mcgaughys-bell tech-djm???

[jasonroman]

looking to drop my 92 short bed. wondering if one brand is better then other?
new to dropping these trucks.
not sure if i need to spend big bucks on the name or not.???
saw a kit by mc.... for a little less then 600.
same kit from bell tech...is like 800.

read djm is good but weak. im looking to keep this truck so dont want to buy part that ill need to replace later on.

plan is to drop the 92 5/7 ish. keep fingers crossed that engine and trans hold up. getting a little check from company buy out. so i plan to buy an older model c10 to put in the garage of the new house ill be buying.

hoping all goes right, ill get my kit for the 92 sport, fill tree for kids on xmas, and be able to put a classic in my new garage

any opinions on the drop kit and where to shop for best price is much appreciated!!!!

as for shocks.... was thinking about getting jeep and dogde shocks instead of buying lowering shock.

read somewhere that jeep and durango shocks will bolt up and give me a better ride

any opinions?

[1badgmc]

All 3 brands are of perfectly good quality and will do the job. I would suggest not going with BellTech for spindles, though. They're of perfectly good quality, but they're designed for trucks running stock 15" wheels and push the front track width out slightly so the wheels don't rub the control arms at full lock.

For your Dodge/Jeep shocks you'll want first generation Dakota (~'98) for the front and ~'92 Cherokee Sport for the rear.

[custom97]

I went with DJM on the spindles but have to trim my LCA if I want to run 15". Will be going with the Belltech flip with c-notch because of the notch itself. It wraps the frame and seems more efficient than the DJM side plate. Right now I'm on 20" BOSS 338's so no problem there.

[LEEVON]

Don't forget Western Chassis, they make great stuff for the 88-98's.

[JWall]

Originally Posted by LEEVON

Don't forget Western Chassis, they make great stuff for the 88-98's.

I agree.

[Blue97]

Originally Posted by LEEVON

Don't forget Western Chassis, they make great stuff for the 88-98's.

I used them on my last drop with no problems. thinking of going with DJM on this one coming up !

[ChevLoRay]

My '96 has about 120K miles on the DJM spindles (2-inch lower) along with their shackles/hangers to drop the rear 4-inches. It hasn't even been realigned in that time. Hasn't needed it.

I did have to use a 15x7 wheel up front that had a 3.5-inch backspace. However, I have since gone with Wheel Vintiques 16x7's. All of that done to eliminate the interference with the outer end of the lower control arms.

My cuz did the work for me, and his truck has BellTech and like stated earlier, it allowed him to run 15x8's all the way w/o any interference on the back of the wheel with the lower control arm.

[bloodybigblock]

Will djm or mcgaughty work on 454ss wheels. I plan on doing a 4.5" drop? I don't like the track width being extended with the belltech.
Posted via Mobile Device

[1badgmc]

Originally Posted by bloodybigblock

Will djm or mcgaughty work on 454ss wheels. I plan on doing a 4.5" drop? I don't like the track width being extended with the belltech.
Posted via Mobile Device

They'll work just fine as long as you trim the "rain gutter" on the control arms.

[Tom]

Where did you read djm was weak? I've never heard of any of the brands being weak and I've used belltech, djm, and western chassie on multible vehicles.

[Coursey]

Originally Posted by 1badgmc

All 3 brands are of perfectly good quality and will do the job. I would suggest not going with BellTech for spindles, though. They're of perfectly good quality, but they're designed for trucks running stock 15" wheels and push the front track width out slightly so the wheels don't rub the control arms at full lock.

For your Dodge/Jeep shocks you'll want first generation Dakota (~'98) for the front and ~'92 Cherokee Sport for the rear.

Originally Posted by LEEVON

Don't forget Western Chassis, they make great stuff for the 88-98's.

I just confirmed with Belltech and WC that both of there spindles are not supposed to move the track width out at all.

