rear suspension help please.

[slugish]

the rear of my 84 c 10 is lowered approx. 6-6.5 ins. Ichose not to c notch , but instead removed the bumper stops ,bracket & all which gives me roughly 2.5 - 3 ins of spring travel . Iused the holes in the frame where the bracket was & attached some sections of rubber hose in case the frame ever hit the top of axle. All was ok foe a while but the other day it did bottom out , geeting on it a little & ran thru a dip. Question is this . Have any of you ever used the little air bags that attach to the frame & leaf spring ? .Have any of you tried the bushings that go around your shock cylinder, that lets your shock go down just so far . ? Have pretty cheap drop shocks now, would stiffer better quality shocs help ?. Any suggestions appreciated

[Srubydo1986]

If you go stiffer you wont bottom out as much but your ride will suffer. Im not very good at drop info but i think c notch is still the best choose even if its alot of work to do.

[knightlife]

with that much of a drop...if you dont wanna feel like you're riding in a lumber wagon,.,.,.your gonna have to C-notch it brother! I cry at the fact I have to do the same...but, heh...whatever it takes!

[Ivan D.]

Slugish, most C10s came with 4-leaf rear springs, but there was also an option for a 7 or 8-leaf springs, those are known as "heavy half" trucks. Going through dips and such creates certain amount of force the springs have to absorb, which in yer case can't be completely absorbed cause yer travel is limited. The so-called "helper bags" you mentioned might work because they effectively stiffen up the rear suspension, but that also reduces the amount of lift you have at the rear. The real trick is to stiffen up the suspension without affecting ride height, that's normally achieved by installing shorter and stiffer coils. In yer situation since we're talking about rear springs what you need would be the leafs off a 3/4-ton truck, yer ride height should be about the same but the springs are stiffer so you won't bottom out as easy. One thing tho - stiffer springs require heavier-valved shocks, or you'll end up like me cooking the police shocks on my car with some superduty springs.

Also do not even think of using shock travel limiters to prevent bottoming out, you'd be much better off by welding some new bump stop mounting pads to the axle so that they contact it just at the end of the travel and like a 1/4" before the axle hits it.

[slugish]

Thanks for the replies,I probably wont replace my stock leafs with 3/4 ton ones (even though that seems like the best idea) Ive got too much money already tied up in having my springs dearcked twice . Wagon rides dont bother me that much. Maybe I will try a more beefier bump stop at first & a liitle stiffer shock . Iguess the air bags would take up what little spring travel Ihave left. Not familiar with air products .

May end up c notching, but trying not to

[boxrodz]

slugish -
An example of the helper bags Ivan may be referring to may be seen at Ride Rite: http://www.fsip.com/riderite/products/rrinfo_02.shtml. But, they're mainly designed to level and assist the load capacity of a vehicle. But, you could use them for your application as well. They would help. In fact, with the right air spring, you could reduce a leaf or two from your spring pack and run a setup similar to N2Trux's. But, it's probably a bit more involved then you wanted to go.


Ultimately, you should have at least 3" of travel between the axle and the framerail. Like the others said, you may end up having to c-notch the frame to eliminate the problem.

Another alternative, would be to try hollow air spring/bumb stops. They are self-contained so they don't require any air assistance.With the clearance you mentioned, you may be able to install a single convoluted spring. This way your ride would only get stiffer when the spring compresses, and prevent you from bottoming out. They are available in various load ratings.

[slugish]

boxrod,

Ive never heard of such a bumpstop. This seems to be the best solution without spending a lot of dough. Where in the world would you find this product.

[boxrodz]

slugish -
Check out the Timbren's web site at http://www.timbren.com/ and look for the AEON Hollow Rubber Springs. They are located in Canada, but do ship from NY. They have a contact number, so you can check with them for your application and whether or not it will work. I'm sure other companies offer a similar product. At one time, I though Air Lift made a similar bump stop, although it wasn't quite as versatile.