questions on lowing an srw crewcab

[73crew]

new on here with a 1984 crewcab and been lookin around for lowering ideas. ive found that there isnt spindles for 3/4 or 1 tons and i dont want to convert the suspension to 1/2 ton or bag it so, as far as i know, my only option really is cut the stock coils or buy lowered coils ( i read somewhere 1/2 ton lowering coils will fit a 3/4 ton , is this true guys?) and then out back ive seen some things about guys using the rear spring hanger off a suburban becouse its shorter which lowers the truck 2" , but my crew already has these shorter hangers stock and theres is no room for an axle flip without a good sized c-notch which i dont want. would it be ok to move the spring hanger( not shackle hanger) higher up on the frame? right now there is 6 rivets holding it on , 3 on each side . what i imagine doing is moving the bracket up 1 set of holes so the bottom 2 holes on the bracket are now where the middle holes on the frame are , but only 4 bolts would be holding the bracket on then, not 6. i figure shackles would give me 2" but throw off my pinion angle slightly, but then moving the spring hanger up would give me another 2" and put the pinion angle back to normal , and removing the overload would give me another 1" so i could be at 5" in the rear. does this sound good?
and then how many coils up front can i safely take out? im thinking 1 & 1/2 or 2. also ive heard cutting from the bottom gives a soft ride where as cutting from the top gives a hard ride? so if i cut 1 & 1/2 coils out would it be smart to maybe cut 1 coil from the top and a half from the bottom so its not to stiff or to soft?

[cochino12]

You can get lowering spindles through western chassis for 1 and 3/4 tons

[73crew]

1ton is the same as 3/4 ton front suspension correct? the spindles are only sold under c30's but i think c20 should be the same. deffinatly buying these when i have the funds , but back to the coils , is 2 coils to much? how about 1 & 1/2 coils? and from top or bottom or bottom of the spring?

[cochino12]

Originally Posted by 73crew

1ton is the same as 3/4 ton front suspension correct? the spindles are only sold under c30's but i think c20 should be the same. deffinatly buying these when i have the funds , but back to the coils , is 2 coils to much? how about 1 & 1/2 coils? and from top or bottom or bottom of the spring?

1-1/2 I think would be the max, that should get you around 3". Cut the bottom of the spring, I've read that it doesnt matter if the bottom of the spring does not sit perfect in the spring pocket and I've never had any problem with mine.

[N2TRUX]

Welcome to the forum 73crew. Show us pics when you get a chance.

[jitteryguy]

move'n the hanger will work, however the hole's wont line on both side'd, you will have to drill a couple hole's. also with lower'n shackles and /or hanger's you will have to remove the overload spring but you will not gain any drop from it, it is on top of the pack and does not afect the height of the truck at all.

[73crew]

Originally Posted by jitteryguy

move'n the hanger will work, however the hole's wont line on both side'd, you will have to drill a couple hole's. also with lower'n shackles and /or hanger's you will have to remove the overload spring but you will not gain any drop from it, it is on top of the pack and does not afect the height of the truck at all.

how do you figure? the overload is on the bottom of the pack between the spring pack and the axle perch so that as weight is loaded onto the rear of the truck and the spring pack is negatively arched , the overload stops it from negatively arching to far. 1 ton , 3/4 tontrucks use a 1" overloads and 1/2 ton uses a 3/4" overload . so by removing this , yes , it will give me an extra inch lower. ( this is my first street truck build but not my first rodeo around these trucks ) heres the last truck i built for crawling
,
its pretty common in the 4x4 world to use the 1 ton overloads cut down as a "zero rate" to gain an inch of clearance without adding any spring rate to the spring pack , yet not being unsafe like a lift block. so im just basically doing the opposite here , removing it to go 1" lower

[jitteryguy]

my bad, your's must be differant.
on a dually there is a 1" spacer then overload spring, as you load the truck it make's contact with the over laod spring's. all of this is on top off the spring pack.
the first spring in the pack (at the axel perch) is about 3/4" think, so when I did mine I remove'd the first and second spring (1" worth) , lower'd shackle and a lower front hanger for a total of 5" of drop.

[73crew]

heres "bubba" the big ugly, that im working on. ill post a build thread so you all can see what im doing but heres a pic how it sits right now . plans are lowered 3/5 , satin black paint with limegreen accents and pin striping. its the ugliest most pain in the a** truck ive ever had but i love crewcabs. little history on it, its from washington and was pretty rusty , i traded a 1976 stock and all original chevy stepside 4x4 for this and a golfcart . i only paid $450 for the stepside and ended up selling the golfcart for $600 so this crewcab was basically free to me. i had to put a new bed on it and gas tank ( yes the camo is real military spec, they came off a 1986 cucv, no its not staying camo lol , the grill is real military also that i put on with the blackout lights just for ****s but its coming back off when i find another)

[73crew]

Originally Posted by jitteryguy

my bad, your's must be differant.
on a dually there is a 1" spacer then overload spring, as you load the truck it make's contact with the over laod spring's. all of this is on top off the spring pack.
the first spring in the pack (at the axel perch) is about 3/4" think, so when I did mine I remove'd the first and second spring (1" worth) , lower'd shackle and a lower front hanger for a total of 5" of drop.

oh i know what your talking about now! i had an 87 1 ton 2wd truck awhile back and it had what your talking about up ontop of the pack , theres also a little bracket connected to the side of the frame with a rubber pad deal that it contacts too right? i remember all that making it a pain to lower that 87

[jitteryguy]

Originally Posted by 73crew

oh i know what your talking about now! i had an 87 1 ton 2wd truck awhile back and it had what your talking about up ontop of the pack , theres also a little bracket connected to the side of the frame with a rubber pad deal that it contacts too right? i remember all that making it a pain to lower that 87

ya, all that will hit if you use lower'd shackle's and/or hanger's so it's gotta.
your picture wont open with the gov. internet I use here, but from the description sound's like ya cant go wrong.
I'm not a fan of camo at all, but on a lower'd crewcab with that grill, mabey the Gov. issue'd grill gaurd and some of the antena's might be pretty cool.

[73crew]

yeah was throwing around the idea of using the military parts on it becouse ive never seen a military crew cab or a military truck lowered. i have the front military bumper with the grill gaurd and black out lights and the rear bumper also with d-rings and pintle hitch , i also have the military cab with m-16 gun mounts and the other military bits on it that i thought about throwin on . itd deffinatly be different, paint the truck satin black and the military bumpers and things glossblack . but then i think it might look too mad max

[73crew]

big ugly is now tuckin tire , i think i cut to much lol , i did 1 & 1/2 coils on 1 side , put the coil back in and jacked up the LCA and threw a tire on thinking that it had all the weight on it and i could see how low itd be , well it didnt look that low so i cut off another half so ive cut off 2 coils, and i did this on both sides and up in the air it looked fine but then when i set it down it got ALOT lower! when it was in the air i had about 1/2" between the bumpstop but when it was on the ground it sat on the bumpstops barely and i had to take them out. it doesnt seem ride bad though, maybe becouse big ugly is so heavy? i need to cut out the bumpstop bracket on the control arm and add a 3"-4" tube inside the the upper coil bucket so the coil cant dis locate as well as add a small strap on the bottom coil bucket to keep the coil in one place( rockcrawlers do this so i figure i could do the same but on a smaller scale with just a short tube up in there and a smaller strap holding the bottom of the coil )