The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Engine Shop Lower Shock Mounts & Lowering Blocks - 54

I am trying to locate options to use for a lower spring plate/shock mount for my 54 1/2 ton. I have gone to a 10 bolt rear and retained the stock springs. Has anyone identified lower spring plates that might work - S-10? I also want to install 2-3 inch lowering blocks but all I find are 2.5 inch wide blocks. Any 1.75 inch wide blocks available? Has anyone used the wider blocks without problems?

Thanks for the postings - I had heard about using the front shackles in place of the rear and have washed the rivet heads off the rear shackles in prep for their removal and replacement. Rear spring perches are not welded yet so shims will not be needed for axle angle adjustment. I may have to fab up my own lowering blocks if I cannot find some retail.

Any Houston area stovebolters/truck rodders out there?

I had to make my lowering blocks from aluminum bar stock. I couldnt find any lowering blocks locally that were narrow enough to fit between the stock u bolts.

On my previous reply I said I couldnt find the blocks to fit the stock u bolts, what I meant to say was the stock spring perch. I had to have longer u bolts made up because the stock ones were to short to fit the lowering block.

seems like we had a post awhile back in regard to the lowering process. I have a 52 five window half ton that had a recent 85 blazer rear end and s-10 five speed put in it, it is lowered but I think the guy took out the previous lowering blocks and lowered in by u-bolts and compressing the leaf springs some how,guess I NEED to get under it and check it out....Fred

There is an old trick where you take an extra pair of front shackle mounts and put them on the rear to get about 2" of drop without lowering blocks. You will still need some angle shims as the driveline angle gets changed.

(Caveat: I don't know exactly how much drop this is, it might be more than 2", that's just a ballpark guess. Should be easy to measure before you do it. I haven't done this myself, but I've seen it done.)

You can do this in two steps. First you can unrivet the "tall" rear shackle mount, drill new mounting holes and bolt in (with grade 8 bolts!) the slightly shorter mount from the front. The new mounting holes are very close to the old rivet holes, so you might want to weld up the old holes to prevent possible cracking. That could get an inch of drop, but will throw the axle angle way off.

Then if you look at the frontmost shackle mount, it's actually in the frame and not bolted to the bottom like the rearmost moujnt. You can unrivet the rearmost mount, drill mounting holes and cut a big hole in the side of the frame for the frontmost mount to fit in, then notch the frame to fit the shackle since the frame is wider in the rear.

Obviously it is going to weaken the frame a bit but unless you're hauling more than butt, no prob.

I *may* even have an extra set of shackle mounts sitting around, but it might take some time to find them. The garage is in the middle of a paint job, can't get into any of the cabinets. Yours free plus the cost of shipping!

Hope this helps...

-Boyo

I had 3-inch lowering blocks installed on my 54 ... the truck still has a pretty good rake to it, but this helped me get better caster settings in my front-end alignment (Fatman Mustang II IFS) :
[img]http://AlanHorvath.com/54chevy/chevypics/3inchblocks.jpg[/img]

hi i have a question i have a 1950 3100 factory drive train i had 2 inch wide square u bolts made and made 4 inch blocks when i drop the rear it moves back is that where i want the blocks to set like off set the guide holes so i dont get the forced torq tube into the trans.and will 2 inch u bolts be ok..? i know there supposed to be 1 7/8 any help would be great thx