new to forums, need help with some ?'s

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Claudio Hdz

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May 21, 2015
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If anyone could help me out it would be much apriciated. I'm new to this whole forum thing and I'm about to do a drop to my truck. I just got into the whole truck scene after I moved to houston 3 years ago. I'm a collision tech so I do have some knowledge with working around cars but I only have a few questions before getting my truck dropped. I have a 06 silverado crew cab 1500 2wd. I'm going to put a 4/6 drop and I currently have 22" wheels with 35 series tires. Also my kit is going to be ordered from Belltech. No Ebay junk. Again thanks for anyone who could help out.

-Is it nessisary to have a 2-peice drive shaft once having a drop if not why do some guys have it done?
-is it still possible to have the front camber in alignment after a dramatic drop?
-from a scale of 1-10 what's the difficulty of doing a proper body drop?
-should I even go as low as a 5/6 drop with such a long wheel base?
-any issues I might run along the way?
 
-It is not necessary to have a 2 piece driveshaft at 4/6 on your 2006 crew cab
-If you use correct lowering parts, either Belltech or Mcgaughys, your alignment should still be in spec
- Proper suspension drop ( not a body drop ) with correct tools and knowledge and a few beers with friends couple of hours
- 4/6 Drop for these trucks are plenty, I personally wouldn't go lower
- Issues none, but see below

Invest in good quality shocks. most run Belltech Street Performance Shocks front and back, anything lower than 4" drop, a notch is required. I personally recommend a Mcgaughy notch with Mcgaughy helpers if you tow at all.

I have personally ran 4/6, 5/8 on my 2006 Silverado Crew Cab, and came up to about 4.5/7 for better driveability. Invest in quality parts, good shocks, and a notch for optimum performance and ride.

Pics of mine:

This was 4/7 with a 275/45/20 and I had helpers aired





At 4/8 no air in helpers



Many years later with several suspension changes at 5/8 on 265/40/22



Raised to 4/7




 
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what james said...u gotta know what ur doing if ur gonna body drop. scale of 1-10....a solid 9.

Im 4/6 and Ive rubbed my driveshaft on something, have a shiny circle around it now. Ive towed 7k lbs tho and i probably did it at that time. A big hammer will give u the clearance u need, but Im going with a 2pc. 4/6 with helpers is the way to go, imo. Tuck your y-pipe, trim the trans xmember, cut off the exhaust before the axle, notch the bed support above the axle, mini tub the front and ur set.
 
Really nice truck and apriciate the help. I may go with the 5/7 drop first and see how I like it if not I'll raise it a little. I don't tow as I have removed my hitch and bumper in place for a roll pan. I'll keep you guys posted on the progress.
 
Very interested to see this. Welcome to the forum world!

Hope you stick around, and hope to see a build thread (Under Construction section).
 
belltech sucks a bag of dicks. After dicking with several sets, I would never recommend them.

Be smart and run coilovers up front and save mine hassle! You can get a set for $700 and they will get you pretty low and ride great. Think about it for a second, spindles are $250, spring are around what $150? Then say about $100 for good shocks. That's $500, so for $200 more you can have a great ride, great product, and adjustability.

at 6" you will be fine with a 2pc. helper bags aren't necessary, and while some guys claim they help with ride quality I didn't really notice enough to justify the cost after the fact, a better set of shocks like QA1, Fox or Calvert racing would have been a better investment over belltech shocks and helpers. I don't tow, never did, so helpers weren't worth it.

4/6 is plenty, 4/7 looks better, 5/8 was cool for all of a day. 6/8 was even worse. I enjoyed 3/6-4/7 the most. All persona preference.
 
5.5/8 here
1209251_10201044635656498_1817664037_n.jpg



ridetech coilovers
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1236925_621364571218230_1538390490_n.jpg
 
they rode like shit, all 3 sets I had in the rear, and two in the front. A buddy that had my silverado counterpart, same coilovers and calvert shocks in rear said his truck rode tons better in mine. Some like to say "it's a lowered truck, get over it" and some say "nah it rides like stock" Well, I don't know what stock truck you buy, but that isn't stock ride. Not one truck I've ridden in rode better than mine. And that's why I always promoted coilovers, best decision ever. Just as Malik, and all the guys on pt.net that have switched.
 
i found helpers to be necessary :shrug: i was hitting my notch real easy w/o them. I keep 10psi max in them just to cushion it a bit and not bottom out.
 
That works if you have poop shocks. My monroes requied me to run at least 20psi in each. Steven didn't have helpers is here like 9 way adjustable shocks. My last set of belltech were actually a tad soft, first sets were stiff as dick. I couldn't win with those shocks for the life of me. I'm just not a fan.
 
maybe it was because I was 8", but the last set seemed a tad softer than my set when I was 6" and then went 8" on those. I bottomed out a lot when I ran about 40 psi each bag. Mainly on bigger dips, but more than I thought should happen with helpers too
 
Like these guys have said. I'd run coilovers if you can swing it but if not it's not the end of the world. Spindles, Springs and good shocks and you'll be fine. 2 piece shaft isn't necessary but since you have the means to acquire one and make a crossmember, id recommend doing one right off the bat. It'll give you any clearance you'll need and you won't have to ever worry about rubbing. If you start with 4/6-7, I'm willing to bet you'll end up going 5/8.
You shouldn't have any problems with the alignment, you can get alignment cams and even offset bushings to get it in spec.
A true body drop is a lot of work. Like Eddie said, solid 9/10. Lots of relocating, cutting, tubs, etc.
4/7 is a great height for the longer wheel base of the ecsb and ccsb. I've found that I'm very limited to certain parking lots I can't go in at 6/9.5 on my ecsb.
Doing the actual suspension drop is pretty straight forward. Read the instructions and read around on forums but it's essentially remove and replace. There is usually always somebody surfing around on here who's willing to help so don't hesitate to post any questions you have or send some pm's. Looking forward to seeing pictures.

Sent from my SM-N900V using Tapatalk
 
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