How do i go about lowing a 62 chevy puck up 1/2 ton it has torsion bar front end and coil rear end, i know i can either replace or (half ass i know) cut or heat the back springs but what about the front, other than drop spindels is there a way of loweing the vehicle without compleatly ruining the truck>?
weve asked a few different people how to do this to our 66 with the same set up. the only way that the people told us was the dropped axels in the front. heating the coils in the back works fine though.
you can release some of the tension on the torsion bars in the front to bring it down. for the back some blocks will do the trick.
60-62 is torsion bar like Mopar...no coils like the 63 up like yours has. There should be adjusters on the bars just like mopars, but I doubt you can go that low and still be able to set the caster/camber correctly....just like Mopars can't
I know on some torsion bar front ends you can take the assembly apart and re-clock the bars....that will get you lower possibly but not without screwing up camber most likley.
Jeep Wrangler TJ rear coils in the rear of your pickup will give you about 4" or so depending on how worn out your factory springs are. I got away with the Jeep springs and some 3" blocks in the back and got about 6" to 6 1/2" total and still have a good ride quality. There's about 1" of travel from the top of the U bolts to the well trimmed bumpstops in the back. My front end is different than yours (no torsion bars), I just cut two coils to get it pretty even with a slight front end rake. You can crank those torsion bars down to get 3" or 3" in the front. Or you can swap out later stuff to make it much easier to lower and gain 5 lugs and disc brakes. Check out the forums on 67-72chevytrucks.com. There is everything you ever wanted to know about lowering available over there, from bags to static drops front suspension swaps and everything in between.
I should've added that the best places to get the Jeep springs are 4x4 shops. They usually have some factory sets laying around from lifting Jeeps. I got some for $25 from a local offroad shop.
Two ways. Simply unscrew the adjuster bolt until the front sits to your liking, but don't let it come all the way out!!!! You will get about 4"-5" of drop at which time you will be on the bump stop. Second, and the better, safer way to do it, is indeed to re-clock the bars. Get the front in the air and take the adjuster OUT, unbolt the crossmember and slide it back enough to get the adjusters off the bars. Turn them back 1 spline and put it all back together. Then you basically lift the front to your liking. But now the adjuster bolts won't dangle, waiting to catch on everything and scrape everywhere til they eventually break. I had it happen at 70 mph and it sucks!!! But that's the jist, so get to it!!!
AH HA the system works lol well hell that sounds just like a VW front end lol i didnt know it was that easy
Yes you can!!! I heated the piss outta the springs in my '62 and had a 4" block. Pinion angle needs to be addressed though! This truck ('62) sat 2" off the ground behind the front tire and 5" off in front of the back tire. LOW! Then I put it on air and screwed it to the pavement!!! Now it sits in pieces waiting to be rebuilt while I drive the wheels off the '63 in my avatar. This is the only pic I have of it before the air ride... I also channeled it 3".
Whatever you do, don't heat the coil springs to lower the back. They get all screwed up and weird. Replace them with shorter coils. Don't forget you might need shorter shocks if you lower it much. Good luck. Rick
ok so i have a question, now i jack up the truck, loosen out the adjusters, lower the truck down below stock and tighten? i have a vw but i never adjusted it i just slamed it do the ground LOL shitty supsntion no fenders BIG ASS WHEELS and the front end was past the front of the car cool but gone lol truck now.
chadilac im at work when im on the ham so a camera is hard to do lol but ill see what i can do. 62 chevy c15 1/2 ton long bed step side two tone black and colonial red rat rod
btw does lowering like this affect steering ability, i have a smaller steering wheel so its already hard, lol just a thought
Heres the 60 I just sold. Put frontend up and wheels dangling. Back torsion bar bolts out til you feel no bolt sticking through the top block, just flat. That drops 4-ish inches... And as Terd said, Jeep TJ rear springs drop back 4-5" and just bolt-in. Can be found all over CL for 20-40 bucks.
No need to tighen anything... Once truck hits the ground, its all tight again. Once its up in air with wheels dangling, feel up on top of top block(where bolt goes up through). You will find 2-3+ inches of thread sticking up. Uncrank bolts til thread is even with top of block. No more or you risk it pulling through. Once thats done, simply drop truck back to ground and look at it. Drive it around a few miles then check it on flat surface. If one side sits lower, adjust other side to even it out. Ive done 2 of these. Easy as can be. And I found both sets of TJ rear coils at 4x4 swapmeets. Cheap and easy out back.
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