[98 SS ON NOS]

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this is on my cousins 97 sonoma. i was swapping the zq8 springs for belltech 2 inch drop springs. i go with taking off the inner a arm off because its safer if a spring pops out hits the truck not you. also i keep the sway bar end link on because it gives less movement to the arm when you are putting the spring in so it goes right up

this pic here is what you should do first. take off the disk and you will see the dust shield. when you use lowering springs it moves the knuckle up so it hits the shield and makes a terrible squeacking noise and makes a mark in the dustshiled like this pic showS

 

[98 SS ON NOS]

i just cut the dust shield off so it looks like this. no more squaking now. put the disk back on and we are set to go

 

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so now this is what you have when you look at it

 

[98 SS ON NOS]

no take off the top of the shock

 

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then take off shock from bottom

 

[98 SS ON NOS]

now you have to take off the 2 inner bolts. MAKE SURE TO HAVE A JACK UNDER THE ARM IN THE MIDDLE!!! just in case when you pull the bolts out doesnt go flying down

heres the front bolt pulled out

 

[98 SS ON NOS]

pull the front out first then do the rear ones. here is the rear one getting pulled out

 

[98 SS ON NOS]

before you drop the arm down make sure the jack stand is in this position. you should put the cup fitting up top also try not to use this set up (flat part of jack under arm) i was just to lazy to reach over and get it

 

[98 SS ON NOS]

no you will drop the arm slowly. make sure to not stand close to the truck just in case

so the arm will look like this it will swing down and out. if something does happen the spring will stay in the pocket becasue the arm wont swing far enough down becasue the sway bar end link are still holding on to the lower a arm

here is the pic of the arm slowly coming down

 

[98 SS ON NOS]

now the arm has come down all the way its gonna be lose, pull the jack out pull the arm a little down and pull out the spring

 

[98 SS ON NOS]

here is the stock zq8 spring next to the belltech 2 inch drop spring.

now put the rubber boots on both sides and get ready to put the spring in the lower a arm

 

[98 SS ON NOS]

BEFORE YOU PUT THE SPRINGS IN. make sure to find the 2 drain holes on the lower a arm. the end of the spring should cover the 1st drain hole and just a little of the second one. make sure to sit them in the same both sides so it sits even

here is the hole you have to cover

 

[98 SS ON NOS]

no put the spring in and make sure on top that the spring sits outside of the metal circle. on bottom make sure its lined up with the drain hole and put the jack under it and start to jack up. the holes should line up. you may have to move the jack a little and when it does just put the bolt in. this part takes like 5 minutes.


here is the going up

 

[98 SS ON NOS]

here is the arm lined up with the bolt ready to go threw. put both bolts back in, tighten it up and then put the shocks in and tighen them up and you are ready to go

 

[98 SS ON NOS]

now drive the truck for about 100 miles and measure to top of fenderlips. BUT WAIT ONE SIDE IS HIHER THAN OTHER WHAT GIVES.

heres is the pic of the sway bar end link. lets say the driver side sites 1/2 inch lower than passengers side or vise versayou have to cut 1/2 inch off the passengers side metal end link or vise versa. Cut 1/2 inch off and you will notice that the bolt wont tighten all the way down, because its not threaded all the way threw. just go to a local hardware store and get a 6 inch bolt that is threaded all the way threw and a new nut to tighten it down, and put replace the stock bolt tighten it down and the truck should sit even.

 

[98 SS ON NOS]

hopefully i helped you guys out. other people have different ways of doing this. This way i have found out is faster, safer, and sometimes when trying to get the new spring into the lower a arm and you take the outer part of the a arm off and try to get the spring in there its a pain.


when your done with your drop you can cut about 3/4 1 inch off your bumpstops in front so you get more clearance and wont bottom out. talk to you guys soon.

next time i do a install with spindles ill take pics of that. that should be next week sometime. truck is a 2002 gmc sonoma with zq8. 120 miles on it lol


FYI- the belltech 2 inch drop springs droped the truck 3/4 of a inch more than with the ZQ8 springs
tony

 

[DropindaS-Mini]

oh my man you really did some info on that wow!! i give you props.


peace, steve

 

[sweetbutxtreme]

you da man...i've been thinkin of going with springs instead or spindles too so this helped alot.

 

[rmducati]

damnn, haha, major props

 

[AnotherSS]

damn tony! I've been chasing odd noises from the front of my 96 since I dropped it. I'll try that dust shield trick and see if it clears up :idea: :thumbup: