The grinding had to be done on the opposite end of the shackle and it was about an 1/8". I like the Eatons better than the Posies because of the clamps, tumbling and tapered ends. Your only going to get it so low with springs and to get it lower than that and doing it so it's safe and correct you need to go with air bags, notching the frame and so on. One more thing you can do with the spring setup is to get a pair of front frame spring mounts and swap them out for the rears, there shorter than the rears. I would start with new springs and work from there. I have had a late 70s 4x4 on the horses and they don't give a bit. Only negative on them are they weight a good bit but then again that's probably a good thing because I have clamped things to them, hammered on them and they don't move a bit. One more thing you want to think about when lowering is you don't want to go below scrub height. Scrub height is at the point where the chassis scrapes the ground if you have a flat tire. This is not good because you are no longer in control of the vehicle but just along for the ride wherever that might take you.
I'm with you both on too low. Ideally I'd like to replace the springs and end up right where it rides now. The problem for newbie me is how to figure that out. Should I send pictures to an Eaton rep and see if they can dial it in for me? Would them do that? Haasman
A couple of things... First, I didn't have to grind my Eaton springs. They fit right in. (GMC?) Second, it's hard to tell what you need for a drop due to what looks like smaller tires up front then what is stock. I went with 2"drop because [1] I wanted new springs and [2] with the way it set stock, I wanted just a bit lower up front. Now, if that's not enough, I too will use tires that aren't as tall up front to bring it down some more. However, I think the 2 inch will be fine. (for me) Another thing I did was look at the trucks in "Patrick's" magazine. He sold single leaf 2" lowering springs for front and rear, and showed the difference in stance. I would never use a mono spring, but I liked the little bit it brought it down, and I would imagine it might make cornering just a tad better, also?
I doubt if they could tell you just how much your truck has been dropped from stock. With Eaton if you want the nylon sliders you need to tell them you want the street rod style spring. I would go with a 3" drop spring and go from there. How has the front of your truck been lowered?
The spring ends have been curled, see post #6 of this thread. Also the rear suspesnion has a block welded to the rear axel. Haasman.
Happened to come across this new front spring from another vendor ... it has the same curl. It is described as Haasman
It's quite possible that your existing springs were indeed done by a reputable shop and they are fine as is. My suggestion is to take them to a local spring shop. They can tell you if they were modified with a torch (by performing a hardness test) or if they were modified by a spring shop and heat treated afterwards. Just a suggestion.
