I realize I need to work on the frame in order to stay ahead of the body shop. I would hate for the cab to be ready before the frame. So, I need to concentrate on getting this thing rolling on wheels and tires. The rear is pretty much ready to roll, so I need to get going on the front. Next up is the front springs. I am using CPP 1" drop springs. The pancake crossmember should give me a 1.5" drop and the spindles will be an additional 2.5" drop. With these springs, I should end up a total of 5" dropped in the front.
Without any weight on the frame from the body or even a drivetrain, I needed something to jack against so I could get the spring seated and balljoint stem nuts tightened properly. So, I used the bucket on my tractor.
Here, I quickly realized that the spring was not seating correctly. I got the pigtail to sit in the lower control arm bucket correctly, but the top was misaligned. The crossmember spring mounting area is D-shaped and the top coil can really only sit one way. The way it is currently orientated, the spring was not sitting flush and would ultimately not yield a 1 inch drop. Looking at it here, it might even raise the truck.
At this point, I checked the forums here for anybody else that has encountered this issue. Not surprising, but it is common and it has to do with spring winding process. Most people say they just cut off a half coil and moved on. I decided to send the last two pics to CPP and ask for their opinion. CPP said that this looked okay and it would more than likely move into place when the truck gets driven. Well, this answer didn't sit well with me. I remember back to when I installed 3" drop springs on this truck years ago. I ended up cutting a half coil out to give it some rake. The truck just sat too level. So, I decided to cut just enough to get the spring to seat correctly on both ends. I ended up cutting off a 1/4 coil off of the bottom coil.
I didn't want to install the springs with bare metal so I used some POR-15 to coat the ends where I made the cut. It matches the powder coat finish on the springs pretty well. Now, I have to wait 48 hours for it to cure.
