Heating Springs

[chevy garage]

My 70 C-10 is completely stock and hasn't been driven in a few years. I am changing wheels and am planning on restoring the truck. Is it ok to heat the coils to set it down a little? I'm putting a 71 disk brake front end on the truck in a couple weeks and I just want to drive the truck a little to see exactly what I'm gonna need to fix. Will I have any problems?

Thanks

[Longhorn Man]

When you heat the springs, you make them brittle.
They m,ay last 20 years, they may shatter on the next pot hole. It's a crap shoot.

[chevy garage]

Thanks, what are some other alternatives? What about cutting off a coil? Can I cut the rears?

[Longhorn Man]

you can cut the front ones a little, but the rears you can not, the windings get smaller as they terminate.

[68 with 350 TPI]

Heating will make the springs weak and it is not a good way to lower anything.

It will ride like crap also.

I have a coil cut out of the front and it droped it quite a bit on my truck but I will still able to have it aligned up and it rides quite well.
But drop spindles would be better.

For the rear you can do it a few ways.
If it has leaf springs you can get leafs made to lower it,or get a set of blocks to lower it.

If you have coil springs you can get a set of springs to lower it ...or get a set of 2 inch blocks and 10 inch long U bolts.
You will need to grind a little off the spot where the U bolts go through to get it to fit just right but not much at all.

The best part about doing it this way is you loose no travel in the rear so you can still really load it down if you want and it will not bottom out.
In fact I have the helper leaf springs still on my truck in the same spot as before with the same distance from the helpers on my truck that came with coil springs.

I would not advise going lower than 2 inch with the blocks as they will lower the trailing arms when you do it this way.

I have never had any problems with it bottoming out though.

Here is a before and after pic.

Before 1 coil cut out of the front and 2 inch blocks on the back of my coil spring truck.

[68 with 350 TPI]

Here is after 1 coil cut from the front and a set of 2 inch blocks with 10 inch long U bolts on the rear of my coil spring truck.

[tom hand]

I lowered one of these trucks back in 1980 and there were NO parts avalible to do it right, you just had to do what you could do. I cut the front coils and heated the rears. After heating the rears they were like noodles and the rear of the truck just flopped around uncontroled. I got it to ride pretty good by installing air shocks. My guess is that a set of lowered springs would cost the same or less than a good set of air shocks and be a lot more dependable. With all the parts avalible today there is no excuse not to do it right.

[kxmotox247]

I've heard nightmare stories about rodders heating their springs to lower their cars. The heat changes the chemistry of the metal and it can snap.
Buy yourself drop spindles and custom springs.

[chevy garage]

I appreciate everyones input. I need to do it right the first time. It will be alot less headache.

[junkyardjohn]

JUST TWO WORDS ABOUT HEATING SPRINGS ....

DONTDOIT & FORGETABOUTIT