suggestions and guidance on lowering a 67 C10

[Vince Putt]

suggestions and guidance on lowering a 67 C10
I'm finally getting to the point where I can start my rebuild on my wife's truck.
A 67 SWB.

We are going for a daily driver that is rock solid reliable and won't make us feel like we are riding a skateboard on the power tour.

Planning on running something along the line of a 60 series tire on 8" ralley wheel in the front and a 60 series tire on a 10" ralley on the back. We are after the look of a filled wheelwell with tire. I'm thinking of a 4-6 drop. would be enough to get it to the ride height I want. I've poured though pictures for the last 6 months or so looking at the stance of different trucks. The ride quality is my major concern. I don't want tires rubbing body panels in any way.

Roads are pretty rough here in eastern Pa. so I have to be conservative for the ride height. Otherwise I may have to put tow hooks and a winch on it to get it out of a pothole.

Here's what I have parts wise that I'd like to use I need your opinion here:
A pair of bell dropped spindles for an 85 C10 truck the entire front crossmember from the 85 including power steering box, 5" bolt pattern brakes, master clyinder, stock height springs, tilt steering and all parts.
It's my understanding the the 85 crossmember is pretty much a bolt in shy of changing some bolt holes. There has been a big discussion going on about people are dropping (sectioning the front crossmember). How viable is sectioning the crossmember? I'm not afraid of doing the work but I'm wondering is it really necessary. It appears to me that it would or could really help out with ground clearance. If I modified the front crossmember 1 1/2 inches like I saw on the suspension board and used the drop spindles ( I think they are 2 1/2 inch drop. I'll compare them to a stock set of spindles when I tear the front end apart.) that would give me a 4" drop allowing stock springs and shocks to be used.

I'm thinking using a new stock height spring and shock would give me the very best ride quality; Shy of maybe ditching the entire front crossmember and going to a custom built front crossmember like a fatman or Jim Meyer racing. Am I missing something in my thinking?

What kind of tire interferance might I run into with this game plan? In theory
this plan would be the same effect as Z-ing the frame to lower the front of the body over without moving the engine. Am I missing something here or am I correct?

for the rear I have acquired a coil spring C10 frame, I have a 6 lug stock stock rear axle. I'm not real sure on the condition of the trailing arms they look pretty rusty. I'll sandblast them and decide if they are usable. New ones are available at about $350. If I stay with the trailing arms lowering blocks and new shorter springs and relocated shocks appear to be my only option to get to six inches. and I'll have to c the frame. Is this correct?
Other parts and pieces I've seen are things like a a new center crossmember.
The manufacturer says it's to be used with trucks with a 5" or more drop.
I'm not sure if I have to go that far for the look I want. Should or could I use that center crossmember regardless of my drop? I'll be running a one piece driveshaft. How low can things go before I run into driveshaft hitting the stock center crossmember? Would the modified crossmember be needed to relocate the control arms if I go with a six inch drop? I see that one of the advantages of it would be driveshaft clearance and a modified way to route the exhaust through the crossmember.

I have another option of using a 9"in ford with disc brakes from a lincoln versiales. It is a 5 lug 4 1/2 bolt pattern. I also have an Art Morrison Adjustable Ladder bar setup with coil over springs. If I go with the Art Morrison adjustable ladder bar setup I could have a lot of flexability because of the adjustments of the way the shock and spring tower mounts to set the ride height. and I can order different spring rates to get the ride quality. Again ride quality and tire interference are the major concerns.

Technology has come a long way and I've been seeing that Airbags are being used alot now.
How viable is the Air bag thing? Are they reliable? I remember my buddy's Lincoln that almost always had rear airbag problems. I know that this would be an expensive venture. I'm not wishing to set the frame rails on the ground I'm interested in having a quality ride that's super reliable.

As for my engine I'm currently planning on a 355" SB. But If I could find an LS1 and six speed manual or automatic that may be an option but in reality I don't see it happening.

Ok I'm all ears, Give me some ideas on how low I should go and what your thoughts are on my options.

Thanks Vince

[SCOTI]

You can get a 4"+ front drop that won't rattle the fillings out w/2.5" dropped spindles & either an aftermarket dropped spring or trim 1 coil off your stock springs. My vote is try cutting the springs & if the ride isn't acceptable, your not out any $$ & just get the dropped springs. A good investment (if you don't already have one) is a good sized sway-bar & urethane bushings. I use the HD 1.25" 3/4 or 1-ton GM sway-bar.

