2.5" Drop Spindle Step-By-Step (as completed at the TN Meet & Greet last weekend)

[jewels.]

Hi all!
We just got back from the Tennessee Meet & Greet at Ron's (click here for pics) this last weekend. I took lots of pictures of the group project, and I need to post the Step-By-Step of what we did.

We took a 1968 Stepside (it belongs to thelonerife, not me) and we added 2.5" drop spindles, and cut coil springs (for an extra 2.5 inches). What fun!

FYI, I have been known in the past for my elaborate project descriptions including lots of photos. It will take me a while to finish this thread (at ten pics per post), but I promise to complete it!

Here are the details:

First, put the truck up on jack stands with a jack, and remove the wheels. Boy, if you don't know this step, I suggest you just read this thread, and leave the work to the mechanics! BTW, that is thelonerife (Chuck) there in the photo next to his truck.



Make sure to bury yourself pretty deep into the wheel wells of the truck, or you will never enjoy this project. Here is thelonerife (Chuck) buried in a wheel well.

And here is 5150 (Brian) also buried inside a wheel well.

It is also important to have very important supervisors. Here, pickles (Margaret) is making sure everything is correct.

And here are some other very important supervisors. On the right is our TN resident teacher, woodridge (Woody), who is always the best technical support line you can find! He made sure not to bring a forklift license this year! :LOL:

Now, it is extremely important that you have lots of extra chairs around for all of us who want to watch.
From left to right, this is retodd7711 (Todd), luv2xclr8 (Craig), tycoon4u, and blue_71 (Josh).


OK - Back to the Step-By-Step:
Remove the connection to the tie-rod, so the steering is disconnected.


Next, turn one of the wheels/spindles/brake assemblies so you can easily get in behind it. You need to remove a cotterpin from both the top and bottom castlenuts on the ball joints. Blue_71 (Josh) has just informed me that you must have a jack under the lower A-arm with upward pressure before you can remove these castlenuts.


Yes, I will continue posting below.... keep reading! ------------>

[jewels.]

AFTER (and only after) the cotterpins are removed, the castlenuts can be removed from the top and bottom ball joints.




Next, use a PICKLE FORK between the spindle and the ball joint to loosen the spindle from the joint. You have to do this on top and bottom.


This is a PICKLE FORK:


It will take quite a bit of hammering. Go 5150 (Brian)!




After the ball joints are loose, the wheel/spindle/brake assembly should just lift right out.




Chuck decided to replace his ball joints while the spindles were out. To do this, you must remove the factory rivets that hold the factory ball joints in place. THIS IS NO EASY TASK!!! But I will show how to do it here. If you do not want to replace your ball joints, you can skip down to the steps below where the upper A-arm has been reinstalled.

To replace the upper ball joint, the upper A-arm can be removed from the truck. If you lift up on the A-arm, there are two bolts underneath that can be removed.


Be careful - there are also SHIMS that align your suspension correctly. Keep track of the shims, as to which bolt they came off of. Make sure to put them back when you reinstall the A-arm.


More to come below ------------------->

[jewels.]

There are several methods to getting the rivets out of the factory ball joint. My advice is to skip to the last one here, because it was successful.

This first method did not work:
You can grind down the rivets on the top of the A-arm.


Then, after the rivets are ground down, you can try to use a punch to hammer out the rivets.


THAT METHOD DID NOT WORK.

Blue_71 (who is a Chevy Dealership Master-Certified ASE Mechanic) says that this method hardly ever works. Blue_71 says that he has been successful removing factory ball joint rivets in two ways. First, you can drill out the rivets to loosen their hold. However, this takes a mean drill bit, and a very large, industrial drill.

Second, he recommends to use a chisel (or even a pickle fork) to hammer between the rivet plate and the A-arm. It will take a LOT of hammering, and a LOT of patience, but the rivets will soon give way.
This is Blue_71 (Josh) hammering away, and Chuck looking on.




This is what he used on Chuck's truck at the meet. Again, this is not for the faint of heart. It takes a LOT OF HAMMERING!





Once the rivet plate has been removed, the rivets will come out of the A-arm easily with a hammer.


Gotta take a break and help Josh move a car right now. But I'll be back in a few hours to post some more pics.
Still more to come ------------------------>

[jewels.]

Ok, so it took a little longer than we had hoped to move that car, but I promised to complete this post, so I'm getting back to it now.

To continue:
We've removed the upper ball joint. Now we need to remove the lower ball joint. Usually, you can use a ball joint press to do this.


However, no matter who tried it, the press kept coming apart. No one could figure out how to use it.


So, we just ended up using BRUTE FORCE! A sledge hammer was used to hit against the lower ball joint, forcing it out of the lower A-arm.
(Hmmm, I don't seem to have a picture of Brian swinging that sledge hammer with all of that force. I guess I was too wrapped up in watching it. )


Once the lower and upper ball joints are removed, it is really easy to install the new ones. They do not use rivets when you put them in. Instead, they just use bolts and nuts. So, just assemble the new ball joint back in place.






And don't forget to add the grease zert that comes in the package.


