Want more low!!

[Jc-80]

I have a 2012 ram express reg cab w/ the mcguaughy 2/4 drop. It just doesn't sit low enough. they have been on for almost a year and probably close to 10k miles so they are def settled. I've seen plenty of the same truck w/ same or similiar drop and everyones looks lower. Thinking about cutting the springs for more drop. should i cut the lowering springs or the factory springs and how much should i cut?? Any help would be greatly apperciated!!

 

[WhiteExpress]

I have a 2012 ram express reg cab w/ the mcguaughy 2/4 drop. It just doesn't sit low enough. they have been on for almost a year and probably close to 10k miles so they are def settled. I've seen plenty of the same truck w/ same or similiar drop and everyones looks lower. Thinking about cutting the springs for more drop. should i cut the lowering springs or the factory springs and how much should i cut?? Any help would be greatly apperciated!!

My thought is get Belltech springs for the front, and bag the rear!

 

[Jc-80]

Do the belltech sit that much lower?

 

[Chewy]

I am not a "cut the springs" kind of guy. It jacks up the design of the coil. IMO your best bet is to find a good progressive lowering spring.

Chris

 

[Jc-80]

the only kits i can find are 2/4 drops

 

[SmokedRam]

That's all thats available for the Gen4 trucks right now. If you want to go lower than 2/4 you'll have to cut coils.

 

[Jc-80]

cut my lowering coils or factory? and how much?

 

[GreyJ]

I'd personally wait till more kits come out before I'd cut my coils. If you're going to do something, do it right.

 

[SmokedRam]

Here is a quote from another thread...

All the drop kits available off the shelf right now are 2/4 kits. You can get these from McGaughys or Belltech. I prefer McGaughys myself because they come with a rear tracbar bracket to help center the wheels, and the Belltech does not. To get more than the standard 2/4 drop, you are going to have to start cutting coils. This can be tricky and time consuming...cut too much, and you are screwed...cut too little, and you have to take it all apart and do it over again.

If you start with the basic coil spring drop with front and rear coils, I would not go any lower than 3" in the front because you are going to have some serious alignment issues. If you know you want to go lower than 3", then it is best to buy the McGaughys deluxe drop kit which comes with spindles up front. You can then cut your stock coils and run them with the Mcgaughys spindles. This is going to help keep your alignment and ride quality in check.

The Mcgaughy's 2/4 kits come with shock extenders, so you can use your stock shocks. If you decide to go lower than 2/4, then you will also need to purchase new shorter drop shocks. Links to the kits I am referring to are below...

McGaughy's Economy 2/4 Drop Kit 09-12 Ram 1500 2WD Quad/Crew Cab
McGaughy's Deluxe 2/4 Drop Kit 09-12 Ram 1500 2WD

 

[WhiteExpress]

Do the belltech sit that much lower?

I meant add belltech coils ontop of your spindles.
Or did I just assume you had the McG spindles...?

And even at that, it certainly appears the Belltech 2/4 drop is the lowest of the 2/4 drops out there.

 

[Hemi450hp]

I would grab a set of the McGaughy's spindles and run them with cut stock coils up front. This will help you keep your alignment in check. You can try running them with your 2" front drop coils, but I think that will be too low. Then just trim your rear coils a bit to match the stance up front.

 

[UNBROKEN]

Don't forget to check the front wheels since the spindles will push each side about 5/8" further out than they are now....they may put your wheels outside the truck a little bit.
For a free inch there's nothing wrong with cutting the coils.
1/2 coil up front and 1 full coil out back is 1" on each end.

 

[TylerB]

Don't forget to check the front wheels since the spindles will push each side about 5/8" further out than they are now....they may put your wheels outside the truck a little bit.
For a free inch there's nothing wrong with cutting the coils.
1/2 coil up front and 1 full coil out back is 1" on each end.

Absolutely right. There's nothing wrong with cutting a little bit off the coils. Heating coils is absolutely the wrong way to change a coil's height. So don't listen to these guys that don't have first hand experience with cutting the coils, they're all speaking from second hand experience and rumors. I've cut many coils with no ill effects. You wouldn't know any different in ride quality unless I told you they were cut.

