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63" spring swap and ran into a wierd problem.

eripley

eripley

1/2 ton status
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Oct 1, 2003
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Location
knoxville,tennessee
Well a couple weeks ago I installed 63" springs on my 79 chevy blazer. I bought two rear spring front hangers and used them for the rear. I did a bit of research before tackling this project and read nothing like what I encountered. Since I had the front and rear of the spring already bolted up I had a extremely hard time lining up the springs center pin into my spring pads on the axle. After being done I noticed that my rear shackles were "bowed" out at the bottom and at a drastic angle like this / \ looking at it from the rear. I then posted a message about crooked springs but got no answers.

I now realize the problem.

My frame is actually 1" narrower at the back than at the front. And since I am using the front hangers on the rear the springs are actually twisted. So what do I need to do? Nobody else mentioned this issue and I dont realize why I encountered it. Is is as simple as placing a 1" plate behind the hanger? (Well not really simple as I have to unbolt the hanger and make a shim and bolt the rear hangers back up.) or would you move the spring pads on the axles (which really doesnt fix the problem)?

Is there anything I didnt think of?

please help.

Thanks in advance for any answers.

Eric
 
did you use 1/2 ton or 3/4 ton hangers? or 1 ton hangers? the 1 ton hangers are not as wide off the frame as the others. this might be a possible problem. or you could just space them out and bolt them back on. i seen another member get in a bind with the 1 ton hanger difference problem before.
 
The hangers I bought were identical to the ones that were on my truck orginally. So to answer your question all 4 hangers are 1/2 ton.
Thanks.
I think I'll unbolt them and space them out like you said unless I hear something from someone else in the next day or so.
 
eripley said:
My frame is actually 1" narrower at the back than at the front. And since I am using the front hangers on the rear the springs are actually twisted. So what do I need to do? Nobody else mentioned this issue and I dont realize why I encountered it. Is is as simple as placing a 1" plate behind the hanger? (Well not really simple as I have to unbolt the hanger and make a shim and bolt the rear hangers back up.) or would you move the spring pads on the axles (which really doesnt fix the problem)?

Eric
Click to expand...
The Blazers of that generation of tub/frame had a wider frame in the front. Therefore, the spring hangers were thinner. You need to run pickup truck front spring hangers in the rear for a shackle flip on a K5. I'm running 64s on my 79K5 frame.
 
CyberSniper said:
The Blazers of that generation of tub/frame had a wider frame in the front. Therefore, the spring hangers were thinner. You need to run pickup truck front spring hangers in the rear for a shackle flip on a K5. I'm running 64s on my 79K5 frame.
Click to expand...
How come nobody mentioned this when talking about their hanger swap? I cant afford to buy another set of hangers! So whats the next best option?
 
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