Now it is time to put the upper A-arm back in place. First, put those shims back in the same location as they were before.


More to come ----------------------->

[jewels.]

Start the nuts on each stud, but be careful to keep the shims on there.


Hold your upper A-arm up and out of the way.


Then tighten it all down.


We need to put the lower ball joint back in place. Unlike the upper ball joint, the lower ball joint needs to be pressed into the lower A-arm. However, that pesky ball joint press has not been working out for anyone this weekend, so we had to resort to some creativity.

Per Woody's (woodridge's) directions, the jack was placed under the lower ball joint. A slight amount of gentle pressure was applied to the ball joint with the floor jack by using a few of the pieces out of the ball joint press kit.


Then, a sledge hammer was use very carefully to hit on the A-arm on each side of the ball joint. DO NOT HIT THE BALL JOINT! You don't want to ruin the ball joint.




The pressure from the jack will carefully push/press the ball joint up into position.

[jewels.]

Now it is time for the spindles to go back on. Before we get to that, lets talk about what a drop spindle does. Here is a comparison of a regular spindle and a drop spindle, side-by-side. Notice where the center circle is on each one. The center circle is where the wheel is attached (the spindle).

Notice on the shiny new spindle, that the circle is about 2.5inches away from the old spindle, thus lowering the wheel 2.5 inches from where it used to be.
(Thank you to Blue_71, Josh, for this great description and explanation. He is holding the spindles for me in these photos.)


It is a little more difficult to see, but here is a view from the outside of the spindle.


Now that we have both ball joints installed, we need to put the spindle on. There are many different ways to do this, but here is what the group did. First, slide the spindle onto the upper ball joint.

Then, add a castlenut to hold it in place.

Line up the bottom of the spindle with the bottom ball joint. Because the group did some work on the stock springs in Chuck's truck, the spring is pushing down on the lower A-arm, and the lower ball joint will not reach thru the spindle (the lower castlenut cannot be started). In this case, place a jack under the lower A-arm, and lift up with the jack. (You may want to use something to protect the ball joint from damage.) This will hold the A-arm up enough to start your castlenut on the lower ball joint threads.


Then, tighten down both castlenuts.


For some reason, on Chuck's truck, the dust covers on his new spindles kept hitting the lower A-arm and causing an interference.


I guess sometimes aftermarket parts don't perfectly fit our trucks. Bummer. So, Chuck decided to remove the dust covers. He is going to make a small modification to them and put them back on the truck later.


Well, there it is. The new spindle with it's drop all in position. Nice and perty. What do you think?


Of course, there is still a truck with no brakes, wheels or steering. So, we still have a little work left to do.
Let's keep going. -------------------->

[jewels.]

Next, we need to assemble the tie rod back in place (so we can steer this thing down the road).


And don't forget to add cotterpins to the castlenut on the tie rod, and onto the spindle as well (top and bottom).


Now lets talk about the brakes. How do you take the brakes off the old spindle/wheel/brake assembly and move them to the new one? Here is the old spindle/wheel/brake assembly:


First, you need to remove the dust cap. Just use a little hammer and a small screwdriver. Don't hit hard, just pry gently and it should pop right off.


Then remove another cotterpin from (yet another) castlenut.



Then, take the castlenut off.


Now be careful, because the wheel bearing and all of its greasy parts (washers, ball bearings, etc.) are all in the center of this rotor. BTW, the grease on Chuck's truck is red in these pictures. PERTY!


More to come ---------------------------------->

[jewels.]

To remove the brake rotor from the old spindle, just grab both sides and lift up. It should come right off the spindle.


Here is the old spindle with the brake rotor assembly removed:


Now take that brake rotor assembly that you just lifted off of the old spindle, and slide it onto the new spindle on the truck. You need to reassemble the brake rotor assembly in the exact opposite order. First, slide it on the wheel. Then add the castlenut and tighten, and then add the cotterpin.


Make sure that the wheel bearing, its little ball bearings, and all its washers and pieces do not come out of position. If so, just put them back in place.


Now, I should mention that during all of this work, Pickles was on the other side doing much of the same work. I think that 5150 (Brian), Pickles (Margaret) and thelonerife (Chuck) seemed to do most of the major work to the truck. I think they all saw the bottom of Chuck's truck a little too much on Saturday!


Once the truck is back together, its time to test it out.


Because the guys were working with the coil springs, it is important to push the truck up and down to listen for any suspension noises (in case something was assembled incorrectly). There should be no popping or cracking noises.


Of course, this truck had some noises, so they had to take stuff back apart and re-seat the coil springs several times before it was correct.
Curly86 (Curly) was our measuring official. The ride height here is measuring at 30 inches. (After they played with the coil springs, it dropped even further.)

[jewels.]

And taking it for a test drive.... What a nice drop!


----------------------------------------------------
Now, I know I've been describing a 2.5 inch drop from spindles, but the group also decided to drop the truck even further by modifying the stock coil springs.

This requires that you remove the old stock coil springs. First, put a jack under the lower A-arm to keep the tension on the spring. The spindle should NOT be assembled at this point. It needs to be out of the way to change these springs.


