How does a drop spindle work?

Oh, dont get me wrong, lol. I like how it looks lowered to, but that is'nt my intention for this truck.

I need to get her lifted back up, cause I need clearance when offroad. I was out Monday on some hunting land and she bottomed out on the bumper alot. And the the dirt road was actually what would be called excellent condition considering its offroad.

I've been real sketchy with the truck considering I don't know how one of these trucks are supposed to ride like. I was going down the dirt road on the way to the hunting land and it had washboard type areas. I was going on them at speed limit which was around 50 I think, and the truck feels real funny. It likes to dogtrack on me and it feels like it just floats out from under you...

Even on a DOT road, if I go over intersections with multiple bumps or washboard deal, by the time I get back onto smooth road it will grab and it feels like you are going sideways...

It also feels like a very soft supsension. When I hit some good bumps or dips, the front tires WILL hit the wheel well and rub. I'm not sure if its the spring rate or my shocks. When parked it does'nt do the whole bouncy thing, so I think the shocks are okay. They say gas-a-just so does that mean I can adjust the shocks stiffness?

Totally normal.

Check out the september issue of minitruckin. they have a how to article to make a drop spindle out of a stock spindle on a ranger.

Put a stock one and a drop spindle side by side and you will see they look the same,but the drop spindle's spindle is located higher up. It basically works the same way as a drop block. You raise your axle to make it closer to the frame,giving you the drop.

^It appears to ME that the spindle is in the middle? I dunno.. Look like a drop spindle to you guys?





^This is my leaf pack, stock is actually a 4 leaf pack. So that means I'm missing a leaf. I'd like to add an overload, but these trucks never had overload leafs. Anyone know if an auto store will carry leaf studs? The stud on there already is too short to add a leaf to get back to stock! Blah!

^This is the stock shackle compared to the aftermarket shackle. I might end up just adjusting the aftermarket shackle...

Other then that, if the spindle is'nt the drop spindle, hopefully it is the coil spring then cause, I'm out of ideas. Those are the only two ways to lower the front, right?

It looks like to me that it has stock spindles and the drop shackles on the rear. The front looks like it has drop coils mostly because they look like they have silver paint on them ala' BellTech or (ack!) AIM, but the red bumpstops make me lean more toward the Belltechs. Raising the rear is simply a matter of lowering the positition of the bolt in the drop shackle or replacing those with the stock ones. The front will require a stock pair of springs.

I'd say the reason the truck feels like it "walks" because of the crown of the road is due to the wider tires. I've had 4 of these trucks and every one of them have had wide tires on them and they all have a tendency to squirm if you are on a road with a severe crown.

Your local GM dealer SHOULD be able to get you a longer bolt for your spring pack. On my '91 that I had dropped 5/7 I had to get longer bolts for the rear spring pack because I also installed a set of helper bags and the stock bolt was too short for that application.

There is a company that makes a helper spring for the rear that bolts on to the back half of the leaf. I can't recall the name of the company right off the top of my head, but you might google helper leaf spring and see what comes up. Hope this helps!

aftermarket front bumpstops, probably just spring lowered

Here you go for the rear:

Yea, I've been posting on the Chevy site, and a guy told me he said the front shackles are stock.

I've already picked up stock coils for the front. Did it yesterday, lol.

It could be because of the wide tires and road crown, not sure. But I also found out that trucks are made for haulin' and I guess its setup to react on the road when it has a load in the bed. Hence why I "float".

The dogtrackin' part has me stumped though. I can only think of it being because of the fact that its missing a leaf. Which IMO, altered my spring rate and is causing me to have rear steer.

I guess tomorrow I'll go to the chevy dealer and see about getting some studs for the leaf pack. Maybe even see if I can get a leaf from them too.. Probably not.

That helper spring is'nt going to raise the truck though, right? I want to add the overload to also lift it as well besides helping hold more load...

But thanks! I really appreciate you chming in!

Another question is, how can I raise the sucker? The drop springs by themselves seems like it would'nt drop it that much. I dunno, lol. We'll see when I put the stock ones in!

I'm thinking about just getting another leaf to go back to stock and then add an overload leaf and a 3" block. I just need to figure out how I can raise the front, lol.

Those helpers will not raise the truck. The way I understnd it is they maintain stock ride height unloaded, but when you add weight it does the same...maintains ride height and adds carrying capacity.

Being an extended cab it won't hop around in the rear as badly as a standard cab, but I know even my B rides better with somweight in the back of it.

You ask about raising the truck. It goes against my better judgement (RAISING a truck LOL ) but Fabtech makes a 4" lift for 2WD trucks that uses a lift spindle and blocks in the rear. Not sure of any kind of pricing or if there is a less expensive alternative. On their website ( LOL!

It goes against my normality as well, haha. But I can't drag in the woods unless I don't mind getting stuck...

I wonder if I can just get long coil springs instead? Probably would'nt work though, huh?

Well nonetheless, thanks again man!