Cutting Springs for Dummies - Need a little "How To" please :)

[DavidRam]

So I just ordered QA1 shocks and with those going in, I want to drop the rear of my truck about 3/4". The rear is just over an 1" higher than the front. I love how the front sits, but the rear has a little to much gap.
Plus, when I do the custom roll pan mod, I will be taking about 180 lbs off of the rear, which might raise it a bit more...

(Honestly, I wish someone made 5" drop springs so I could just buy them.)
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Anyways, I have never done anything like this before... but I think it's time that I learned!

How do I determine how much to cut off to get the 3/4"??

What should I use to cut them??

What kind of tools will I need to take the rear springs out, cut em and put em back in??

Anything I should watch out for??

Thanks guys!

 

[BlkRamRt]

one coil off the rear is +/- an inch. to remove the rear springs you will need floor jack and a couple of jack stands. to cut them a grinder but be careful not to cause alot of heat. also you will need wrenches ans sockets.

 

[BlkRamRt]

another thing if you dont have the jackstands and floor jack PM me and i can loan you mine free of charge...lol

 

[TylerB]

Need a jack, a pair of jack stands and the necessary wrenches/sockets(13/16" ) to remove lower shock bolts, will need to remove link bars from sway bar as well(I'm not sure of size for the Hellwig), an angle grinder and a thin metal cutoff wheel.


Jack up rear of truck so tires are 4-5" off the ground, place stands under frame in front of lower link bars, remove lower shock bolts and bolts from sway bar links, and then slowly lower jack(be careful to not over extend the brake lines). Coils should have enough slack to come out, if not you will have to raise end of truck more.
Once coils are out, for 3/4" simply remove 3/4 of the upper most loop from the top of the spring. Reinstall spring making sure the spring is sitting in the upper perch correctly. Raise axle double checking the top of springs as you do so to make sure everything is still OK. Replace shock bolts(may have to push shocks up to get them situated). Remove stands and slowly lower truck to the ground.

 

[DavidRam]

Damn you guys are brilliant! Thanks a bunch! Is there anything ****** about cutting them, or is it no big deal? By ****** I mean it hurts performance or function of the spring...?

 

[DavidRam]

another thing if you dont have the jackstands and floor jack PM me and i can loan you mine free of charge...lol

That's really cool of you, bro!

I have jack stands, but no floor jack....

Did you do your own suspension install? Springs, shocks, cutting, etc.?

 

[DavidRam]

Another dumb question: Why are the top 6-7 loops of my rear springs all pressed together???

 

[BlkRamRt]

no i took mine to a shop but i havnt cut anything yet...lol i want to. ahahahaha. but if you still need to borrow the jack let me know.

 

[TylerB]

Damn you guys are brilliant! Thanks a bunch! Is there anything ****** about cutting them, or is it no big deal? By ****** I mean it hurts performance or function of the spring...?

Just keep the heat down and it's all good. A quick cut with a cutoff wheel will do just that.

Another dumb question: Why are the top 6-7 loops of my rear springs all pressed together???

Just dead coils acting as a spacer at that point...

 

[BlkRamRt]

yup what TylerB said, a spacer.

 

[DavidRam]

Alrighty then! It doesn't sound to hard... Can't wait to get my QA1s in and cut the rear down to almost level!

Is there anything else I can do to improve my trucks suspension?? I have the Hellwigs front and back, adj Spohn panhard, upper, lower control arms (upgraded to delrin bushings, almost zero deflection), soon to be QA1s.

Are there any better springs out there than the Belltechs???

 

[TylerB]

Only thing left to do is rework the link mounts on the axle so the bars are moved back to parallel with the ground.

 

[DavidRam]

That's the mod that Unbroken did on the R/T?

 

[TylerB]

Yep

 

[14RAMRT]

Dammit David ! All your ram mods . Just got these in for my tacoma . Think I can get them to work on the ram for a bit lol . Desperately seeking ram monies.

 

[DavidRam]

You gotta pick your poison bro! Lol! My poison is my Ram right now. But if you wanna run in the desert, then you gotta focus on the Tac for a bit!

BTW, those are some killer looking shocks!!! I have never seen anything like it... Do you do all your own install work??

 

[14RAMRT]

You gotta pick your posion bro! Lol! My poison is my Ram right now. But if you wanna run in the desert, then you gotta focus on the Tac for a bit!

BTW, those are some killer looking shocks!!! I have never seen anything like it... Do you do all your own install work??

These are called a triple bypass shock. This set is for the front to be combined with the coilovers. You can fine tune the compression and rebound stroke of the shock and they are revalve able and rebuildable. . They get even way more badass than this like $3000 a shock what the race teams use. But these work well for the taco because of the weight and how I use them. I do most of the easier bolt on type work but I have friends that help me out with their fab skills and welding skills.

 

[DavidRam]

Cool stuff man!

 

[Big Boi]

Did you ever cut them?

VID_20110923_193540.mp4 Video by BigHen36 | Photobucket

 

[Big Boi]