Thread: Lowering a Chevy Truck

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I lowered my son's 84 Chevy with spindles and hanger/shackles. I think the spindles we used were 2.5 inches and the hanger and shackles were 4 inches.

We did not need to C-notch the frame in the rear and stock length shocks worked OK.

There were a few modifications required.

The first was on the front brake lines. The steel portion where the line attaches to the caliper had to be bent for clearance with the spindle. This is pretty heavy tubing and took a little work to bend and not kink. Go slow and work the bend a little at a time.

Also, the front spring hangers are riveted to the frame. These are tough to get out. You really need to drop the gas tank to get to the rivets.

The longer rear shackles will usually interfere with one of the bed cross-members and it will need to be notched for clearance. If you were just going to do shackles, you could probably do it without pulling the bed. If you're going for the front hangers I would pull the bed.

Keep in mind that messing with the rear springs could change the pinion angle on the rear end and you would need to check that also. The angle on my son's truck didn't change.

Here's a picture of my son's truck.

Mike