ride height

[57chevyman]

^^ yes there's 9 leaf springs there .....
I put the 2" drop spindles in front and removed the 5" blocks in back....
It looks like it's sitting nice now....we mocked up a bed side with fender attached (three guys holding it while I looked)..
I would have taken out a few leaf springs but I gotta see how the truck looks with the bed installed
I also did away with the rods that where keeping the 5 inch blocks stable

[Katrina/10]

I think you have made the truck look a lot better!

[_Ogre]

Originally Posted by 57chevyman

I gotta see how the truck looks with the bed installed

agreed, it may drop the back end an inch or 2 with the full bed on there

[57chevyman]

Originally Posted by _Ogre

agreed, it may drop the back end an inch or 2 with the full bed on there

If that's the case And the back ends up too low with the full bed installed, will I need to put a small block back in, or can I shim up the back of the bed to even it out ? I'm also installing a 16 gallon rear fuel tank. Hopefully the 9 leaf springs will work in my favor and keep the back from going too low.

[57chevyman]

with 2" drop spindles in front, and 5" blocks removed from rear....

[thotfulspot]

Much better looking. Blocks are an accident waiting to happen. I've seen too many full size trucks spit out blocks offroad. Instead of just removing leafs it's best to find a good spring shop to build you a set at the correct. Extra leafs don't always mean it will ride worse. I've built a few Jeeps with custom spring packs and it makes a huge difference in the ride quality. When doing custom springs a good shop will measure the weight front and rear on a truck scale and build the new spring packs to match the weight. It's not all that expensive compared to reworking the rest of the suspension to try to use too heavy of springs.

[Coupeguy2001]

Just for grins, do some research on line, and find out how much an air conditioner kit weighs for your truck, buy a bag of concrete, make it weigh the same as the kit, double trash bag it, set it on the front of the engine with some strips of wood, close the hood and see the new ride height.
All you might need to do is just add air conditioning, then adjust the rear to suit.
I wanted my truck a little lower, so I bought some steel bar stock, and made some rear shackles that were an inch and a half longer. They fit perfect.
On the front, I installed a subframe. I adjusted the front with the "horse shoe" spacers under some big block springs.
Since your truck already had the later suspension, you can also get the lowered springs if they don't bottom out.