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Chevrolet Suspension Upgrade - Stand And Deliver, Part IIDropping A Chevy For Style And Performance From the March, 2012 issue of Custom Classic Trucks By Ryan Manson
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When we departed last month, we had the nose of our project C10 down nice and low, but the rear had yet to be sorted. Well, wait no longer as we’re gonna wrap this sucker up, all things stance-related that is! Though we originally intended to simply lower the back end of our truck, like the front, it quickly became a slippery slope. The trailing arms needed to be rebuilt and one ended up being slightly twisted so it was decided to step up and install CPP’s Totally Tubular rear suspension kit. And why not since the front received the same attention?! At the heart of the kit are CPP’s tubular trailing arms, manufactured with a laser-cut-and-formed spring platform fabricated to CNC-bent, 2-inch DOM heavy-walled tubing and utilize a patended non-squeak, self-lubricating bushing that never needs to be greased. Coupled with a pair of 5-inch dropped coil springs and Nitrogen gas shocks, that low of a stance requires the framerails to be C-notched to facilitate full travel of the rearend. Luckily, a C-notch kit is included. We opted to go with the 3⁄8-inch heavy duty version, which CPP recommends for anyone who might end up towing with their truck (hey, you never know right?!). A little slicing and dicing to the stock ’rails and you’re back in the saddle with full travel. Rounding out the kit is their Deluxe Trac Bar, which is designed specifically for lowered vehicles, allowing them to maintain proper alignment of the rearend while taking advantage of the lower center of gravity. That translates into an increase in cornering ability and an overall handling improvement over stock. They say a picture’s worth a thousand words, so in this case, I figure the next forty photos are worth at least forty thousand words. At least I hope they tell the story of what it took to get our C10 nice and low and get you thinking twice the next time you write off that $2,000 longbed truck! CCT  The Totally Tubular kit comes...  The Totally Tubular kit comes with everything a guy needs to get his truck way down low and handle like he always wished it would. Everything bolts on, no welding required; meaning this stuff can be installed in your driveway with minimal tools.  The first step in getting...  The first step in getting the back end in the weeds is to remove the stock components, including the rearend, springs, trailing arms, shocks, and track bar.  Here’s what you’re left with...  Here’s what you’re left with once those components are removed.  The stock crossmember will...  The stock crossmember will need to be removed so it can be replaced with a new CPP drop center unit before moving forward.  There are fourteen rivets...  There are fourteen rivets that hold the stock unit in place and there’s no easy way to get them out.  One of the quickest however...  One of the quickest however is to use a plasma cutter (we’re using a Lincoln Tomahawk 375) to cut the heads off each rivet. Be mindful of any brake, and fuel lines as well as any wiring!  A pneumatic chisel is used...  A pneumatic chisel is used to then drive each rivet out.  There are a few reasons for...  There are a few reasons for swapping the stock crossmember with CPP’s drop center piece. One is that CPP moves the front pivot point of the trailing arms up four inches to correct the driveshaft’s pinion angle. This is necessary because of the 5-inch drop. If the rearend was to move five inches up without changing this pickup point, the pinion of the rearend would be pointing towards the ground at way too drastic of an angle for the driveshaft not to bind. CPP has also made allowances for a 3-inch exhaust tube to run through the crossmember, further increasing ground clearance over the stock crossmember which forced the exhaust to run underneath the truck. Crescent cutouts on either side also allow for clearance of fuel, brake, air, and electrical lines to run inside the framerail. Though our truck is a long bed, the drop center crossmember is designed to work with both one- and two-piece driveshaft pickups.  The good news is the new crossmember...  The good news is the new crossmember uses the stock rivet holes to attach to the framerails, so no drilling should be required.  While we’ve still got the...  While we’ve still got the plasma out, we might as well cut the C-notches out and get those installed. If you don’t have a plasma cutter, a cut-off wheel on a die grinder works too, just be mindful of those brake and fuel lines again! There is a plate attached to the bottom of the framerail that supported the top of the coil spring that needs to be trimmed flush with the edge of the frame before we can move forward.  Next, using the C-notch kit...  Next, using the C-notch kit as a template, the area to be trimmed can be marked on the framerail. There is a factory hole on the framerail that is used for reference to line up the C-notch.  Here you can see the area...  Here you can see the area that will be trimmed away. The elongated hole on the left is the one used for alignment purposes.  