2.25" Leaf Spring Drop

[salty388]

I have a 70 GMC with leaf spring rear and the PO did a flip kit and ended up dropping it 8" to where the frame sits on the axle. He put 3" drop springs in the front. I love the way the front sits but plan to do spindles and disc brakes in the future. What is my best option for a 5" from stock drop on the rear? Unflip the axle and do 5" drop springs? Keep the flip and somehow raise it 3"? Also is a c-notch required with either option? Maybe there's a better way to go about it too. I'm new to the leaf spring rear setup and there doesn't seem to be a lot of info out there on them.

[Mike C]

Your only real option is go back spring under with drop leaves to get anything more than 1.5" drop using shackle or 7"+ drop of the flip. The flip on my short step resulted in a 7" drop and I run it without a notch.

I would buy a 5" rear drop spring and a set of lowering shackles to fine tune the final ride height.

That 3" drop spring might be just a touch too much combined with spindles. I run a 2" spring with the spindles on mine.

[MDPotter]

Originally Posted by Mike C

Your only real option is go back spring under with drop leaves to get anything more than 1.5" drop using shackle or 7"+ drop of the flip. The flip on my short step resulted in a 7" drop and I run it without a notch.

I would buy a 5" rear drop spring and a set of lowering shackles to fine tune the final ride height.

That 3" drop spring might be just a touch too much combined with spindles. I run a 2" spring with the spindles on mine.

Do you mean spring over?

I installed 4" drop springs from Western Chassis on mine and got a little over 3" of drop out of them. I'm assuming this is because the stock springs had sagged over time.

If you want to get to to 5", I would start with 4" or 5" drop springs and then do shackles if the springs don't get you low enough. Be aware that shackles might require notching of a bed cross sill for clearance.

[salty388]

Ok I plan to order either Western Chassis 4" or CPP 5" leafs(whichever I can get in a timely fashion) and drop shackles. Anybody know where I can get factory hardware for the "unflip"?

As far as the front I was planning to go to a 1" drop spring and 2" modular spindles from CPP for a 3/5 drop.

Thanks for the help so far! I just bought this truck and am still learning a lot about it.

[Mike C]

Yes, I meant spring over.

[MDPotter]

Originally Posted by salty388

Ok I plan to order either Western Chassis 4" or CPP 5" leafs(whichever I can get in a timely fashion) and drop shackles. Anybody know where I can get factory hardware for the "unflip"?

As far as the front I was planning to go to a 1" drop spring and 2" modular spindles from CPP for a 3/5 drop.

Thanks for the help so far! I just bought this truck and am still learning a lot about it.

You can buy new u-bolts from POL: https://www.performanceonline.com/Ub...-72-Chevy-C10/

And if you cut the perches off your axle: https://www.performanceonline.com/19...ar-Axle-Seats/

I don't know where to get the plates that the u-bolts run through. Maybe a junkyard or look in the classifieds here.

[dz1087]

Originally Posted by MDPotter

I don't know where to get the plates that the u-bolts run through. Maybe a junkyard or look in the classifieds here.

So, my bolt plates were rotten when I got my truck. Instead of paying a bunch for new plates, I got spring plates for a YJ wrangler, and U-bolts from O'Reilly's that fit. This flips the spring plate to the top, so it is less likely to catch water and rust out again, and you use rounded U-bolts instead of the regular square ones.

Works fine. Half the price for new parts.