Lowering ID question

[kevinr1970]

I finally got my '81 to the house today. It has been on my friends property since the day I bought it. I have only realy looked at it closely the day I bought it (not in a place where I could easily get a look under it) and one day last spring (again, not in a place where I could get under it very easily).

So I was looking at the rear of the Blazer today and could clearly see that it has a flip kit on the back with shock relocators and such. I believe a standard flip kit is 5" - is this true?

On the front it is low but not as low as the back but I believe this only becuase there is no engine or tranny in it right now. How can I tell how its been lowered? Or more precicley, I am sure it has drop spindles but how can I tell how much of a drop the spindles are?
If the the rest of the drop is springs, how can I tell how much of it is the springs?

Any help is apprciated.

[beaterC10]

If it has drop spindles they will be 2.5 or 3 inch drop. A quick check would be to look at how much clearance you have between the bottom of the lower control arm and the lower inside surface of the wheel.

My 3 inch spindles put the lower surface of the lower control arm into contact with the inside of my stock 15" ralleys. I had to trim the control arm lip way back to get clearance. You might also look for a manufacturers name cast into a visible spot on the spindles. Again on my spindles, the Belltech name is easy to spot.

You might also look at the lower control arms and see if they have stepped. Some folks cut the lower ball joint mounting area loose and move it up with boxing plates to get a drop. That kind of mod is really obvious. You can also look for relocated upper shock mounts, that might indicate dropped a-arms.

You probably can't tell accurately how much drop the springs have without the weight of the engine and trans.