S-10 Forum banner

best way to lower

62K views 26 replies 13 participants last post by  dbizle 
#1 ·
can u flip the leaf springs?
and for the front whats the best way to go
okay i should rephrase
cheapest
i just dropped the 4 banger back in.. got a silverado im workin on and need a beater truck lol
sooooo i might just cut the springs.. bad idea??
 
#6 · (Edited)
Cutting a coil only loweres the center of that coil,but by doing so you are allowing the the lower control arm to bottom out,if you were to hit a big bump it could cause you to lose control.Heating the coil is also a bad idea,it causes a moleculer change in the steel weakening it.Now you say,doesnt a drop coil do the same as what I stated above,yes,but the drop coil it stiffer progresivly which allows for the shorter distance too the bump stop,this is why 3 inch drop coils make or a harsher ride.

BTW,axle is already above the leafs,so no fliping there.But you can pull a leaf to gain about a 1.5 inch drop for free.
 
#7 ·
I stand a little corrected,a shorter spring makes for a stiffer ride,unless its thinner.BUt stock springs are designed with the thickness for a specific spring rate,drop coils are made with a diffrent spring rate which allows for a stiffer ride but less chance of bottoming out.
 
#10 ·
I thought you said in your first post that you already dropped the S10?

Cutting the spring is bad because the spring doesn't allow for the shorter travel distance with a stiffer spring rate. Also, by cutting your spring you run the high risk of not cutting both springs the exact same amount, which would therefore cause it not to drive/ride correctly. Either one of these could cause you to lose control and hurt/kill yourself and/or others. As far as the back is concerned...you can't flip the spring. I don't know how flipping a spring would be possible on ANY leaf spring vehicle, but whatever. Anyway, taking a spring out would lower it a small amount, but you would have to know what you are doing to a T...you wouldn't want those ****ers coming apart on you while driving. Also, don't let anyone tell you that you can just mono leaf it, because that is a worse idea than cutting your coils in the front. Yes, you can go with 4" drop blocks if you want. That would be probably you're cheapest bet, but still not the "best." I say this only because of how the drop block/leaf spring/axel react with regards to each other under load and high stress situations such as strong launches. If you need that explained, feel free to ask. I don't mind explaining that, but I don't want to type it all if I don't need to. You know? You're safest bet would be to go with 3" drop leaf springs and then a 1" drop block if a total of 4" is what you are after. But, a 4" block will work if that's what you want.

What are the specs on the truck? Year? Extended cab? Short bed? What are you working on, basically?
 
#12 ·
Okay...you're cheapest way to lower, that is still relatively safe, would be to get some drop coils for the front and drop blocks for the back. I would recommend replacing your shocks with drop shocks while you're at it. Also, if you're going to drop the back at least 4" then I would recommend cutting the bumpstop and the bumpstop bracket out. I had my 2000 lowered 4 in the back and it was constantly bottoming out. Removing the bumpstop gave me a better ride but it would still bottom out if if I hit a pothole or something to hard. Removing the whole bracket fixed that problem.
 
#17 ·
yeah i definetly wont cut the springs like a friend told me to do..
ill get drop coils, 4" blocks and drop shocks and remove the bumpstops and brackets.. i read up on that earlier..
that should be pretty cheap and be a not toooooo bad ride .. and look good :)
 
#20 ·
the only way to lose controll is if you really suck at driving my buddy had a 91 blazer and we cut the srings in the front to get a 3 inch drop and then made blocks and stole some ubolts and shit and that was the shittyest ride ever but it looked good tho
 
#22 ·
ive cut springs in the past and didnt have any issues. i run 3in. belltech spring with belltech shocks on both my current trucks and love the ride.

never recommend heating springs but i have done it for buddies that didnt want to remove the springs to cut em or replace them. i wouldnt ever do it to mine but they were happy with it and didnt have any issues either.
 
#23 ·
Too bad you dont live in cali. There is a shop right down the street from my house that would get you some drop spindals, install them, and make sure everything is safe like rotating tires and all that good stuff, and they will do it for 100bucks out the door. That includes the install
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top