Anyone Ever?

[david barnett]

Has anyone here cut the rear springs and just fabbed up something to hold them?

[Tony@AirRideTech]

on my 63 belAir I had cut coils and used cable to limit the axle travel..... It was gay but it worked.

[Shane]

why not save up and buy lowered springs ... they're about $100 ... you and your passengers safety is worth that ... isn't it?

[david barnett]

Why spend 100 dollars when you can do it yourself?It doesnt make it any more of a risk if you know what you are doing.Somebody somewhere made the springs that you bought didnt they?Im just not the type of guy that buys something someone else made if I can do it myself.Thats the same reason I dont buy vehicles somebody else has fixed up.

[67Fleet]

The rear springs are tapered at the top and bottom, unlike the front springs in which the coil is the same top to bottom. IF you were to cut the rear spring, you'd have to fab up new spring retainers for top & bottom. They'd have to be pretty big. Take a look at your factory coil and you'll see what I mean. Like Shane said, it's only $100. I'd just do it right the first time. It could turn messy pretty quick if you had one fail on you and pop out of there. I have some 4" drop coils if you're interested. PM me.

[SCOTI]

I've done it before but this was back before drop springs were readily available.

We cut the bottom of the spring & dropped it into place on a fabbed up 'cup' that attached to the trailing arm. The 'cup' was basically a piece of .250 plate w/a small section of pipe welded to it that was just a little larger than the O.D. of the coil. The coil simply floated in the cup @ the bottom & was bolted in just like stock on top.

The only issue we ever had was when the truck was raised in the air on a lift. You would have to make sure the springs seated back into the cup when you set it back down on the ground. It didn't ride very good but we were poor & my buddy just wanted his truck low. We did this along w/some home-made lowering blocks from .250 wall square tubing.

[Shane]

Originally Posted by david barnett

Why spend 100 dollars when you can do it yourself?It doesnt make it any more of a risk if you know what you are doing.Somebody somewhere made the springs that you bought didnt they?Im just not the type of guy that buys something someone else made if I can do it myself.Thats the same reason I dont buy vehicles somebody else has fixed up.

I wouldn't go thru the trouble of modifying a coil spring for the sake of "saving" $100 ... but that's just me, I suppose.

I'm just suggesting this in an attempt to save you some time and headaches ... and possible a lot more money down the road versus the $100 you save now.

Good Luck.

[PBFAB.COM]

[QUOTE=SCOTI;1911216]I've done it before but this was back before drop springs were readily available.



How old are you SCOTI???????

[SCOTI]

Originally Posted by porterbuilt

How old are you SCOTI???????

Lets just say the DropShop in Chino California is where I got my dropped suspension parts for my RestRod back when it was on the road......

At that time..... they didn't make drop spindles yet .

[camaro__thunder]

It's not worth it at all on the rearend of the truck. When you cut the coils it destroys the spring rate completely. It will ride horrible. My opinion.

[72 cheyenne pdx]

I have never tried this in my truck, but in my Jetta I bought these coil clamps that will lower or raise your car an inch or two. They might work in your truck. I got them at my local auto parts store and paid 10 bucks. You may want to try.

[BIG ORANGE]

Not highjacking your thread but would any of you guy's know a easy way to drop a GMC truck in the rear, it's a leafspring truck 1/2ton??? thanks.....

[SCOTI]

Originally Posted by BIG ORANGE

Not highjacking your thread but would any of you guy's know a easy way to drop a GMC truck in the rear, it's a leafspring truck 1/2ton??? thanks.....

How much drop? A flip kit would get you about 5" drop & could be made fairly easy (you could purchase a kit for a 73~87 truck & trim the leaf 'saddles' down since 73~87'S are more commom). There are also de-arched leafs available.

[pharcyde05]

i have fabed up a lot of stuff unless you have the steel just sitting around to make the brackets and cups out of its not worth it cause it wont bee to cheap and with spending the money on steel and the time to make cups and brackets your expence is probley more than what the springs would cost
now i am a big do it your selfer also so i know i have done many things that costed me more money in the long run but it was worth it in the long run for experiance and i enjoy doing it

those are my thoghts sogood luck and put pf some pics so we can see it when your done

[SCOTI]

We cut our 'cups' from a section of scrap pipe, used scrap for the base that bolts to the trailing arm, & used scrap section of 2x2x.250 wall tubing for the lowering blocks.

The biggest expense was having a local bolt company make the longer u-bolts needed but they were way cheaper than new lowering springs. When you're 16 & responsible for all your own debts.... but only work part-time, every penny counts. The time it took to fab the stuff up was an investment in our 'hot-rodding' education.

This same friend also had his hubs re-drilled even though he retained the stock drum brakes so he could mount up a set of car pattern vette ralleys & then eventually some used weld wheels.

I never would do this mod to my truck because I didn't like the way it rode (to rough for my taste). My buddy was ok w/it though & his truck sure looked alot 'cooler' than my stock height truck everything else being equal.

[XXL]

Originally Posted by SCOTI

Lets just say the DropShop in Chino California is where I got my dropped suspension parts for my RestRod back when it was

Bruce McCoy... he was absolutely all there was for wound drop springs back then.

[XXL]

Originally Posted by SCOTI

This same friend also had his hubs re-drilled even though he retained the stock drum brakes so he could mount up a set of car pattern vette ralleys

I went the other direction and redrilled the rotors to fit Ronal R9's on my S-Jimmy before Ronal figured out that 5x4.75 was indeed a worthwhile pattern to build.

[pharcyde05]

its always worth trying something as long as you learn something out of it and if it dosent work out you always have getting new springs as a back up plan i know that i would probly try and cut them before i bought new ones