Hey all, I installed some Jamco Suspension 3" dropped coils in my '52 Chevy awhile back and have been pretty happy with the results. Fairly easy install, decent ride, and a slightly lower stance. I was hoping for a little more "drop", but then again, aren't we all(Gassers excluded for obvious reasons). Which brings me to my question: Has anybody taken just "a little" off of an existing custom-made dropped coil??? I have a little bit of room left before I hit Bump Stop City, but I guess the thing that worries me a bit is the Jamco springs are already REALLY short I can't afford dropped spindles right now, so let's just leave that out of the equation. I just wanna a teensy-tiny bit more.... maybe an inch or so. Thoughts, stories, warnings... anything? Thanks everyone!
Sounds like you want to cut the spring but you're also thinking ahead about unknown problems that might come out of it. One solution is to drop the plate that the bottom of the spring sits on. This does the same thing as cutting your coils. You drop it by putting in spacers between the arms of the A-arm and the plate. Holding it together with bolts instead of the original rivets. The actual details have been covered often in previous posts. You can fine tune the drop by making different thickness plates/spacers. For a 1" drop, try a 1/2" spacer. If you don't like it, then just remove all the spacers and you are back to where you started.
I cut my dropped springs in my 57 chevy. No problems for me. I cut my bump stops in half, but had done that already when I cut the original springs a while ago. I think they were 3" drop springs and I cut 1 coil out of them.
yep...bought a set of 3" dropped springs and sure enough, they dropped the car 3" which was nothing... I ended up cutting 2 coils from them and run about 3/4" from the bump stop. Of course different dropped springs are going to have different ratings so start small, cut a half coil, re-fit if it's not low enough take them out, cut another 1/2 coil and so on and so on... here's my '52
Call me crazy, but I think that kind of spacer/block thing only works on FoMoCo A-arms. I had a '53 Ford Customline and used the kit from Night Prowlers, which was cool, but I don't think Chevy A-arms are riveted together like that.
I think you're mostly right here Newstranger. The 53-54 Chevs have a plate like the Ford you mentioned, but the 52 Chevs are different and can not be easily done that way. BUT...if you have actual 3" dropped coils, I know for a fact you can cut one coil and get away with it. I sure wouldn't go much more than that. You will have to trim or swap the bumpstops. Also, you should check the specs on your aftermarket springs and decide if it is better to cut from the the bottom or the top of the spring. You know - Load coils vs. comfort coils. I have done both in the past. Hope that helps a bit. silas
Have 2 inch drops springs on my 57, with one coil cut off. No issues. Once I throw some 2 inch drop spindles on it, I may cut another half coil if I'm not where I want to be.
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