[62 bigwindow]

Will NEVER use DJM again!!
Ordered McGaughy spindles and springs and flip kit for 4/6 drop on 94 C1500
Ordered a 3in spring from DJM to replace the brand NEW 2" spring because I wanted the front a bit lower. After swapping the 2" spring for the DJM 3" spring the truck was approx. 1 1/2" taller. Tried to explain this to DJM and was told that was not possible and after a few phone calls to customer service got no offer to try and help or correct the problem
I had to pay the $45 return shipping just to recover part of the cost.
DJM is NOT as advertised and the customer service is rude and will NEVER get another dime from me.. JUNK...

[Shady Rascal]

I had occasion to deal with DJM directly a few weeks ago. They were extremely nice and helped me with an issue I was having with a shady vendor selling their stuff then not delivering. Right before I was about to take the credit card charge reversal route, I called DJM and explained my troubles with the other company (JC Whitney). The folks at DJM helped me by personally drop shipping my parts once I sent her an email with a copy of my sales receipt from JC Whitney.

As far as the 3 inch drop springs ? They didn't drop it much when I installed them, until I loosened the control arms and let the bushings twist and relax in the new lower position, then down she went.

This is 3" front springs, 4" hanger and shackle in the rear. Proper rolling stock coming next week after the holiday and when I get an alignment.







My 74 is DJM too.



I used to be a devout Belltech man, but the front spindles do push the wheels out and you still have to clearance the control arm gutters. Having to compensate for a wider front track with different wheel offset so the truck doesn't look goofy finally just wore me out. No more Belltech spindles for me, and I have lowered 6 of my own 88-98 model trucks with them over the years. The only thing I personally believe Belltech excels at anymore is the rear flip kit/c notch. They do build one hell of a c-notch.

[Coursey]

Originally Posted by Shady Rascal

I had occasion to deal with DJM directly a few weeks ago. They were extremely nice and helped me with an issue I was having with a shady vendor selling their stuff then not delivering. Right before I was about to take the credit card charge reversal route, I called DJM and explained my troubles with the other company (JC Whitney). The folks at DJM helped me by personally drop shipping my parts once I sent her an email with a copy of my sales receipt from JC Whitney.

As far as the 3 inch drop springs ? They didn't drop it much when I installed them, until I loosened the control arms and let the bushings twist and relax in the new lower position, then down she went.

This is 3" front springs, 4" hanger and shackle in the rear. Proper rolling stock coming next week after the holiday and when I get an alignment.







My 74 is DJM too.



I used to be a devout Belltech man, but the front spindles do push the wheels out and you still have to clearance the control arm gutters. Having to compensate for a wider front track with different wheel offset so the truck doesn't look goofy finally just wore me out. No more Belltech spindles for me, and I have lowered 6 of my own 88-98 model trucks with them over the years. The only thing I personally believe Belltech excels at anymore is the rear flip kit/c notch. They do build one hell of a c-notch.

Was the belltech spindle pushing out the front on the 88-98?
I got an email from belltech stating that the track width is not affected on an 88-98.

[Shady Rascal]

Yes. 88-98 trucks. Belltech spindles do push the wheel out somewhere about 3/4 of an inch. I have used three sets of their thick rotor spindles on my own personal trucks and one pair of thin rotor spindles on my 89 regular cab. All pushed the wheel outward a noticeable amount.

[62 bigwindow]

Explain to me why you needed to loosen the lower control arm?

[Shady Rascal]

You always torque control arm bushings at ride height. Once torqued they are under torsion. If you install different springs causing the control arms to be in a different position it binds the bushings.

On this truck when I loosened the control arms bolts, the truck literally sagged down an inch or so. Then torque them at the relaxed position.

[62 bigwindow]

OK so now explain to me why when I installed the 2" drop spindles and the 2" drop springs the truck had no problem going to the lowered height without doing anything to the control arm bolts..
This is the 4th 88-98 C1500 I have done with 4/6 drop and never had any issue

[Shady Rascal]

I'm not going to argue with you. In thirty years of doing this professionally, that is the industry standard to always tighten the control arm bushings at ride height.