For the rear, 6" of drop is pretty easy w/1.5-2" lowering blocks + dropped coils, or air-bags if you ever intend to use your truck to haul a heavy load. The coils would definitely be the cheaper route but don't offer as much flexibility. Both would ride good.

At 4/6" of drop, a c-section isn't required, but I would still get an adjustable panhard bar to make sure the rear is centered after the drop, & you can use off the shelf shocks.

Slap those 60's series radials on & enjoy the PowerTour!

[Tx Firefighter]

I agree with SCOTI on pretty much everything he said.

I have dropped lots of trucks and find that a 4/6 drop is still very practical.

The only difference I would do is just use a 6 inch drop rear spring. The springs cost the same, whether you buy a 4 or a 6 inch unit. The 6 inch spring will actually be chaper though since you don't have to hassle with lowering blocks.

In the front, your spindles coupled with a 2 inch drop spring will give you a nice ride still. I use Summit brand lowering springs. They are cheaper than other brands, free shipping, and when you look closely at them, they are Ground Force brand units.

A c-notch is not required with a 6 inch rear drop. I have convinced many folks of that using my green truck. With my little motorcycle in the bed, and 2 of us jumping up and down on the rear bumper, no way we could make it bottom out. We did that at the Texas board meet and all the folks there thought we were weird, but it did convince them that a 6 inch drop still leaves plenty of travel before bottoming.

Here's the same pictures of my old green truck I posted on another thread. It's lowered 4.5 in front and 6 in rear. Tires are 60 series. This trucks drives perfectly. There is no bottoming out, rubbing, scraping, or any of that badness.

[72MARIO]

How much room should there be between the axle and the frame ?

[PunkRock247]

Tx Firefighter, I have a couple of questions if you wouldn't mind answering...

1. How did you run your exhaust on your green truck? Did you run it under the trailing arm crossmember or did you cut holes through it? From your photos it looks like you have your exhaust pretty well tucked up.

2. I thought I remember from another post you saying you had not trouble with a 1 piece driveshaft interfering with the crossmember even with a 6" drop. Is that true?

3. I looked on the Summit Racing website for the lowering springs you mentioned in your post. However I could not find any for our year trucks. The only ones I could find were for 73-87 1/2 tons and they only had a 2" and 3" drop front springs. Am I looking in the wrong place for them?

Thanks

[GreyHoundSteve]

Originally Posted by 72MARIO

How much room should there be between the axle and the frame ?

I think it depends on the springs. Lowered springs are stiffer so you dont need as much room where as if you were to heat or cut a spring you should probably give yourself some extra travel.

[Vince Putt]

Thanks for the input guys you have been very helpful. what tire sizes and rim backspacing are you using? My wife will be in Dallas during the christmas week to visit family. It would be pretty cool to see if she could catch up with some of you to get an idea what she would like. PM me if you think it's something you'd be interested in doing.

[SCOTI]

215-70-15's on 15x6.5" van ralleys & 255-70-15's on 8" truck ralleys.

[smbrouss70]

I have ECE's 6" rear drop springs and Super panhard bar, I'm running a 1-piece driveshaft that is 3.5" in diameter and it does not touch the original center crossmember. It's close but doesn't touch and won't through-out the suspension travel.

[Tx Firefighter]

Punkrock.....

the truck has a 1 piece driveshaft and it clears the center crossmember just fine throughout the suspension travel.

I ran the exhausts underneath the crossmember. I built it all myself. What I did was heat 2 1/2 inch exhaust pipe and squish it in a vise to oval shape it. That way it's still big pipe and flows well, but it doesn't hang down quite as low underneath the truck.

The Summit springs I'm talking about are 73-87 front 2 inch drop springs. As you likely know, 73-87 front springs directly interchange into 67-72 trucks in the front. The rear springs are ECE brand 6 inchers. Actually, everything suspension wise BUT the front coil springs is ECE brand parts.

[PunkRock247]

Originally Posted by Tx Firefighter

Punkrock.....

the truck has a 1 piece driveshaft and it clears the center crossmember just fine throughout the suspension travel.

I ran the exhausts underneath the crossmember. I built it all myself. What I did was heat 2 1/2 inch exhaust pipe and squish it in a vise to oval shape it. That way it's still big pipe and flows well, but it doesn't hang down quite as low underneath the truck.

The Summit springs I'm talking about are 73-87 front 2 inch drop springs. As you likely know, 73-87 front springs directly interchange into 67-72 trucks in the front. The rear springs are ECE brand 6 inchers. Actually, everything suspension wise BUT the front coil springs is ECE brand parts.

Thanks a lot for your reply