lowering blocks

[badack]

I want to lower my 69 charger an inch or so in the rear. many have referred to lowering blocks. Can someone post a picture and a source for them please?
steve

[Roth68rt]

The lowering blocks are installed between the leaf spring and the spring perch on the housing.  I got mine from Summit.  They can be referred to as lift blocks as well, depends on which side of the housing your leaf springs are located. 

[Hemidog]

The lowering blocks are installed between the leaf spring and the spring perch on the housing.  I got mine from Summit.  They can be referred to as lift blocks as well, depends on which side of the housing your leaf springs are located. 

Hey Roth68rt, your car looks sweet! how about some pics in the picture thread in Charger Discussion?

[Roth68rt]

Just finishing the bottom up now, took her off the rotisserie last weekend.  Not ready for prime time yet. 

[Steve P.]

You can sometimes create problems when using lowering blocks. The 2 biggies are that you need longer shocks and part of that reason is to be able to remove your wide tires and wheels. At full release your axle will now have less drop by the same as your lowering blocks. This is usually not a problem with stock sized tires and wheels, but not many with the need to lower have much in the way of stock anything...

[375instroke]

I could get 275/60-15 tires off on a '69 Coronet with 2" lowering blocks and stock shocks.

[Steve P.]

On a 69' the 275/60-15s are not very wide..  Try that combo on my 65' Coronet and you WILL be sorry...  This is the reason I said SOMETIMES.. Remember, many people are reading these threads and may be thinking about the same things. In my humble opinion it is better that you understand the reaction from your actions..

By the way, this is even a bigger problem with 3 inch studs......

[375instroke]

Yes, we did have that problem on my friends '65 Coronet with the lowered wheel well like on Darts and Belvedere bodies.

[challenger70]

You can sometimes create problems when using lowering blocks. The 2 biggies are that you need longer shocks and part of that reason is to be able to remove your wide tires and wheels. At full release your axle will now have less drop by the same as your lowering blocks. This is usually not a problem with stock sized tires and wheels, but not many with the need to lower have much in the way of stock anything...

Good info I would have never thought of that   I am thinking about dropping my Challenger in the back (and Charger eventually) are the blocks the best/only way to go with lowering a leaf spring setup?

[Steve P.]

No. You also can have the leaves DE-ARCHED. What springs are in it now??

[challenger70]

No. You also can have the leaves DE-ARCHED. What springs are in it now??

Mopar SS Springs.  Is any method "better" than the other?  I put a couple thousand street miles a year on my cars.

[Steve P.]

From what I have seen the SS spring do raise the car a few inches. Especially if you use the aftermarket front spring hanger on the lower bolt hole to angle your pinion down. On top of that you probably have taller tires than stock which will raise the back end even more.   

If you are only looking for 1 inch I would say to use the lowering blocks. Before I did anything I would find a few heavy buddy's to hop into the trunk and see if you really like the look. Measure before and after to see what you do like..

Let us know what you end up doing and your results.

[JoeyGowdy]

How high is it sitting up at the moment (measure from the ground to the center of the fender-chrome) ?



Might be easier to just install a set of shorter shackles at the end of the springs:


In theory it should work to raise/lower it, however I'm not sure what effect it will have on the performance of the suspension - I haven't tried that on a mopar yet - only on golf carts to raise them like the one in my avatar:


If I were to do that with the Charger - it would be with the longer shackles to make it sit up higher in the rear... to each their own.

[challenger70]

From what I have seen the SS spring do raise the car a few inches. Especially if you use the aftermarket front spring hanger on the lower bolt hole to angle your pinion down. On top of that you probably have taller tires than stock which will raise the back end even more.   

If you are only looking for 1 inch I would say to use the lowering blocks. Before I did anything I would find a few heavy buddy's to hop into the trunk and see if you really like the look. Measure before and after to see what you do like..

Let us know what you end up doing and your results.

You are correct, I have 275/60/15's on the back and I wouldn't waste my time or $$ for just 1 inch.  I would probably do at least a 2" drop.  Do the lowering blocks become a bad option for more than a 1 inch drop?

[DPL]

Hey Roth68rt (or anyone else that may know),

I see two different lower block kist (2") - one with a tapered block and one without.

I suspect this is due to some alignment with the driveshaft or ??

What does a guy need for a 1969 Charger?

[Nacho-RT74]

tapered block will help on keek a good pinion angle, without need to use wedge shims

[Mike DC]

BTW: 

You guys will drive yourselves crazy trying to compare the suspension heights of any two cars from the ground.  There are just too many variables with the wheels & tires & suspensions.  I know because I've tried it too many times. 


Do the height comparisons by measuring from the center point of the wheel/axle to something on the chassis.  The bottom horizontal edge line of the rockers is good. 


(I don't think the quarter panels/wheelwells are even 100% safe to compare.  Everybody's cars are wearing aftermarket quarter skins & wheelhousings, and these are panels that usually don't fit right out of their packages, and different people seam the quarter skins in different ways/places = major variances between cars again.)

[69Chrgr]

Sorry to rehash an old thread, but where did you guys get your lowering blocks? I see that Summit has the universal lowering blocks. Will they work on a '69 Charger? And where might one find the lowering shackles if they make them?

Thanks,
Darren

[lasvegas69charg]

AutoZone has them. 1", 2" and 3". They are like $30.

[HPP]

...and those are probably cast aluminum that tends to break easy.

I'd use the extruded aluminum ones from Speedway Motors. http://www.speedwaymotors.com/ search lowering blocks.  At least they will bend before they break. I've seen cast units crack just from torquing them down.