Would I need to change my front and rear sway bars...

[72timemachine]

if I were to install a 3" drop spring in the front and a 5" drop spring in the rear?
Does lowering the truck that much cause issues with the factory front and rear sway bars?

Thanks for any help.

[PepperTreeGarage]

Can't speak to the rear sway bar~~I think you'd want to install lowered front sway bar brackets for clearance~~They tuck the sway bar up closer to the frame~~We did 3 in. drop springs with 2.5 drop spindles on a '72 C20~~Pretty sure sway bar placement is the same on C10 and C20~~~~~

[72timemachine]

Humm....that's interesting, my front sway bar brackets look even taller than yours but hey, thanks for the tips, nice stance on the truck.

Do I really need to get the drop spindles too or by using only a 3 inch drop spring completely mess up my suspension geometry, as in excessive negative camber?

[HO455]

Using 2" drop spindles with one inch springs will allow you to keep more of the factory suspension travel. This will make your ride less harsh.

[72timemachine]

Ok, thank you for the information.

[PepperTreeGarage]

Originally Posted by 72timemachine

Humm....that's interesting, my front sway bar brackets look even taller than yours but hey, thanks for the tips, nice stance on the truck.

Do I really need to get the drop spindles too or by using only a 3 inch drop spring completely mess up my suspension geometry, as in excessive negative camber?

Just depends on what you want for your final stance. My C20 has a 5.5 in. drop in front and approx. a 7 in. in back. Any amount of spring height change in front will lead to some alignment, caster, and camber change. If you were to just do 2.5 drop spindles and not change the spring and also lowered the rear 2.5 in. chances are no alignment changes would be needed. Without getting into a long write up about Alignment, Caster, and Camber, I think your best bet would be to find a competent shop that can do an alignment on these older types of suspension. Then do the stance you want and have it aligned. Your sway bar brackets are taller than mine, as mine are the lowered ones for the extra clearance. This is my C20 at stock height.

[FRCvette]

Originally Posted by HO455

Using 2" drop spindles with one inch springs will allow you to keep more of the factory suspension travel. This will make your ride less harsh.

This is what I did and it worked out really well.

[67 chevelle]

I have a 3 inch drop on my 68 in front . I bought a cpp sway bar kit s that has bracket similar but bigger that in peppertrees post , I did not use the brackets and let the bushings ride on the frame , works great . As for the rear the angles are alot longer so I doubt you will have issues there , by the way I have never seen a factory rear sway bar , and none of the 3 c10s I own cam with a front either , the difference they make is great , especially the front . If you get an early classics kit , they will ask you about drop at the time of purchase and give you the proper items for your specific needs , great guys .

[68 P.O.S.]

I didn't have to change the front in my truck. The rear I'm not sure of. I already had the drop springs in when I installed the rear sway bar.

[72timemachine]

I am by no means saying my rear sway bar is factory but I'll tell you one thing, whoever installed it did a nice job with all the brackets and such and must have busted their ass installing it. My truck has just about every option, tilt, tack spare tire in the bed, a/c, posi traction rear end heavy duty springs all the way around, tinted glass, sport mirrors, door edge guards, in bed toolbox just to rattle off a few.

[darrellyates]

I used drop spindles on my truck. I did not use a factory sway bar, as my truck did not come with one, however I did install a CPP sway bar and had zero clearance issues. I even added a power rack and pinion unit later, and still had no clearance issues.

I cannot comment on drop springs, as I used spindles only.

[bs46488]

The previous owner of my truck lowered it will just drop springs. I have geometry issues with the suspension/steering now.

I will be replacing the parts with drop spindles and a smaller drop spring (1 or 2") to fix the issues.

[michael bustamante]

you got pics of your rear swaybar and the way it was mounted?

[72timemachine]

I actually took some photos today to show you all but hit a snag when this site asked me for a url to attach my photo. I'm not "Joe Computer", so if anyone knows how I can attach my photo, I would gladly share it with the members.

The rear sway bar has some pretty interesting brackets securing the bar, of which kinda look factory but could have been fabricated by someone who clearly had some good skill cutting thick-ass metal plates and such, very clean job, no rough edges on the bracket plates. I bought the truck with the bars already there so what do I know. My glove box option sheet only mentions a front sway and not a rear one.

[67 chevelle]

Its crazy that the majority of these trucks had no sway bars , putting a front sway bar on seriously improves drive-ability , cornering .

[ga-stepside]

Originally Posted by 72timemachine

I actually took some photos today to show you all but hit a snag when this site asked me for a url to attach my photo. I'm not "Joe Computer", so if anyone knows how I can attach my photo, I would gladly share it with the members.

Go to the "go advanced" and select the little paper clip icon. That will allow you to upload a pict from you hard drive.

[weq92f]

Here's how they mount: