OK, here goes.......
Cutting coils is not necessarily bad, but, the spring functions as
a whole, all of the coils contributing to yield a spring rate and
acceptable stress levels. Removing a coil from the stack, will
raise the spring rate and increase stress levels in the material.
Many times, cut stockers will be over stressed and will eventually
take a set and begin to sag. Keep an eye on the ride height over
time to make sure you're not sagging. Also, overstressed springs
will lose rate and the vehicle will begin to feel soft. Nothing beats
a well engineered lowered spring. I design all my springs with
sufficient coils to give me a stress level of at least equal to
what the stock coils have. A typical pair of high quality aftermarket
springs will cost approximately $125/pair.
I'm not a big fan of lowering blocks. The die-cast aluminum cheapies
found ar Pep-Boys tend to crack under heavier duty driving conditions.
I saw a pair installed on a new Durango that lasted 3 miles. If they are
made of better materials, they will last. As a last note, blocks reduce the
amount of lateral stiffness in the rear suspension. This gives a feeling
that the tail is wagging on a corner, even though the tires may not break
traction. This is due to the fact that the springs (which provide lateral
stiffness) are located farther away from the point where the load is
applied (i.e. the axle). This imparts a higher moment (torque) into the
u-bolt/block stackup. A simple static force equation for torque is
T = F * d.
Where
T = Torque, F = Force, d = distance
Thus, if you increase the distance, you increase the torque.
Trying to lower the truck by only lengthening the rear shackle
will add understeer to the overall handling. What you essentially are
doing is mounting the spring at more of an angle in the vehicle.
Try to imagine the truck in a heavy corner. If the spring was
mounted horizontally, the wheels would travel straight up-and-down.
by raising the rear eye of the spring, the outside tire will travel upward
and point inward, and the inside tire does the opposite. This acually
steers the rear end towards the inside of the corner, pushing the front
outwards, giving understeer. This can be a way to fine tune the handling,
but the factory already designs in plenty of understeer. The best way to
lower the rear is with either a re-designed leaf, or a front and rear spring
hanger that relocates the stock spring without changing the mounting
angle. Sometimes, due to the limited travel of a lowered leaf spring, you
want to increase the spring rate to better control the compression so
the truck doesn't bottom out as easily.
Gary Pinkley
97 Reg Cab V-6 5 spd
lowered monochrome red
255/50-17 BFG Comp T/A ZR4
Budnik 17x8 wheels
-----Original Message-----
From: Vincent Heckathorn <victorylane@iwaynet.net>
To: dakota-truck@buffnet.net <dakota-truck@buffnet.net>
Date: Monday, November 09, 1998 1:45 PM
Subject: DML: Re:
>I have lowered my 98 sport 5.2 by cutting 1 coil out of each front spring
>and used 2" blocks on the back. I am going to get the spring mounts that
>lower the back next spring and get rid of the blocks. Some DMLers will say
>that cutting the springs is the wrong way to lower the front but if you do
>it correctly there is no adverse effects from doing this. You need to use a
>cut off tool to cut the springs ( not a torch ) by cutting 1 coil out it
>will lower the front about 1.75". this gives me about 2.5 " from the top of
>the tire to the wheel well, looks great ( not to low ). The back would look
>better if I had lowered it 3" instead of 2" but the spring mounts will get
>it there. The truck handles fantastically with out any bump steer even on
>the most bumpy roads.
>This is about as cheap as you can get it. and you do not have to remove the
>spring from the truck to cut it. All you need to do is compress it with a
>good spring compressor rotate the spring to the desired position to cut
>and cut 1 coil out of the bottom of the spring. Rotate the spring back to
>its original position release the compressor and your done. I only cut 1/2
>of each coil to start with so I wouldn't go to far and have the thing on
>the ground, but 1/2 a coil made very little change.
>Hope this helps
>And I am prepared for all of the negative posts on this one!!!!!!!!!
>
>Colin H.
>
>Scott Morris wrote:
>
>> I have a regular cab 4x2 dakota. what would be a good safe cheap way to
>> lower the front.
>>
>> Scott
>> 97 V-6 d-kote
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