Rear spring hangers

[kaw753]

I've been "lurking" here for awhile, and finally joined. I have a renewed interest in my '79 C10 longbed that I've had since I was 15. I have always wanted to lower the truck, and have been thinking about what to do for the rear. I want to flip the axle, but don't want to notch the frame. Anyways, I've thought about replacing the rear most spring mounts, and wondered if I could use Suburban spring mounts (the front ones for the rear springs), install them flipped over and use adjustable lift shackles (bascially setup like a car with rear leaf springs). I haven't had a chance to look at or measure anything, so far it's just thought. I know I could use the Suburban mounts to replace the ones behind the cab, and drop it some that way, but I really want to do an axle flip.

[VileZambonie]

How far are you looking to lower it? The spring hanger will cause the spring and the hanger to hit the bed as well as throw your pinion angle way off.  If your springs are cherry you won't need to notch the frame but you'll need shorter bump stops.

[HAULIN IT]

Welcome to the site! I've got a couple thoughts to share with you. It all depends on how low you want your truck to sit & what you plan to use the truck for. At first, I added 2" dropped shackles & removed all of the rivets holding the 4 brackets to the frame & dropped the frame down until I ran out of bed floor clearance, checked the pinion angle & drilled some holes. This lowered the rear of the truck about 3 1/2".
 This worked fine however after researching some theory in leaf spring placement for drag racing...the placement/angle of the spring wasn't ideal this way so I put the front mount back to the stock location, did a flip on the axle & turned over the rear hanger (which sounds like what your describing). This works very well & there is no need to use the Suburban hangers, just turn over the ones you have & drill. You will need to move the hangers forward on the frame to achieve the proper shackle working angle.
So if 3 1/2" or so is what your after, I would do the first option. If your wanting closer to 5"-6", do the flip & see where your at. If you plan to haul much weight in the bed or pull a trailer, ect. your going to need some more clearance between the axle & the frame than the guy who uses his truck for a nice night out.
Here's a couple pictures of the rear hanger/shackle. You can see in the first picture where the hanger used to be. Lorne
 

[big bear]

welcome from northeast ohio

[modular93fox]

I used suburban front spring perches and McGaughys 2" lowering shackles. used one of the 4 holes on the subruban hanger, and redrilled the other 3. the subruban hanger holes has a different bolt pattern..
clint




for comparison is the last photo