Saturday pics (4-11) Drop FAQs...(AKA making it WORTHLESS!)

[Hottrucks]

Originally Posted by see ten

Zero, Alcoholic beverages were consumed while this drop was being performed!

I'm diving into mine thhis week but I find this hard to beleive but I was looking...also where there any bouta with terets???

thanx for the time to post all this

Jeff

[72BLUZ]

Originally Posted by see ten

The truck has 275/60 -15 tires on the rear...no idea what's on the front. It seems like we had it figured that a 255/60 is about right for the front.

I generally advise/suggest to people that don't want to notch their frames and plan on hauling anything heavier then a couple hundred pounds to not go any lower then 5" in the back. A 2.5" drop spindle combined with a stock height spring goes well with it I think.

The only reason that I haven't pulled the bed to notch my C10 is that I don't want to mess up the spray-in bedliner.

The "Get on it Doggone it!"....Well, I was just mocking some drunk guys from a car show....They were shouting that at every car as it pulled out.

Zero, Alcoholic beverages were consumed while this drop was being performed!

no alcohol consumption because i was not there to advise!!!!

[see ten]

Chuckles, I didn't add any pics of yours in here cause I couldn't recall how much drop yours had. I knew we've "adjusted" it a couple times to get it where you wanted it.

[Skirkpat]

Yah, you think your all cool with your fancy tools, and fancy truck, and having fun making it nice on a nice day with your friends......Me too!! Nice job give yourself a pat on the back, and thanks for the info...nice to see people looking out for others.

[OARNGESI]

Looks really good nice write up

[chrislehr]

where's the end time pic?

You made it easy removing the bed - try doing it lying under the bed all day!

[chrislehr]

Originally Posted by chrislehr

where's the end time pic?

You made it easy removing the bed - try doing it lying under the bed all day!

Nevermind - I didnt watch the video - 7 hours aint bad considering the C noth and bed removal.

I think I did a CPP 3/5 in about 6 hours without a lift or bed removal (and also no notch) and I did my ECE 4/6 in about 8 hours (stupid rivets)

[PanelDeland]

Great write up Asa.If you send that to "Trucks" we will be watching you do stuff every Sat.
Question,How long did the notch take? I know it will depend on skill level and equipment but some who are not notching may want to have an idea how much time the experts take.

[A.P.]

You guys did a great job on the write up and pics.

[bigguy69]

very entertaining!! bookwarked for sure!

[see ten]

Thanks guys!

All the other jobs like this that we have done was with the bed still on. The only reason that the bed was removed was so the notch could be installed. This is only the second notch that we've built (the first was on Brian's bagged yellow pickup) so our experience with it is still pretty low. I wouldn't risk skinning a paint job on a nice truck removing the bed just so I could burn out a couple rivets. However, I couldn't see notching a frame with the bed still on.

I didn't break the process down as far as section by section except for front vs back. The front was done in just over an hour with no hiccups. The back is kinda hard to break down... The guide for the portaband blade came off (10 min fix) the welding hood kept giving us fits (finally changed out batteries...still wasn't working like we wanted (easily lost another 10 min here)). The trip to town and back for lunch and then eating when we got back cost us 30-40 min. I'd have to guess that a solid hour could have been shaved off the time if our tools had held up and we had either packed a lunch or had something delivered. But hey! Tools fail in the real world and people get hungry! We're not expert mechanics and I have no doubt that someone that does this everyday could have pulled this off without a glitch and with less effort. A prefabbed notch might have saved us some time...but not money....we have more time then money and the square tubing was donated, so we built it ourselves. We took our time laying out the notch, after all this is a frame. We wanted it to be right the first time around. If I had to guess, I'd say between laying it out, cutting the frame, modifying the tubing, tacking it in, trimming the excess, final welding, fabbing of the boxing plates and welding them in....2-2.5 hrs??? I'm sure one of the others that were there will jump in here and put in there 2 cents concerning the hr count.

