Belltech 4/6 installed

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Old77

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So you can turn the spindle out of the way then pull the spring out to the front.

I'm assuming he'll also need to unbolt the sway bar if he has one, yes?
 

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No sway bars here...

Next on my list once I get the ride height dialed.
 

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I gotcha. I have one on mine. I need to remove my springs and trim a little more off as well so just making sure that all checkboxes were checked :)
 

mktsc

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So my axle keeps rotating in the bracket and jacking up my pinion angle. The brackets are installed correctly, and the holes align with the pins in the leaf spring, but there's still quite a large range of motion. I'm actually going to fabricate a spacer to take up the open area between the Belltech bracket and the stock leaf perch on the axle so it physically cannot rotate.

What do you guys torque your u-bolts to?
 

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So my axle keeps rotating in the bracket and jacking up my pinion angle. The brackets are installed correctly, and the holes align with the pins in the leaf spring, but there's still quite a large range of motion. I'm actually going to fabricate a spacer to take up the open area between the Belltech bracket and the stock leaf perch on the axle so it physically cannot rotate.

What do you guys torque your u-bolts to?

Belltech is a high quality lowering part. Can you post a pic of the bracket and gap?

I would be on the phone with Belltech if its installed correctly. No amount of torque on the ubolts is going to stop an unsuported axle tube from spinning in the u-bolts.
 

mktsc

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Good advice. Belltech is requesting photos, measurements, and a copy of my invoice. The only thing they could think of is that the brackets are out of spec.
 

mktsc

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Got back under the truck after work again today to get pictures and measurements for Belltech. They said they've never seen this issue and that the brackets measure the correct dimension. They asked if the axle was stock (it is), but other than that we're kind of at an impasse. They asked all the obvious questions relating to if it was installed correctly, and were satisfied with my answers.

I machined some spacers at work today to take up the slack, and at least fix the issue in the interim. I may pull the brackets back off, cut off the ears, and weld ones that are the correct length.

Ever heard of such a thing? I know there are a couple of funky one-year things with the '87s, leading to them being designated R10 instead of C10. I wonder if axle was one of them...

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J Knight

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Did they have you measure the lowest point in the radius gusset? It looks like it doesn't allow the axle tube to go deep enough into the bracket. I wonder if they weren't cut deep enough.

This is a very odd problem because all c10 axle tubes are 3in diameter.

All the flip brackets I have used had no gussets.
 

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mktsc

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You might be right. I love the gussetted design of the Belltech bracket, but if it doesn't work, then it ain't much good.

Your kit looks like DJM from the silver crinkle coat paint job, am I right? I didn't get shock relo brackets with my kit, but I did get Belltech's lowering shocks. Think I need them?
 

J Knight

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You might be right. I love the gussetted design of the Belltech bracket, but if it doesn't work, then it ain't much good.

Your kit looks like DJM from the silver crinkle coat paint job, am I right? I didn't get shock relo brackets with my kit, but I did get Belltech's lowering shocks. Think I need them?

When doing a flip you can only run stock shocks with shock extenders or drop shocks. Yes the flip kit in the pic is DJM.
 

smoothandlow84

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Lookin good. Subscribed.

As far as what jknight stated earlier, if you want to go lower in the front drop coils would benefit your situation as far as alignment issues. If you do decide to go lower (I have a 5/7 drop, coils, spindles, flip jit, drop hangers and leaf mods), you may have to also notch the rearbed frame rails for some "massaged" clearance as I call it. The p.o. of my square had the oem rallys and had notched the lower a arms for clearance. After I acquired the truck, 20x8 and 20x10 were installed.
 
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mktsc

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Thanks for the response, your truck looks great BTW. I had to clearance my lower a-arms for the wheels too.

My Belltech kit came with a 1" lowering spring in addition to the 3" spindle, but my stock coils were both broken apparently so other than the spindle, there's not much spring drop.

Thinking about a 2" drop coil, or just cutting my existing coil until I get the front drop I want. It's already settled a little bit, but I think I want another inch off for the correct look and rake.

-MK
 

Old77

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If it was me, I'd just cut a little bit of the coil off. If you're just wanting another inch lower just cut about half a coil off.
 

mktsc

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Definitely going to start there. If for some reason it ends up riding like ****, I'll pay the $155 for Belltech's 2" lowering spring...
 

Old77

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Definitely going to start there. If for some reason it ends up riding like ****, I'll pay the $155 for Belltech's 2" lowering spring...

Exactly. I don't think you'll notice a difference in ride quality from where you're at right now, though. Cutting a half coil off should make 0 difference in that area. Start cutting 2 or 3 full coils off then that's a different story :)
 

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