C10 drop spring question

[Geektrucker]

Got a gift cert for Summit racing for Christmas. Decided I wanted to get some lowering springs for the front. Ordered a set from them that said 1-3" drop. The box says 3"...

My question is, if I put those in, where I have an inline 6 instead of a v8, would I really see 3" of drop? I'm hoping it'll give me about 2" of drop...anything I should know about installing them? Everything is bone stock in the front.
Thanks

Sent from the back woods of Maine via skiddah, cah, and a wicked pissah squarebody

 

[J Knight]

Theoretically you are correct, the lighter weight of the 6 should only yield a 2in drop. If it doesn't drop to your liking, cut one round off the factory springs to get the 2in drop you want.

 

[Geektrucker]

http://www.gmsquarebody.com/forum/showpost.php?p=309906&postcount=14

Continuing the conversation over here where the post probably belongs (I blame Tapatalk error vs my age) @JKnight

While your response was technically informing, it doesn't really answer my question. Keep in mind (from this thread) that I theoretically have about 2.5" drop based on the lighter weight. I should have measured what the actual height was before so I'd know for sure.

The springs are just barely loose at full drop, but I also still have stock shocks that are fairly worn (next item to be installed is drop shocks). I guess I was more pondering the question of how many is too many shims? If I can get another 3/4" out of the bolts, then all the better, but wondered what the limit is as there's about an 1" in there now. I'd even be temped to look at tubular uppers

I'm not a big fan of cutting springs as it's too easy to heat temper them and I've seen too many gone bad.

So what do most of you guys have for shims in your uppers?

Thanks

 

[74 Shortbed]

Not a good pic but it's the only one I have(truck is all apart now). I bought the truck already lowered, it had WC 3" springs, this was the stack up with pretty much 0 Camber and 4.5* Caster on this side and there was about 1/4" of bolt left sticking out on the forward bolt, I'm definitely not going this route when I put this back together..

BTW, if you use a thin cut-off wheel to cut a coil off, you will not heat up the spring at all..

You must be registered for see images attach

 

[J Knight]

From your pic in the other thread it "looks" to me like you got a full 3in of drop despite having a 6.

The springs being loose at full drop isn't a big deal, you just need to know to check the position of them before you let it back down.

The white truck below was my first square back in high school, I lowered it about 5in or more by cutting 2 1/4 rounds off the springs and adding longer alignment bolts. It took so many shims I decided to stack washers on the alignment bolts so I wouldn't have too many shims incase they loosened up un me they woundnt fall out. When drop spindles became available I swore I would never do longer bolts again. Its a real pain to install and align, your mechanic will hate you for it. LOL
I also had stock shocks on it, the tires would hit the wheel well before the shocks bottomed out.

The pick of the shims is my 82 with a 2in spring drop.

 

[Geektrucker]

From your pic in the other thread it "looks" to me like you got a full 3in of drop despite having a 6.

The springs being loose at full drop isn't a big deal, you just need to know to check the position of them before you let it back down.

The white truck below was my first square back in high school, I lowered it about 5in or more by cutting 2 1/4 rounds off the springs and adding longer alignment bolts. It took so many shims I decided to stack washers on the alignment bolts so I wouldn't have too many shims incase they loosened up un me they woundnt fall out. When drop spindles became available I swore I would never do longer bolts again. Its a real pain to install and align, your mechanic will hate you for it. LOL
I also had stock shocks on it, the tires would hit the wheel well before the shocks bottomed out.

The pick of the shims is my 82 with a 2in spring drop.

Sweet truck! That's pretty much the look I'm going for.. it looks like you had bigger than stock wheels?

So my next question is.. the alignment sheet said the left side was in by a full 1*... I know I have some play in the balljoint mount bolts, plus I picked up a shim kit which is 1/32"... how do I figure (to get it roughly close) how many shims to add to get the degree of camber back in it? When I go to loosen the ball joint on that side on my next day off, I'll measure how much I got it to shift outward on the control arm, but it'd be interesting to know how much of a degree (or more?) of camber it gives me.

A couple images for your amusement... the tire was even tread less than two weeks ago (the tires were crap to begin with)