Either way, things went well overall, and the time passed quickly! I feel lucky knowing that I've got friends and family thats willing to share this truck madness with me!

We've got another one of these jobs coming up in the next couple months that should be near identical. If there's something specific that you'd like to see that I missed this time, I'll do my best to document it next time and add it in here for ya!!

[Boog]

That's a doggone fine doc Asa. I know you guys enjoyed doing it.

[kamikazekyle05]

Awesome info!

[Longhorn Man]

man.... it takes me 7 hrs just to get one up on jackstands!

[see ten]

Andy, I've got more confidence in you then that!

I missed the question earlier about the u bolts (sorry)! A vice wouldn't work due to them being too narrow. Again, This is the ONLY issue that I've ever had with ECE. I'm sure if I had taken the time to call them that they would have taken care of it.

[COACHMEASON]

So if your 5" in the back, do you suggest just getting by with the 2.5" spindle in the front and leaving the springs alone?

[see ten]

If you're happy with how your front end rides, and you think you'll be happy with 5" out back. Sure, by all means reuse the front stockers. If you think they're to stiff or to sloppy go with some new stock height coils.

This truck has the original coils combined with a drop spindle and 5" drop coils out back.



This truck has new stock height coils drop spindles and 5" drop coils in the back.



Same truck...



This truck has 2.5" drop spindles and 1" drop coils in the front. Out back are 6" drop coils. The drop on this truck is the same as the one I documented in this thread (minus the c notch).

[72BlckButy]

see ten... this is an awesome thread that will definitely end up in the FAQ. Thanks for documenting this "get on it doggoneit" project.

[thelonerife]

great job. I'm still undecided on my rear spring and this thread gives me some more to think about. Thanks Asa.

[bad68bowtie]

Awesome write up man. This answered several things I've been wondering, I'm still hoping that at some point this summer I'll be able to to put a drop on mine.

An additional thing I've thought about though, have any of the other trucks you've done run one of ECE's Extreme Drop Crossmembers? I've tried to break down the pricing on doing a drop like is on your red truck and was trying to decide if that would be necessary or not.

[see ten]

I did actually use the Extreme drop x member on my C10. I installed it because they recomend it when using 6" of drop. Based on my past experience with lifting 4x4s, if a manufacture recomends an item you'll generally need it.....I really feel that you can get by without it myself. That was the first truck we ever lowered so we didn't try to cut any corners. We've since just been having the holes cut in the trailing arm crossmember at the exhaust shop before the pipes are ran. If you're just dead set that you want their crossmember, I can tell you it's a booger to do with the cab on. There are a LOT of rivets that have to be removed. It'll definitly test your patience, friendships and add a couple hours to the job.

[see ten]

UPDATE!! My brother just got off the phone with ECE. The main reason for his call was a problem with the harness that came with his hidden hitch. Whoever he talked to told him no problem, they were sending him another harness right now. He then mentioned the problem with the U-bolts...The guy said yea...they get em like that every now and then. Suggested that he put it on top of an anvil or a vise and beat on it to try and spread it out! Yeah, I've done it that way and it sucked! I was kinda hoping to hear a better answer then that. I really don't know anything about making u-bolts...maybe it's hard to make them come out the same every time. I guess next time I call, I'll have to ask them to make sure that they check to see if the u-bolts are going to fit through the track bar brackets before they put them in the box!

It's an annoying issue...but not enough to make me shop anywhere else.

[texanidiot25]

Looks good, like the video twist of this series.

[lowbuck72]

Yeah when the guy from ECE gave me the U-bolt expansion technique i thought this guy is on some good meds, but surprisingly it worked and only took a few minutes to do, sorry i didn't make any pictures i will have to get with Asa and do a reinactment for demo purposes

[Chevyholic]

Awesome write-up and great timing, my drop kit arrives this week from ECE. I will definitely have this handy for the job.