope so...

Funny story... I got to talking to Chris Crain at Austin Heatwave. We were talking about how we were both in the pro-street class, and he was telling me about how his truck used to have the 15" rims, fat/skinny look, but since he put on a set of 22/24s, it's been getting noticed more. (that's what started me thinking about changing mine up somehow)

later, as i checked out the compitition, I figured he would easily take first, and if I was lucky, I might get 4th, if anything.

I had to leave before the awards were given out, so I was quite suprised when a few months later, a 1st Place plaque was waiting for me when I got home!

In case you're wondering what Chris's truck looks like. you can see his red 81 C10 in BOTH december's issue of Truckin and Street Trucks.

[andrewmp6]

Yeah if your willing to go bigger rims there is some big wilwoods for the stock spindles and i have seen c6 z06 brakes on a c4 before so its up to you how big you want.

[moggey01]

Moostifer , I am sort of in the same boat. I am drag racing my deal so there is no wheel option . I have to run a beadlock wheel. I have come up with something that takes a little work but is pretty trick. I have a CPP drop spindle (modular), the brakes are The Brake Man revolution rotors and 4 piston calipers the calipers are like 3 lbs,and the rotor is 8. I have to make my own bracket to mount the caliper, but they are maching a camaro hub to use C/10 bearings. I am in the middle of lightening the CPP spindle and making the caliper bracket.