Modifying stock lower control arms

[ponyracer]

I swear I saw an article on it a few yrs back where they cut the lower control arm and welded in a dropped "pocket" for the spring to sit in. I think it was about 2-3 inches, not even sure it was a chevy. I'm a welder by trade and build rock buggies for fun so the welding and fabrication isn't a problem. Anyone see any problem doing this on a chevy? I know just spend the $ and make some company richer. 

[Captkaos]

I used a simular concept back in 1989 to lower my truck.  I cut the balljoint end off and moved it up.
A lot of people do this to mount airbags, but it would be much simpler to just cut the springs.

[ponyracer]

I was thinking about cutting one coil off the spring and getting another couple inches out of the lower control arm. I read that it's not good to cut to much off the coil and I'm looking to level the front out after doing a flip kit in the rear.

[VileZambonie]

Fabbing up the control arms like that really isn't any different than cutting the springs 1.5 coils. The best ride will be with a lower spring and spindles.

[Captkaos]

You won't be able to lower the pocket enough to level the ride of a rear flip kit.  The spring pockets would be close to the ground.  The most you can got with lowering the spring pocket is 2.5" and then you don't want to cut the springs for more than 2" of drop.

I agree with Vile.  Are you wanting this cheap or are you wanting a good ride?

[ponyracer]

Well I just finished up the flip today, will be tackling the front tomorrow. I'll start by cutting a coil then mod the control arm if needed to at least level it out. Right now I'm looking for cheap, I'll address the ride later. I'll take some pics of the progress and maybe start a build thread. Thanks for the info.

[ponyracer]

Well I got the front finished, cut 1 3/4 coils off and leveled it to within 3/4's of an inch of the back. Now I did do a flip in the rear BUT I replaced the rear axle at the same time and reused the original perches. I ground out the opening so the perches would sit down tight on the axle housing effectively "lifting" the rear of the truck. So in the end I lowered it only the thickness of the axle tube + 1/4" (perch thickness).

What is the diff between "cut" coils and say summits 3" drop coils?? The summit ones are set up with the correct length and spring rate so they'll ride better right? My question is, is it worth replacing cut coils (that work fine) with "lowered" coils for better performance? I'm going to have the truck aligned soon and I want to have all of the suspension mods completed first.

Thanks

[Captkaos]

Have you driven it yet with that much cut out of it?  If you like the way it rides then you would be set. 
Lower springs have the drop built in and the spring rate stays relatively close to stock where a cut spring gets stiffer the more you cut it.

[ponyracer]

Ahh, I see. The ride isn't terrible, the roads here are pretty smooth. I do need to to take it by my alignment guy to see if he can correct the camber. The tires are leaning in pretty badly. Thanks for the reply.

[Captkaos]

He is probably going to hate you if you dropped it that much with just springs.  This is why Spindles and control arms were created to fix those alignment problems.

[static22]

I know guys who just cut the coils and the tires leaned in bad enough tha alignment shop couldn't fix it. They said they didn't have enough stud available to push the upper control arm back out correctly.