Another "Chevy Lean" conundrum

[RaysnCayne]

Hey all,

When I first bought my very tired 87 SWB, it had a 1" lean to the left (lower on the passenger side) with the stock suspension/stock height all the way around. I wasn't too worried about that because I was sure it'd sit right after I put all new 1" lower springs, 2.5" lower spindles and shocks on the front and juggled the rear leaves (with 2" lowering hangers and shackles) and added new shocks to the rear. But alas, the 1" lean carried through. Even with the tire pressures checked and everything being set equal. This is a single-tank on the driver's side truck.

I've attached some measurements I took with the frame up on jacks and no suspension in play. My garage floor is pretty flat, or flat enough for this exercise. Overall, I'm puzzled as to why/how the pass. side frame rail seems to be uniformly 1/2" higher than the driver's, from about the front of the cab back? I also find it curious my rear spring hangers seem to be off more than the rear frame ends they're mounted to. The odd thing there being that higher-mounted driver's side hanger should be raising the rear of the leaf spring by ~1/2" and thus lowering that side a wee bit. But no, that side is still the high side.

Anyhoo, not sure anyone's got any good, easy answers here. But just wanted to run this buy the forum in case they do have experience and might have a better answer than my rudimentary solutions I have in mind. Namely, either cutting pass. side front coil til the front sits level and if that doesn't translate to the back sitting level, then play with shackle height adjustments.

 

[Trucksareforwork]

My first reaction is “man, it’s a truck…a half inch isn’t out of spec.”

Second reaction is simply your rear leafs are fatigued. Did you swap the rear springs too? My 85 has lowering hangers on it and one side is in the higher bolt hole for just this reason.

 

[RaysnCayne]

It's more than 1/2". This is a little cruising/gotta-look-good truck, not a beat-around, work-a-day rig. I had one of those (a '78 long bed) and it actually sat nice and straight - on all-original suspension. Go figure.

I do have lowering hangers and I do plan on using the lower set of bolt holes if and when it comes to it.

I have swapped the rear springs side-to-side and it still sits noticeably higher on the right. Which pretty much means it's either a bent frame (which mine is, but it's bent the "wrong" way according to my measurements to make the right side high) or front suspension (which is all brand new and properly installed). So that's why I thought I'd post it here in case any engineer-types had an idea or saw something in the numbers I'm not seeing.