Next, you need to remove the shock.




Then, you need to slowly lower the jack until the pressure is off of the coil spring. Be careful. You don't want the spring to jump out and hurt you!


Now to create a drop, Woody (woodridge) cut some springs off of a scrap frame sitting out in the yard.


You don't have to cut springs out yourself, you can just get them from someone who has spare parts.


Here is one of the springs removed.


I think they wanted to cut the springs out just so Woody would have an excuse to use the torch!

[jewels.]

Of course, Woody kept catching the grass on fire. But 5150 (Brian) was nearby with a bucket of pond water to put out the flames.


Here is a close up of the torch cutting.




Now, once you have your springs, you will need to cut some of the spring off to make the truck drop. I did not take any pictures of this. If someone else has pictures of cutting coil springs, please feel free to post them up! The amount that you cut off of the spring will directly and DRASTICALLY affect the amount of the drop. I think the amount of drop actually shocked Chuck.
Someone correct me if I am wrong, but I think the group cut out about 1/2 of a turn of the coil (as in 180 degrees out of a full 360 degree circle). And, I believe this dropped the truck at least 2.5 to 3 inches. VERY DRASTIC! Whew! Thats low!
(FYI, if you didn't know, I'm a 'stock' girl. I prefer my trucks at stock height.)


Now, to reassemble your springs, just work backwards thru these same steps. First, seat the spring in the cups of the A-arms. It is important to "seat" the coils correctly, or you will have those incorrect popping noises in the suspension. If the noises occur, you will need to disassemble and adjust the springs again. So please "seat" the springs carefully.


Now, place the jack back under the lower A-arm, and gently raise the arm to apply pressure to the spring.


Keep raising the jack until you get the shock to line up with the holes on the A-arm.


Then, insert the bolt into the shock and reassemble it. This may take some patience.


And then don't forget to test for popping noises when you are ready to test drive. (Remember, if you hear crunches, its not right. A quiet suspension is a good suspension.)

[jewels.]

Well, thats about it for the STEP-BY-STEP. There are a few other things to mention. Chuck added an aftermarket sway bar to his truck a while back, so he had to remove the bolts and reattach the bolts for it during this whole fiasco.






Also, there were lots of other pictures of members looking on and helping during the project, but these are all going to be posted on the thread that talks about the Meet & Greet pictures. Feel free to visit that thread and meet some of us in pictures!

Ron, we had a great time at your meet. We can't wait until next year! If anyone has any questions, feel free to ask me in this thread or in a PM. Good luck with your suspension drops!
Long live the 67-72 Truck Board! Woohooo!!!!!!

~jewels.

[retodd7711]

Still seeing some red x instead of photos.
Good write up jewels!

[jewels.]

Originally Posted by retodd7711

Still seeing some red x instead of photos.
Good write up jewels!

I'm not sure what the hang-up is. If you right-click on the red X, and then choose properties, and then cut and paste the HTML link into a web browser, the picture shows up. But for some reason, the message board is not displaying some of the photos. I don't get it. They are all publicly available. Try it.

If you paste the HTML link into another tab or webpage, and then you go back and refresh this thread's page, the picture appears. Perhaps it is too many photos for the thread to load at the same time?

Does anyone have any suggestions for this problem?
I teach web page design and development classes, and I'm pretty convinced this is an interpretation problem, not an availability of pictures problem.



~jewels.

[72BlckButy]

Seeing half the pics and half red x's ...

From what I can tell though, this is FAQ worthy!

[72BlckButy]

Originally Posted by jewels.

Does anyone have any suggestions for this problem?
I teach web page design and development classes, and I'm pretty convinced this is an interpretation problem, not an availability of pictures problem.



~jewels.

jewels, I will see if I can get you some help on the picture issue. Hang tight!

[tdave00]

Very nice writeup!

[PanelDeland]

Nice job on the writing Jewels.I get some red X's also but have done this and seen it done.The ball joint press shown in the pics will not work.The c section clamp is too short.In the pic of it on the spindle everything is right but the round tube that is with the Ball joint press does not have room to be put on top of the round stepped plate under the ball joint.I learned this the hard way and wound up cutting some spacers from tubing to make it work.The problem is that 67-72 ball joints are taller than most others.
Again great write up and story.

[thelonerife]

I cut the dust shields down and put them on.Also I changed the center caps.

[baggedcten]

Nice write up, good job, looks great!!!

[jgrisafi]

Great job. I am getting ready to do the same thing. Thanks for the help.

[tdave00]

The rivets in mine weren't that hard. Just did them last night. I cut x's in the heads and then chiseled the head off. Then took an air hammer and tried to punch them out. A couple of them came out and then I had to pry the upper ball joint away from the arm. After that I hit them a few more times with the air hammer and they came out. FYI

[drsergio]

why we cant see the pictures on the project anymore??

[N2TRUX]

Originally Posted by drsergio

why we cant see the pictures on the project anymore??

Unfortunately the image host that was used no longer exists.

[drsergio]

real suck
I was going to check those pictures and do my truck
i have the same project

so sad

[Dano69c10]

too bad the pics aren't in the thread...