Just google "tightening control arm bushings" and read every link on the first page of returns. 100 percent of them agree with me. Seriously.

https://www.google.com/?ion=1&espv=2...arm%20bushings

If you do not tighten the bushings at ride height it will keep the bushing in an eternal bind until they fail prematurely. The bushings will always be trying to return to their static setting.

Just because you installed a pair of two inch springs and got two inches of drop, that doesn't mean you did it correctly. What it points to is that your bushings were likely tired. Good tight bushings will bind when twisted out of place and kept there. Just like my truck pictured above. I put in a pair of 3 inch drop springs last week. It lowered it maybe two inches. Then when I loosened the control arm bolts the truck dropped down another inch or thereabouts. Then I retightened them. Now my bushings are not twisted and preloaded.

[62 bigwindow]

Nope not looking to argue just asking to explain the geometry of 2" spring lowered with no issue and the 3" DJM spring raised it about 1.5" if the control arms were in a bind.. Aren't the bushing designed to let the control arm move as the truck travels down the road? how could they be in a "bind" ?
Been in the automotive industry about 30 years myself
Also how does the same theory work with air ride suspension when the ride height can always change?

[Shady Rascal]

Let's discuss control arm bushings. First, do we all agree that a typical factory type of control arm bushing is one piece ? I mean, it's three pieces total, but they are all vulcanized together into one piece. You have your outer shell and inner sleeve all bonded together with a big slug of molded rubber. The outer and the inner do not move separate of each other.

I'm about to rebuild a Honda front suspension next week so I grabbed a bushing for that car, nevertheless, it's typical of any control arm bushing, including our beloved GM trucks.





Now, when you press the bushing into the control arm, it's tighter than crap. Once it's in there, the outer sleeve does not rotate inside of the control arm. You pay hell getting the things out if you wanted to change them.

Now, when you install the through bolt in the middle of the bushing and tighten it down, the inside sleeve of the bushing is now anchored.

The only way the control arm can swing up and down is through the rubber twisting and flexing to allow the inner sleeve and the outer shell to move in relation to each other. It's really not that much twist if you think about the geometry of the suspension arms going up and down, the pivot doesn't turn too much.

Now, if you assemble a suspension at droop and tighten everything up tight, it's going to be in a bind when you set weight on wheels and the control arms swing to ride height. Does it work ? Yes, but it preloads the bushing. That's not very good on a new bushing which is pliable. A used bushing that is tired with dry rubber is going to split the rubber fairly soon.

If you take two identical cars and rebuild the suspensions exactly the same and torque one down at droop and the other down at ride height, you will be able to tell a difference when you drive them. One will be softer and have less harshness. That's because the bushings are a zero torsion load at ride height.

Same deal with lowering springs. GM built the truck at standard ride height. When you swap springs, the control arms move which lowers the truck. Now those bushings are being asked to twist all the time, even worse when it encounters bumps and undulations.

As far as the DJM lowering springs not delivering the drop that you were expecting, I don't know. They might have misboxed a set of 1 inch springs in your case. There's no telling. The silver truck above, I absolutely felt the truck sag underneath me as I loosened the bushings and let the weight of the truck sag the suspension down to it's happy place. Then I torqued everything down tight.

[62 bigwindow]

So there is no movement in the shaft that runs through the bushings and attaches the control arms to the vehicle? Since they are not pressed in and only pushed thru with a very light amount of grease and a nut on the end. Would this not allow for that shaft to have some movement inside the new bushings?
Either way still doesn't explain to me how the truck can be almost exactly 1.5" taller and the same on both sides when installing a spring that should be 1" lower. If the issue was in the control arm bushings would I not have the same result after installing the 2" spring?
And DJM assured me they didn't send the wrong springs since they don't offer a 1" drop spring