Need to adjust front ride height.

[ZGJim]

My '78 C10 has had the belltech lowering kit installed by a previous owner. In addition to the dropped spindles, they cut about 1 1/2 coils from the stock springs. I have new OEM springs that I am going to install in place of the old ones. With the current setup, the front tires rub on the fenders when the suspension compresses while the wheels are turned. I want to raise the front about an inch to get enough clearance to prevent the tires from rubbing. Is there a good rule as to how much change is created by cutting the spring? How much change do you get for each 1/2 coil that is cut? I know that I could roll the inner fenders, but the truck has the chrome trim around the fender opening and I don't want to mess with the chrome.

TIA
JIm

 

[mtbadbob]

A good way to make any truck ride like sh*t, hack up the suspension, but it's your truck...

 

[Rusty Nail]

I think one coil = two inches .
Don't forget about shock travel.

 

[ZGJim]

Two inches per coil is about what I was thinking. Thanks for the reply.
I'm replacing 44 year old ball joints, bushings and springs, so I don't think it will be worse than before no matter what I do to the springs.

Ya'll have a wonderful day.
Thanks
Jim

 

[ZGJim]

I finished the rebuild on the front suspension. We removed all four control arms and replaced all of the ball joints and the bushings with polyurethane bushings. The truck rides much better with the new pieces. The first picture shows the minimal fender clearance that we had with the old springs. They had approx 1 1/2 coils removed, and with the wheel/tire combo, the tires, which are 26" diameter, would rub on the fender if you hit even a small bump while turning. Not good for a driver. We replaced the front springs with new OEM small block spec springs. That resulted in the clearance shown in the 2nd picture. That was way too much. The stance wasn't right with the front 2+" taller than the rear.
We cut the bottom end of the spring by 3/4 of a coil and took about 2" off of the top coil so that it would fit into the saddle in the frame. The ride height has settled about 1/4" after driving for a few miles.
To get back to the origin of this thread, on the stock spring, cutting the coil yields about 2" per coil.
As to the effort for this job, it is a lot of work. Especially removing the old rubber bushings from the control arms. There is a video on the "Brothers Trucks" website that hints at what is involved in the bushing replacement. It just barely begins to show the scope of the job.

If I had it to do again, I would pay a suspension shop to do the bushings.

Still, am very happy with the results.

Ya'll have a great day.