Suspension Lowering Basics questions

[import600]

I know this has been asked a lot. I have a few questions about the tech article on this site.

1)When using a drop I beam what springs and shocks do you use? will some of the final ride height depend on the Springs and shocks?

2) when lowering the rear, say first you do hangers and shackles. will these work alone? and once again will shocks affect the final ride height?

3) will the camber be affected with hangers and shackles?

4) If you do an axel flip.. do you need a c notch?

5) Will 4 inch drop i beams and hangers and shackles make the truck sit level? or will i need an axel flip?

I was planning on getting the 4 inch drop i beams for the front and then getting something to match the rear for my 71 swb 2wd f100.

I'm sorry these questions are probably pretty redundant. but i've read the tech on here and many threads about this stuff and i'm still somewhat lost. I understand what everything does. But i'm confused on what will work together. anyway, any information would be great. thanks

kyle

[FORDification]

If your truck sits with a rake right now (front lower than the rear) and you lower the front 4", you're not going to level it out by only dropping the rear 4"...you're going to be looking at at least 6", if not more. With that much drop, the shackles alone won't do it...you'll have to do the axle flip route, AND the C-notch. You could get away without doing the notch if you were only lowering it a couple inches, but with the amount you want to drop it the notch is necessary.

You'll definitely need lowering shocks for the front, too. You'll need versions which match the amount of drop you do. The axle flip kit comes with longer shock brackets which must be welded onto the axle tube. I'm pretty sure they simply use standard shocks...depending on the amount of drop, but it would be best discussing this with the manufacturer of the drop beams to find out what they recommend with their kit. The same holds true for the springs. I don't THINK you'd be able to use stock springs with the drop beams, but I'm not sure about this part.

...and lowering the back end has little affect (if any) on the front-end geometry.

[dragtruck]

1-the stock springs and shocks will work,all drop beams move is the spindles farther into the wheel wells,don't cut the stock springs until you lower the rear.
2-you can use the front hangers with both type of leaf springs,the rear shackels will only work on springs w/o the flex-o-matics,you can lower it another 3/4" by removing the leafspring pads and lowering them to sit closer to the axel tubes,stock shocks will work just fine.
3-NO
4-Yes
5-I used the same set up as you described and I had a slight rake when I was done.
6-I would only recommend a axel flip if your ok with dragging everything on the bottom of your truck,I did my brothers truck that way,its low and to get the front low to match,we had to cut more coils out of the front and it has alot of negative camber,but not enough to cause handling problems.You will need shorter shocks for sure with a axel flip,or I just relocated the shock frame mounts.
7- I lowered my 72 with just cutting coils out of the front and rear hangers and its raked 1",I'm going to remove the factory flat overload and 2 leafs and add 2 stiffer leafs,this will lower it in the rear another inch and level the truck out,it looks lowered,but I still have enough ground clearace.