 

[WhiteExpress]

I've made a 2" drop coil a 3" drop coil w/o any ill effects. Just don't use a cutting torch to do it! lol

 

[Jc-80]

Thanks for all the info guys!! Would really like to see it sit like UNBROKEN and Tylerb are sitting

 

[GreyJ]

Absolutely right. There's nothing wrong with cutting a little bit off the coils. Heating coils is absolutely the wrong way to change a coil's height. So don't listen to these guys that don't have first hand experience with cutting the coils, they're all speaking from second hand experience and rumors. I've cut many coils with no ill effects. You wouldn't know any different in ride quality unless I told you they were cut.

Taken straight from my good friend who's an engineer.


If you go through and calculate the deflection of a coil spring under load and take a ratio comparing it to the load you get the spring rate. This will be in units of force/length. If you want to see the derivation you can pick up a copy of Shigley's Mechanical Engineering Design Handbook or a similar text.
The equation for spring rate turns out to be:

d is the diameter of the wire, G is the shear modulus (a material property of the metal that you usually look up on a place like matweb), D is the diameter of the spring and N is the number of effective coils (more on that later)
As you can see changing the number of coils not only changes the length of the spring but also the spring rate. This can lead to a rough ride or poor handling. The shocks, which from the factory are matched to the springs will also no longer be matched to said springs.
But wait there's more!
If your factory springs have different coils on the ends to make them sit flat in the perches, cutting also changes the N from earlier. You can go through calculations...or use this table:

The number you want to use for N is Na
As you can see changing the ends can effectively change the coil count by as much as 2 coils.

Now how do you translate this to ride height? The answer is fairly complicated and requires solving simultaneous equations involving trig and/or doing some calculus.
If you are doing a relatively small drop you can do some approximations, but these depend on the pre-load on the spring and suspension geometry. Luckily people sell software to do this for you. Or you can do what everyone else does and chop off little pieces at a time until you get where you want. Or you could not be a cheap ass and buy proper springs.

 

[Burla]

Any lower and you will be in hell.

 

[TylerB]

Have you ever actually cut a spring and experienced the rougher bouncier ride that everybody claims? Look, as long as you're not cutting a quarter of the coil off or cutting a section of the coil that is used as the locator on a mount you'll be fine. I have first hand experience with this on multiple vehicles and no problems with a harsher ride. I'll be cutting more off of my coils tomorrow because I want a little bit more drop not because I am a cheap ass, but because the proper springs that you speak off are not available in the drop I want.

 

[UNBROKEN]

Taken straight from my good friend who's an engineer.


If you go through and calculate the deflection of a coil spring under load and take a ratio comparing it to the load you get the spring rate. This will be in units of force/length. If you want to see the derivation you can pick up a copy of Shigley's Mechanical Engineering Design Handbook or a similar text.
The equation for spring rate turns out to be:

d is the diameter of the wire, G is the shear modulus (a material property of the metal that you usually look up on a place like matweb), D is the diameter of the spring and N is the number of effective coils (more on that later)
As you can see changing the number of coils not only changes the length of the spring but also the spring rate. This can lead to a rough ride or poor handling. The shocks, which from the factory are matched to the springs will also no longer be matched to said springs.
But wait there's more!
If your factory springs have different coils on the ends to make them sit flat in the perches, cutting also changes the N from earlier. You can go through calculations...or use this table:

The number you want to use for N is Na
As you can see changing the ends can effectively change the coil count by as much as 2 coils.

Now how do you translate this to ride height? The answer is fairly complicated and requires solving simultaneous equations involving trig and/or doing some calculus.
If you are doing a relatively small drop you can do some approximations, but these depend on the pre-load on the spring and suspension geometry. Luckily people sell software to do this for you. Or you can do what everyone else does and chop off little pieces at a time until you get where you want. Or you could not be a cheap ass and buy proper springs.

As the old saying goes...if you wanna screw something up get an engineer involved.

There's no need to buy books, run programs, do trig calculations...none of that ****. With a set of 2" drop springs for a 4th Gen Ram if you cut 1/2 a coil off the front and one full coil off the back you'll net 1" of drop on both ends. That's not an opinion...it's a damn fact proven time and again but the people that have actually done it, I'll assume you are not one of those people.

There are no 3" drop springs...they don't exist...save the "cheap ass" comments for someone else. This is a case of the hot rodder making due with what he has to work with.
Cutting what I described will have zero adverse effects on handling or ride quality....none....and it's 100% perfectly safe.

 

[UNBROKEN]

*****.....just saw the expert is 20 years old. I lowered my first truck 6 years before he was even born. LOL