GMC suspension question

[Eagletucky]

I just purchased a 66 GMC Suburban. I plan to lower it very soon. It has the factory leaf spring setup. I was curious if it is possible to flip the rear axle to the other side of the leaf springs. Has this been done by others before? Is it possible? Are there any other methods utilized to lower a leaf spring truck? I dont want to buy a high dollar crossmember, but would be curious if the trailing arm suspension on my 61' would transfer over to the Suburban.

Ok, enough questions, thank in advance guys!

[62gmc910]

you should be able to flip the rear end if there is room above the springs
but if it fits I would think the coils would be the way to go

[hd74]

there is a very simple bracket that you can buy that justs bolts on to the leaf spring .i think it will give you 2 1/2 inch lower in the rear that is what i did on my suburban .

[1stseries55]

That is what I am doing with my 65 (flipping the axle)... it is not hard but as you change one thing, a lot of other things change. I swapped a 5 lug 10 bolt out of a burb so I have to weld new perches, shock mounts..etc. I also moved the rear back one inch so it would be center in the wheel wells, also the driveshaft will need to be shortened. One more thing to note that by flipping the axle the rear drop is signifigant, I am not sure on an exact # but the front of mine has 2-1/2" spindles and 3" coils and the rear seems to be level with that. This is the drop I wanted so it works for me but to level the truck the front has to come down a lot.

here are some pics ....I am not quite finished with it yet ... should be this week actually

[Eagletucky]

Originally Posted by 1stseries55

That is what I am doing with my 65 (flipping the axle)... it is not hard but as you change one thing, a lot of other things change. I swapped a 5 lug 10 bolt out of a burb so I have to weld new perches, shock mounts..etc. I also moved the rear back one inch so it would be center in the wheel wells, also the driveshaft will need to be shortened. One more thing to note that by flipping the axle the rear drop is signifigant, I am not sure on an exact # but the front of mine has 2-1/2" spindles and 3" coils and the rear seems to be level with that. This is the drop I wanted so it works for me but to level the truck the front has to come down a lot.

here are some pics ....I am not quite finished with it yet ... should be this week actually

Attachment 532873

Attachment 532874

Attachment 532875

Awesome. Any chance You could throw up a few more detail pics of your new leaf spring set up?

Did you remove any leaves?

thanks,

[1stseries55]

Eagletucky,

sorry it has taken me so long to respond to you.... I wanted to finish the rear end setup before I posted a pic.


I originally took 3 leafs out to lower the truck when I had it on the road previously (axle under the leafs). I did not put them back in, I may at a later time if I need to stiffen the rear back up.

Here are some pics.... I am pretty much done.. got the perches welded in, new shock mounts.. came out pretty nice. I will have to cut the exhaust and dump it in front of the rear end (it hits the axle when I jumped on it)
hope this helps

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