We cut the offending section...  We cut the offending section out again using the trusty Lincoln Tomahawk 375 plasma cutter. Shown is the driver’s side (we did that one second and it turned out much nicer!).  With the section cut away,...  With the section cut away, it is necessary to remove a few rivets on the bottom of the framerail as these will be used as attachment points. With the C-notch kit in place, the remaining holes are drilled to accept the provided 7⁄16-inch hardware.  Once all the mounting holes...  Once all the mounting holes were drilled, we hit the framerails and C-notch kits with Summit Engine GM Black spray paint. This stuff goes on great and leaves an even, satin finish.  Here’s the driver’s side C-notch...  Here’s the driver’s side C-notch bolted up and ready to rock. Note the 3 inches gained over the bottom of the stock framerail. Beefy is an understated description for these heavy duty C-notches!  This is the elongated hole...  This is the elongated hole that we referred to earlier. Note the relation between it and the front edge of the C-notch.  Next up is to install the...  Next up is to install the 5-inch-dropped coil springs. The number on the side of the spring, 603-5, denotes the application followed by the amount of drop. Note the low-profile bump stops on the axle kick up and the use of the upper coil spring retainer under the fastener on the spring.  Before the trailing arms can...  Before the trailing arms can be mated to the coil springs, another set of retainers need to be installed and properly clocked in the spring. The retainers feature welded nuts like the factory to ease installation.  Now it’s time to loosely attach...  Now it’s time to loosely attach the front of each trailing arm to the crossmember, followed by each spring retaining fastener.  An ant’s eye view shows the...  An ant’s eye view shows the trailing arms, drop center crossmember, C-notch kit, and dropped springs ready to accept the newly rebuilt Currie-prepped 12-bolt rearend.  Before the rearend is installed...  Before the rearend is installed however, we need to address the stock shock mounts, necessitated by the lowered nature of the rearend. Here, you can see the two holes where the stock mounts were originally riveted in place.  Once the stock mounts are...  Once the stock mounts are removed, the new relocation mounts bolt in their place.  You can see the difference...  You can see the difference in the upper shock location here. The new mounts correct the shock angle on lowered trucks and allow for proper shock travel and geometry.  The original track bar mounted...  The original track bar mounted off of an ear on top of the rearend. CPP’s design mounts off the right hand side trailing arm and attaches to the original location on the chassis.  The longer nature of CPP’s...  The longer nature of CPP’s Deluxe Trac Bar kit is designed for lowered trucks in mind yielding improved handling and takes advantage of the truck’s lower center of gravity.  Their Nitrogen gas shocks...  Their Nitrogen gas shocks are also specifically designed for lowered trucks and mount off the back of each trailing arm.  With the suspension components...  With the suspension components installed, it’s time to mate the rearend to the transmission. In our case, we’ll be using a two-piece, slip-shaft driveline from Inland Empire Driveline Service (IEDS) due to the longer wheelbase of our long bed pickup.  IEDS shortened the front half...  IEDS shortened the front half of the driveshaft 3 inches to fit between the tailshaft of the T5 transmission we’re using and the CPP billet Polyurethane carrier bearing, which mounts directly to their drop center crossmember. Compared to the stock carrier bearing in these trucks, the CPP unit is bulletproof!  The last step before lowering...  The last step before lowering the truck off the lift is to fill the rearend with Currie’s specially-formulated 9 Racing Gear Oil combined with their Limited Slip Friction Modifier.  One thing we noticed once...  One thing we noticed once the truck was on the ground was the fact that the 17-inch Rocket Racing Booster wheels and 235/55 Coker Tires American Classic Redline tires were sucked into the fenderwell a bit too much.  The solution was to install...  The solution was to install a pair of Trans Dapt 1 1/4-inch billet wheel spacers …  … which brought the wheels...  … which brought the wheels out to a respectable location in relation to the fenderwell’s edge.  With the spacer painted black,...  With the spacer painted black, you’d never know it was there!  And there you have it! Albeit...  And there you have it! Albeit I've done a few other modifications to the truck that haven't shown up on these pages yet, but i just couldn't wait to the finished product down on the ground, from all angles. Not a bad daily driver if i do say so myself!
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The Thinker??? - Haul Monitor
Ryan talks about the friendly badgering that goes on around the shop and overcoming obstacles that seemly pop up out of nowhere during a project....
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