Lowering Rear of Truck , Removing Spacers

[dullpain]

There is a discussion/thread on this in the 3rd Gen (no engine/trans discussion) titled " Spacers removal for lowering rear end" Sorry don't know how to put a link in here to it.



Any way I need to do this on my 2012 3500 as it's Butt is so high up in the air I'm afraid It's gonna F**T and blow the exhaust off.



In the thread mentioned above there is a reply by member klenger and he says he has instructions for doing this on his website. I can get to his website but can't access the directions for this mod.



Looks pretty straightforward tho , but have a few questions. My truck has 3 each spacers at the bottom of spring pack.

1. Do you loosen both spring packs at the same time and lower the entire rear end to remove bolts that hold the spring packs together ?? Or one side at a time.

2. Doing one side at a time looks like you would have to drop the axle so low that it would tweak/twist the other side in a bad way to get the bolts out. The bolts that hold the spring pack together are long and come out the bottom so you would have to separate the spring from the axle spring perch (welded to the axle) a long ways ??



Hope this is clear as mud. Any help appreciated. Gotta get this truck lowered!

 

[EDankievitch]

I did this on my 05. If I recall correctly I did one side at a time. Use a two heavy duty c clamps and clamp the spring pack together before dropping the axel. There are two alignment bolts/ pins that hold the spacers and springs together.

 

[JHumphries]

You'll want to make sure the pinion angle is within the allowable range.
Maybe someone on here can provide the numbers, because I don't have them.
There was a TSB for the 1st Gens back in the day, about vibration I believe, because the pinion angle wasn't correct. There were some 1/2 and 1 degree shims available to re-aliign it.
Anywho, the angle will change by a small amount if you pull the spacers. It maybe negligable, though.

 

[WOT]

I did this on my '05 as well. Pretty straight forward. There were 2 spacers on each side and i moved both to the top of the pack to lower the rear. Moving instead of removing kept the parts handy if I ever wanted to undo the change as well as allowing the re-use of the same u-bolts. I didn't have to do any shimming for driveline angle issues.

 

[RonD]

And what happens when a heavy load is placed in the bed after you lower it?

There is a discussion/thread on this in the 3rd Gen (no engine/trans discussion) titled " Spacers removal for lowering rear end" Sorry don't know how to put a link in here to it.

Any way I need to do this on my 2012 3500 as it's Butt is so high up in the air I'm afraid It's gonna F**T and blow the exhaust off.

In the thread mentioned above there is a reply by member klenger and he says he has instructions for doing this on his website. I can get to his website but can't access the directions for this mod.

Looks pretty straightforward tho , but have a few questions. My truck has 3 each spacers at the bottom of spring pack.
1. Do you loosen both spring packs at the same time and lower the entire rear end to remove bolts that hold the spring packs together ?? Or one side at a time.
2. Doing one side at a time looks like you would have to drop the axle so low that it would tweak/twist the other side in a bad way to get the bolts out. The bolts that hold the spring pack together are long and come out the bottom so you would have to separate the spring from the axle spring perch (welded to the axle) a long ways ??

Hope this is clear as mud. Any help appreciated. Gotta get this truck lowered!

 

[WOT]

Not 100% sure, but I don't think the 2wd models had the spacers, so it's really no different than that.

 

[RonD]

Correct me if I am wrong, but I thought the newer 4x4's have a one piece rear driveshaft, the 4x2 has a 2 piece, the one piece I thought I read could not be used on the 4x2 because it would hit the bottom of the body.

 

[NIsaacs]

Not 100% sure, but I don't think the 2wd models had the spacers, so it's really no different than that.

The 2wd front axle is lower than the 4x4 so it doesn't need the rear spacers. If you remove them, you will change the complete dynamics of the trucks profile. With a load it will squat in the rear like Ron said, it will change the front axle alignment, drive shaft angle and shock length.



Nick

 

[crispyboy]

I had a spring shop take the spacers out for me. I have a 3rd gen short bed - 1 piece drive shaft. There is no change to the pinion angle, steering geometry, truck tracks straight down the road and truck has no trouble with a load. I did do a slight readjustment to the headlights. A truck bed that sits that high is just plain stupid!

 

[cerberusiam]

A truck bed that sits that high is just plain stupid!

Hmmm, the rake is there for weight handling. It may not be needed when all that is hauled are groceries, but, I guarantee 2500 lbs in the bed will upset the the stance. Its a good possibility a 1/2 ton gasser would be effective as a grocery getter that sits level.

Leveling is a matter of preference, hardly stupid though. Most of us level the front and add air bags as using the truck what it was meant for is paramount to ownership.

 

[EDankievitch]

I agree there is no reason form the truck to have that much rake to it. I did the dodge 2" leveling kit and it still has a rake. But it looks good on a set of 285-70-17's nice tough mean stance.

 

[RonD]

Yours is a 3rd generation short bed 2500, the OP is talking about a 3500 4th generation long bed, not the same

I had a spring shop take the spacers out for me. I have a 3rd gen short bed - 1 piece drive shaft. There is no change to the pinion angle, steering geometry, truck tracks straight down the road and truck has no trouble with a load. I did do a slight readjustment to the headlights. A truck bed that sits that high is just plain stupid!

 

[WOT]

While I agree the 4th gen is different, the concept is the same. my '05 3500 dually did just fine with 2500 lbs in the bed after moving the two spacers. My previous truck was a 2000 2500 short bed in which I milled 1" off the spacers and it did just fine with 2500 lbs on it as well. It did squat more afterwards which was expected and desired (the rear was slightly lower than the front with a load and slightly higher without). If you want to maintain level (no rake) with a load and without then airbags would be the way to go. The truck handled identically before and after the modifications so I was happy with the result. The nice thing about the '05 was it was completely reversable if things didn't work out - no parts were altered or lost.

 

[dullpain]

DONE - Not bad - Lowered the ball on my receiver hitch 1 5/8 inches . Would have liked to seen another inch lower but can live with this. Thanks to all.