The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area The HiPo Shop question about lowering my truck

wanting to lower my 71 1/2 ton chevy pickup,by using lowering springs i have long tube headers and i dont know how low i can go without headers hitting ground.any help would be appreciated.

that would depend on if you have dropped spindles, other suspension mods, the size of your wheels and tires, which headers you have (there are literally hundreds of combinations)

i have hedman headers, suspension is stock, tire size is 230/70/15

1. Buy a tape measure

2. Crawl under the truck

3. Measure the distance from the headers to the ground.

4. The measurement is how far you can lower the truck.

5. If you want to drive it instead of just letting it sit around at car shows, it might be a good idea to leave a couple of inches of clearance so it will only drag the pipes when you hit a bump.
Jerry

A couple of years ago I came off a freeway exit and dropped a tire in a pot hole (invisible because it was full of rain water). One of the elbows exiting my catalytic converter caught a rock and I had a very noisy ride the ten miles it took to get it home.

Then it cost $1,000 just in parts to replace the head pipes, the catalytic converter and the pipes between it and the mufflers.

Okay I'll admit this was on my Corvette and it might be a little low and parts are a little more expensive, but it sure made me stop and think about how low I allow any parts to hang under any of my vehicles.

And maybe some of the parts needed to be replaced anyway, but they might have lasted another year or two if it weren't for dragging things on the pavement.

I didn't get a ticket but as loud as the car instantly became it sure was a possibility.

This is why so many show vehicles have air bags. You can lay frame at the show and in the parking lot, but still have enough ground clearance to drive without throwing sparks and breaking parts off. If you are going to end up with less ground clearance than a pop can standing on end, you're very likely to have problems with things dragging going in and out of parking lots and driveways.

I must be getting old, I sure sound like an old man...

I lowered my old S-10 using drop spindles and springs. It wasnt that low (3.5" drop) until I hit a set of railroad tracks at the bottom of a hill. The angle of the tracks, the dip in the road, speed I was driving, etc. caused the oil pan drain plug to get sheared off at the junction between two rails (there were a lot of metal shavings there from various cars). Cost me 30 hours of labor to pull the engine back out and build a new pan, plus put stock ride height springs back in.

Moral of both Steve's story and mine. Make sure you account for normal driving obstacles and suspension travel.

Steve, we all are starting to sound like a bunch of grumpy old men.

www.earlyclassicenterprises.com has a set of sanderson headers that dump out at the firewall elimitating the problems the long tube headers causes with lowered trucks, $359 ceramic coated. This is what I'm planning on using for my project. I'm using a 72 c10 frame that has been lowered 3 1/2" in front and 4" in back. The front was lowered with 2 1/2" drop spindles and 1" lowering coils bought from CPP.

As was already mentioned, just measure how much room you have. I have lowered several of that body style pickup 4" in the front with shorter springs and ran headers without smacking them on the ground under normal conditions. Although, I have also run the rams horn manifolds or shorty headers on others to have even more clearance. A lot of this revolves around how you drive the pickup and what look you are going for.

have a 63 gmc lowered 2 1/2 [to low] added 18 in tires and airbags ;headers still drag when lowered; prepare for new headers, exhaust