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Old 04-14-2004, 02:57 AM   #1
WB72
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Lightbulb Amount of drop by cutting 1/4 of a coil?

I cut 1/4 of a coil from the front of my truck, and there is aonly a tiny difference. I would like to get a total of 1 to 1.5" drop , how much coil should be removed to achieve this?
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Old 04-14-2004, 10:19 AM   #2
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I cut one coil off of mine before and it dropped about 3-3.5 inches. That was with a 327 s/b Chevy in it. Results may vary if you have an inline or a BIG block. I figure if you cut a total of 1/2 a coil, you should be close. Make sure you are getting the spring back in the groove correctly. You might just need to rotate it a little more to get the correct results.
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Old 04-14-2004, 10:20 AM   #3
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do a search"cutting coils" theres a lot of info, looks like you need to cut it 1 to 1 1/2 to get the drop you want.
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Old 04-14-2004, 11:56 AM   #4
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I've cut many coils, but I've never cut them in increments, always a complete coil...or TWO (yikes!). I've done this since no matter what the vehicle was, I still wanted the spring(s) to correctly set back into place.

I cut one coil from my 350 1/2 ton springs and was shocked to get 3" of drop. So, my guess would be that you may want to try cutting another 1/4 coil, so that you are ultimately cutting 1/2. This is something though that I'd not want to try, as the springs may not seat properly with only 1/2 removed.

Another good idea is to have a back-up pair of springs available, just in case everything goes wrong and you just want to get ytour truck back to where it was. I believe that vans and other related year models have springs that will work and those are usually cheap at any salvage yard.

Have fun!
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Old 04-14-2004, 12:14 PM   #5
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I do still have a good set of springs just for that reason. I did notice that the spring didn't sit in the pocket perfectly, do you think that will be a problem? The only thing that I can think of that will happed, is that they will twist and seat themselves.

I think that cutting a total of 1 entire coil will be too much of a drop for me.
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Old 04-14-2004, 12:52 PM   #6
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Somebody once told me that you can take a torch and heat a coil to make it drop. Don't know if its true though. Might ask on the board.
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Old 04-14-2004, 01:52 PM   #7
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I've heard of heating the coils as well. I'd be afraid of weakening the metal by doing this though.
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Old 04-14-2004, 03:24 PM   #8
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heating

Yes, I've heard of this too. The result may achieve the look you want, but the ride quality once they've been heated and cooled is supposed to me very BAD. That's only what I've been told, not from experience.
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Old 04-14-2004, 06:16 PM   #9
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running on heated coil springs to lower a truck or car is a very bad idea unless you like a very harsh ride
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