cutting front springs ?

[RShaips]

I have put drop springs on the rear and wanted to drop my front end about 2". Should I just cut my springs or should I buy new ones ? Also can't you just clamp a couple of coils together to get it to drop ? I put 4" drop springs on the back and I would like to drop the front as cheaply as I can. In the future I may end up buying drop spindles to get another couple of inches up front and buying 6" springs for the back. I just need to get it sitting right for now until I have more cash. thanks

[cdowns]

drop swprings are cheap enough those other ways are really halfassed and could lead to problems

[RShaips]

Thats pretty much what I was thinking. I have a buddy who cut his front springs and is very happy with the way they turned out. Thanks

[lolife99]

20 years ago that was the only way to do it! You can cut the bottom of the spring with a cut-off saw or a torch (while the spring is setting in a bucket of water). Usually a half a coil equals 1 inch of drop, so you would need to cut a full coil to achieve your 2 inch drop. BUT,... like cdowns said, buy some springs from Summit or anywhere listed in the truck mags, because they are cheap. You might want to raise it back up some day when you sell it, and you will still have your old springs. just my 2 cents.

[Randy70C-10]

1 coil will drop it 3 inches. (each 1/4 coil you cut will drop almost 1 inch) Had to tell you that so you don't cut 2 coils like I did and end up with 7 inches of drop. I had several spare springs laying around so it wasn't a big deal.

[Tx Firefighter]

I've cut gobs of front springs without ever having a complaint. Like Randy said, 1 coil = 3 inches. If for some reason you wanted to raise it back up, there are plenty of stock springs out there for the price of shipping from board members.

All those magazine articles that say to never cut springs are in magazines that are supported by companies thar sell drop components. Think about it, if Truckin magazine told you the truth, that 1 coil=3 inch drop, all of their advertisers would be furious. They'd be cutting the throat of all the places that sell drop springs.

Don't believe what "might happen" or what someone "has heard can happen". You can cut front springs without problems. I've been doing it for years. I could post enough pictures of trucks that I've lowered that way to fill up pages on here.

[boraxman]

Mine are cut, no problem.

[RShaips]

thanks for the feedback,I will probobly cut them and if I don't like it I'll spend a $100 and buy new ones.what do I have to lose?

[grnddwn]

Airbags make great spring replacements

[doughby82]

i would cut them,cause if you buy a set of dropped springs now,then later go with a dropped spindle,it might be to much drop,then you will have to get stock springs again

[RON WOODGEARD]

You can absolutely Cut the springs !! Do it as said above in water to keep the heat from the rest of the spring. (Tempering thing)
My only thing about used springs though, is they are just that,,, Most of them, Are 30 year old springs that have somewhat collapsed, and or, lost their tension.

I paid like $70.00 for mine.(New) and I know they are even and have the same tension in both. So it depends on your budget..

Yes, I have done the Cutting thing since the mid sixties, but back then we didn't have off the shelf replacement lowering springs. We either cut,torched, or I would spend hours looking in a spring book for springs that would fit in the buckets, but with the same diameter coil, would allow it to lower. I also did this same thing to raise..,, 64 Olds, 455, Vista cruiser wagon springs work on a whole lot of Chevies to raise them.

[RShaips]

cut both front springs one coil each . start to finish about 1 1/2 hours . truck dropped 2" just what I wanted. did it this morning, easy job no problems. thanks for the information looks like
I need to get my frontend end aligned now