Lowered 63-66 C20 Chevy?

Anyone here lowered a C20? Everyone's always doing C10's. With the recent air suspension technologies, it seems one could lower a C20 and still be able to haul a load.
I'd like to do this on a budget with my '65 so I was thinking about doing new 3" drop C10 springs on the front and a bolt in airbag kit for the rear. This way I'll be lower but still can haul plenty.
Anyone have thoughts? How's the ride with new dropped coils? If it's worse than stock I'll probably figure something else out as this is my daily driver and already a bit rougher than my Pontiac with 4" cut coils. Should I not bother spending the money on new coils and just cut the old ones? Should I not bother with coils at all and fork out the extra dough to bag the front?
-David

 

I did my 66 3/4 ton with springs, lower control arms, and blocks in the back. Went down 5 in front and 5.5 in the rear. 4" springs, 1.5 inch blocks in the back and 3" springs and 2" control arms in the front. Springs I got from Brothers with an adjustable rear track bar. they let me pick what drop springs I wanted all the way around. Forgot where I got the blocks from. Got the control arms from a shop in Oregon where they take yours and cut the ball joint mount off and reweld it back on in a jig two inches higher, strong looking peice, nicely gusseted. Only put maybe 2000 miles on her before she had to go. Rode good, not that harsh at all.

Damn, I miss that truck. My grandfather bought it new in 66 and gave it to me for Xmas in 94. But with 4(yes four) kids, its impractical to have and we were moving so I had to let it go.

Good luck with the truck, You still want a 292?

 

another solution would be to buy a mid 80s big body car such as a monte carlo and swap the frame over. you will get the lowered stance you are looking for and a great ride with the full traveling suspension. you could probably pick up a whole monte for under 1500.00 just about anywhere. the only problem you could run into would be with the hauling issue, but for a daily driver the ride would be uncomparable to any aftermarket suspension you could contemplate.

 

Early Cl***ic Enterprises sells everything you need to lower a 3/4 ton of that vintage.

They even have drop spindles for them to keep the nice ride and still go low.

 

Yeah, I can get a 2.5" front drop for the paltry sum of $619 for drop spindles. I'd still have to buy all the disc brake stuff. Not gonna happen. C10 drop spindles are less than $300. Not fair.
As for the car frame, that's a pretty big bite to chew for a daily driver. More time and money than I'm willing to spend.

Derek, the ball joint thing intrigues me. I'm wondering if I might be able to do that myself rather than sending 'em somewhere. 2" springs with 2" raised balls may be good.
Blocks on the rear? Between the trailing arms and axle?
-David

 

Dude, those spindles cost 269 a pair at Early Cl***ic.

http://www.earlycl***ic.com/catalog.aspx?category=Drop Kits

 

Oh yeah, forgot about those, seen 'em before. That's certainly cheaper than Cl***ic Performance. I guess the difference is one's a conversion to C10 and the other keeps it a C20. Call me crazy but, I'm not interested in disc brakes or having a 6 lug front. I like my truck the way it is. I just want it lowered without spending a bundle and to still be able to carry a fair size bed full o junk.
It's not easy being a frugal, cheap-***!

 

I think the easiest way to update the front suspension on these trucks is to find a front crossmember out of a 80's full size truck and bolt it right in where the stock one resides. Then you get dics brakes and lowering springs and spindles are cheap for them. You will also need adapters for the tie rod ends but you can get them from CCP. Here are some shots of my brothers 63 he is in the process of putting together. It is probably alittle more drop then you are looking for, but you can see what it will look like.

 

I'm sure you could do the a-arms yourself, getting them perfect would be the only part that would scare me, but if you built a fixture to adjust the height of the ball joint hole, it could be done.

And yes, blocks between the trailing arms and axle. Be prepared to cut the u-joints off, I had to and then cut them at the trailing arms and pound them out with a drift and a big *** hammer, or a press would work.

Beware of what size tire you use. I had too small of a tire, 255-55-16 in the rear with a 350 trans and 4:56s in the rear. 70mph top speed with a stock 350, but it got there quick!

Good luck with the lowering job, hope it turns out right.

 

I did my C20 a couple of yrs back, used a front end out of an '80 Chevy truck that came with disc's......it bolted straight in & even the steering hooked up, just had to drill two hole's in the frame for the front bolts! fitted dropped spindle's & made some heavy spring pockets in the lower arms......gave me about 6" of drop & still had good travel, couldn't go any lower because of the inner wing clearance.
At the rear i used a 70's Chevy van rear end, cut all the old mounts off & used Chevy Duty's kit which included new mounts to weld on, a panhard rod & a C notch kit. I had some 3" lowering blocks made & used some H duty truck U bolts which i linked to the trailing arms, also removed the coil springs & fitted coil over shox.
I'll see if i have a picture.
Kev.

 

Here's a couple of pics.

 

Heeyyyyy, I like the lowered spring mount! That's a damn good idea! Cut out the old, weld in a piece of 3/16" pipe and add a floor for spring bottom. I could go 2-2.5" there and then do 2" lowered springs. Then bags on rear so I can still carry a load. What did you guys do for the front bumpstop mounts? Did the metal mount have to be chopped along with the stops? How 'bout the big steering stops right behind the bumpstops, were they in the way at all?
-David

 

I removed the bump stops & it never caused any trouble, the good thing doing it this way is you can keep a full length spring & it still rides smooth.
At first i had V8 springs & it was still a little high so i put 6 cyl springs in which are a bit shorter......thats when i removed the stops.
The steering stops were removed for clearance but i had a problem with the steering going over center while reversing on lock, at first i thought a joint had pulled out!! so some new ones were made to stop that.
One thing i forgot to mention was the master cylinder & servo, i used one from a Camaro which came complete with residual valve. Again this bolted right in & only needed two extra holes drilled in the firewall, a longer rod to the pedal was made & thats about it.

 

If you move the spring mount down 2", it will lower the truck more than 2" inches. The spring pocket is in the middle of the arm and the ball joint is on the end. If you move the spring mount the ball joint will move further.

Do your home work and it will come out good.

 

I did my 66 1/2 ton by bolting in all the front suspension from a 79 Chevy pickup - not the crossmember but all the components. The only machining I had to do was drill one hole for the idler arm. I also installed Bell tech spindles because I had done the contol arm pockets on my kid's S10 and didn't like the ride. I used a 71 pickup rear end with the (new)'66 brakes and the 71 drums to get 5 stud wheels out back too. Didn't even need to bleed the brakes on that deal, just hung the backing plates from coat hangers while I swapped housings.

 

Hmmm. I don't get that. I'll have to lay on the ground and stare at it a while. Maybe it'll be more clear. The good thing is it's only cutting and welding.
And probably a bunch of trial and error; which I'm really good at!
-David

 

Take a peice of wood,or metal, 1x1, and set it on the ground. Make sure one end doesn't move while moving the center of that wood 2". The other end will be about 4" from where it started. I would illustrate it, but my son erased the "paint" program from my computer.

 

OK, I getcha. Took my pea brain a minute to figure out the wood thing. Well hell, maybe I'll just take the spring mounts 2-2.5" lower to get around a 4" drop and not even worry about shelling out the dough for drop springs. Then later down the road when I'm rich, add the drop spindles for 8 lug.
-David

 

Be careful how far you go with the pockets.......don't forget your scrub line!
I went a little too much to be honest, take a look at the pic of my truck above.......& notice how far they come down.
Kev.

 

I'll just take my best guess and go from there. Much the way I do it when cutting coils.

Thanks.

-David

 

Check this one out. You could bag it like this and rebuild the bed.
Bag job done by Gabe at Insane Customs in SD.