I’d like to lower the back of my 2009 Silverado Z71 crew cab about an inch. I’ve noticed there are factory installed spacer blocks between the axel and springs that are about an inch thick. I plan to loosen the u-bolts and see if these blocks can be removed but though I see if anyone else as done this and if it created any problems.

 

well are you doing it to level the truck? or just to do it

 

Yes these can be removed. Now they may have a locating pin or "nipple" on the axle housing or spring. You will have to have a corresponding hole for these to go into in order for it to fit correctly.

Also remember if you put heavy loads in the bed or pull a decently heavy trailer the rear of your truck will now sag 1" lower and possibly mess up the towing geometry.

 

well he also has to take into account the drive shaft angles

 

The pinion angle won't be an issue since you're only talking a couple inches of drop. If he were installingva flip kit (using on my 85) then you worry about installing the new perches that have the angle already accounted for.

 

My reason for dropping the back is purely aesthetics, although the bed being a little lower would be nice too. With the shape of the GM fenders, I think the truck looks like it is “jacked up” in the back at the stock ride height. Kind of like the good old days when we put air shocks on the back of Cameros and aired them up to 120 psi. The truck is currently the family car and only sees light truck duty so I’m not too worried about losing an inch of suspension travel. I did not mess with the bump stops so I would not think big loads or big bumps would compress the suspension to the point of causing drive line or other damage.

I did find instructions online for installing an extended shackle kit intended to drop the back end 2”. The instructions did mention to get 1 more inch of drop to pull the blocks so that appears to be standard practice.

One of these days when the truck it is not the main family vehicle, I’ll put the blocks back in, install a leveling kit up front, put some off road tires on it and make it a real 4x4 truck again.

Thanks all for your input.

 

It’s been 3 months since I pulled the blocks to drop the back of my truck an inch and it still rides and drives like new. It’s seen plenty of city and highway miles and a bit of off road bouncing around. The u-bolts did not have enough thread for the nuts to run up that extra inch so I did add a couple of hardened washers. New, shorter u-bolts would be preferred. I do need to slide under there and make sure everything is still tight.

Thanks all for your input

 

Good info. Thanks.

 

question for ya fredroe, when you removed the blocks what did you do with the brake lines ? crawled under my 08 sat. going to remove my blocks and noticed how the brake lines were fastened up and really didnt want to mess with unfastening and bending and refastening the brake lines.or am i looking to deep ?