Leveling 1500 RWD

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therammy

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I'm new to lowering vehicles and I got this truck which I would like to lower the rear. Currently the space between the tire and the body is 8 inches on the rear and 4 inches on the front, my goal is to have them both on 4. I've included a pic to make it easier to see. Will shackles alone achieve this or would I need to buy the leaf springs too?
 

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Eliwab22

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I'm new to lowering vehicles and I got this truck which I would like to lower the rear. Currently the space between the tire and the body is 8 inches on the rear and 4 inches on the front, my goal is to have them both on 4. I've included a pic to make it easier to see. Will shackles alone achieve this or would I need to buy the leaf springs too?



I recently lowered my truck (1998 1500 RWD) I used shackles in the back and springs in the front. You will need to get shocks for the rear, since that's what you plan on lowering.


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therammy

therammy

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I recently lowered my truck (1998 1500 RWD) I used shackles in the back and springs in the front. You will need to get shocks for the rear, since that's what you plan on lowering.


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Which shocks did you use?
 

Eliwab22

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Which shocks did you use?



Nitro drop 2. If you email the guys at Andys Auto Sports the can tell you the exact model number. They were very helpful with me!


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DodgeTx

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I had a drop of 3 in in front and 4 in in the back, I had to swap back to just a drop in rear due to my grandparents mostly using the truck now. Here are some pics of just shackles.

image2 copy.jpg

image3.jpg

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DodgeTx

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Here are some more pics of when it was fully 3/4 drop.


If you want the nitro drop 2 shocks I have them brand new in box (never installed) and the shackles used for about 10k miles pm me.
 

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DodgeDrew71

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I'm new to lowering vehicles and I got this truck which I would like to lower the rear. Currently the space between the tire and the body is 8 inches on the rear and 4 inches on the front, my goal is to have them both on 4. I've included a pic to make it easier to see. Will shackles alone achieve this or would I need to buy the leaf springs too?


As others have mentioned you'll need some new shocks. (If I was you I'd get with DodgeTx about those he has.)
To get 4" drop in back I did 2" lowering shackles and new leaf hangers as well. You can reverse the hangers instead of buying lowering ones.
So shackles (rear of spring) equal 2" and then the hangers (front of spring) equal another 2"
 
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therammy

therammy

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Ok so I just installed the lowering shackles for now and I can't see much of a difference. It did drop an inch, but they were 2" lowering shackles, is this normal? And yes, I did use the highest hole.

Here's a before10tS842.jpg

and here's an after
ANJw9tl.jpg
 

DodgeTx

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I believe that is correct, all brands are different, and may achieve very minor height differences. Did you measure before and after?
 

goodtodoo

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Ya that about it with the rear shakle only. When I did the Bellteck 2x4 drop on my sb 2wd, I installed only the shakle with the 2" drop spindles up front and the rear only dropped an inch or so. So then I put the spring hangers on, and the rear came down another 3".
 

EvilSpirit

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I guess I get to play with my 1500's rear suspension earlier than I had hoped - I had planned on changing shackles and shocks when I pull the box to paint this summer. Loud bang while driving - left rear shackle had rusted through and broke. Ordered a pair of drop shackles through e-bay for $33 with free shipping. Truck is a 1996 Michigan truck, with a trailer hitch, sooooooo, this should be fun. At least I have a heated garage with a hoist, compressor, air tools, torches, sawz-all, etc. I probably should get a tetanus shot before I even start! Wish me luck.
 

badduster73

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I did a 3”/6” 3” drop coils and flip kit for a while the first pic then I went step notch and chopped coils and two piece driveshaft and at 5/12 now lol. I would do a flip kit with a notch flip kit would give u like 6-7 and then you can purchase drop block tos go lower and just get some 2” drop coils and drop spindles that are 2” and give u a 4/8 467a04a875023a6afc14839a91beb10b.jpg11f0f0584012295a4ce7d860384abde0.jpg


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badduster73

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EvilSpirit

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Well, I got ambitious (?) and tore into my truck yesterday - a broken rear shackle I posted about earlier. The truck - a 96 Ram 1500 2x4 - was owned by a high school auto shop teacher friend and had been used as a teaching mule a couple years ago, where the students had various systems apart, serviced, and re-assembled. At that time the box had been replaced with a clean 01 southern truck box, and had fresh hardware installed with never-seize at that time. I gladly accepted his offer to pull the box to make better access to the rear suspension, and to anybody that has this option, this is defiantly the way to go. It only took about 20 minutes to remove the 6 bed bolts, 3 fuel filler box screws, couple wiring plugs, ground strap, and have 8 "minions" lift the box and set it on end for a wash down. Gotta love having access to young backs! With the truck back home, I did the whole job from the comfort of my roller chair. Top (spring eye) bolts surprisingly came right out. Bottoms through frame hanger - ummmm, not so much. Had to sawz-all through the outside end of bolt/sleeve inside of hanger, then used the saw to cut the uprights off hanger to gain better access to the inside of the bolt/sleeve, where a 5" cut-off wheel on an air grinder seemed to work better. I had about an hour in each side, including using old top and new bottom bolts to install 2" drop shackles and fresh shocks (which the old ones had also been pulled, bolts cleaned, and never-seized earlier!). To avoid pulling the trailer hitch I did "cheat" and install the lower bolts from the outside. Spent a couple hours today doing a quickie prep on the top and sides of the frame and cross members and spraying some rattle can rust stop enamel on them. Tomorrow a trip back to the school to toss the box back on. All-in-all the job went better than expected, and was made tremendously easier by pulling the box - especially since overhead work doesn't play nice with my 60 year old shoulders. And as a bonus - since I wasn't working overhead, I didn't get the grit/rust shower or anything in my eyes. Even with wearing safety glasses, it always feel like I have kitty litter in my eyes the next day after overhead work.

And a cost FYI - a pair of standard length Dorman replacement shackles with OEM style bushings and new bolts would have been about $35-40 shipped from Rock Auto. Exact same kits locally would have been almost $70 locally! I ended up buying a pair of Crown Mfg. shackles off Ebay - 2" drop, OEM style bushings, and powder-coated for $33 with free shipping - I had about $40 total in them after buying 2 new lower bolts.

I had also scored a set of Monroe OEM style replacement shocks from a close-out wholesaler for about $80 with free shipping. I'm going to see how the stock length shocks work out with the drop shackles - I only changed the shackles, and I did not install or move the spring hangers. So I'm hoping the stock length shocks will be OK - I don't really use the truck for heavy loads or car trailer duty anymore.
 
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