Darth_Vader

You're about to fix that. Belltech's are much stuffed than stock, I think they are an improved ride.

How much tire rub are you getting up front on the 5/7?

I'm not running them, but mainly because I have been too lazy and the Belltech's don't require them. I don't think it will matter to be honest, it couldn't hurt to have the more direct shock angle the extensions provide. I keep on saying I am going to toss mine on next time I have the rear end up in the air, just to see if they change the ride any, even though I don't think they will, but I have had the back in the air at least 4 times without doing it... Maybe next time? I would leave them since they are already there.

Those shocks that RT suggested are good. And crawl underneath and check your bumps stops, I know at a 7" drop without a notch your riding on the McGaughy's stops, I'm betting with a 6" drop you only have an inch or less travel which means your probably hitting them. You can get shorter ones. I bought some energy suspension stops that are about half the height of the McGaughy's stop but I haven't installed them since raising the rear to a 5" drop. Oh, post pics too.

Wobble is probably from the shackles, they change your pinion angle. I would do the spindles up front.

I agree, it does look good but not practical, and while the 5 still isn't for the feint of heart give all the brackets I just cut off a truck with less than 500 miles on it, you basically have to run a C-notch on a drop more than 5 to keep it off the stops, at 7 you're riding on the stops. I'm happy with how it turned out and the ride is as good, if not better than stock. And I appreciate the help with all my questions, RT.

Pulled off the McGaughy's flip kit and installed the DJM kit last night, quality is night and day. After about 30 minutes I was able to get the pinion angle to within a tenth of the trans angle, all vibration gone, truck rides great, a huge upgrade. The whole back end just feels tighter with the DJM brackets than the McGaughy's did, was getting a lot of rear end judder that wasn't driveline related, all of that is gone now. Final verdict, McGaughy's front spindles, DJM rear flip, a winning combination.

You obviously don't know anything about anything, nothing plasti-dipped on his truck. Move along, child.

No problem, post a pic when you get a chance!

Making me wish I'd gone with 22s.

Just wanted to weigh in after two weeks of jacking with the rear end of my truck, this is all subjective so your mileage may vary. This is all on a RC so take it with a grain of salt. I installed the McGaughy's 34170 kit and was initially lowered 4/7, due to clearance issues I am now sitting at 3/5 an happy with the stance. McGaughy's front spindles and drop shocks, top quality, I love them and the ride they provide. I would suggest these to anyone who is looking to lower their truck. McGaughy's rear flip/shackle hangers, well, this kit is junk in many ways, and not just because these are probably the worse set of instructions I have ever received in the 25+ cars I have modified. Initial impressions were that it was going to be a solid kit like the front, in spite of the horrible instructions, and I will admit that the guys over at Accessory Partners were great to deal with to fill in the holes, but it doesn't change the fact that for what it is this kit is a blemish on the whole drop kit combined. Issues are as follows, rear struts are not good, rough as hell, replaced with belltechs and the ride is much better. Shackle hanger bolt holes did not align with factory holes, no matter what configuration I tried to mount them in, they were off half of the diameter of the bolt hole or more. Driveshaft was too long, like some other RC's have noted, not McGaughy's fault but I have noticed other companies (DJM for example) had factored this in to their design. Oh, did I mention the instructions were atrocious? I finally broke down today and ordered the DJM rear flip to replace the axle saddles and to gain both the adjustable pinion angle (Had to shim to eliminate vibration, but I expected that) and to shift the axle back an inch to allow for more diveshaft slack before I decide if I have to cut it down, I don't think I will with the DJM kit so if you don't want to take the chance of having to keep this in mind too. In summary, get the McGaughy's front spindle/strut combo, it is great. Don't buy the kit that includes the rear; terrible instructions, brackets that don't fit and crappy shocks means it isn't worth the money. You can get a DJM rear flip and hanger kit for $200 and a set of belltech drop shocks for just over $100 and you will be way better off. It is a shame they spent all that time engineering such a great front kit and then let the village idiot design the rear kit. At this point I have spent over 18 hours working on my truck, over 15 of those just on getting the rear end to not suck and I can honestly say that I wished I would of just bought the full DJM kit from the get go. But I do want it to be known that the McGaughy Spindles are top notch and a great product, but I should of been done with this whole thing in about 6 hours and moved on.

Since it's powering the rear door speakers I bet so, but given the RC speakers location they are dialed way down.

Where is this radiator shroud from?

Ended up pulling the signal from the front left speaker today, way better volume. Easy to get to the wires, they are right under the driver kick panel coming out of a connector before they go into the door.

If I remember right it's around 75 ft/lbs, good and tight but not crazy right. Just recheck after 10-20 miles and you'll be good.

Yeah, I have installed the full kit except the shock extenders since I opted to buy Belltech drop shocks since I had read horror stories about the McGaughy's rear shocks. Now mine didn't have Shackles as I was doing a lower drop than you are, it had new brackets, but doing the shackles is straight forward enough: Chock the front wheels, Jack up the rear of the truck, put the frame on jack stands. Jack up the axle just enough to release tension on the leaf springs, won't take a lot of height. Remove the two bolts for the shackle in the rear of the spring, after you get the nut off the first one (I always do the bolt through the bracket first) if the bolt doesn't want to come out you still have too much tension on the leaf spring so you will need to play with your axle height, with your jack, a bit to get the tension off. The bolt won't usually just slide out but it won't take a whole lot of force, I can normally just whack it when the end wrench I used to get the nut off and it will pop loose. Also, to get the shackle nuts off I have found it is easier to put a box end wrench on the nut and then use a (I think it is 10mm) socket on the end of the bolt instead of trying to use the thin bolt head that is on the shackle bolts. After that put the put new shackle in, I would attach it to the leaf first and then raise/lower your jack until you can bolt it back to the bracket. Do not tighten the bolts all the way down until you put the truck back on the ground and load up the springs with weight or it could cause some issues. Be aware though that by doing a shackle lift/lower you are changing some of the rear geometry and there is the chance of getting your pinion angle out of whack, so if you notice a vibration (usually in the 10-30mph range and/or the 60-75mph range) you will need to shim the axle to correct the angle. Not an expensive job or hard job by any means. But this isn't always the case, it is more of case by case basis. I am dealing with this right now myself as when I did the 7" drop it was just an flip kit and kept my pinion angle the same, when I put my shackle brackets in it changed the rear location of my leaf mounts by two inches and now I have the vibration. Shimming it tonight. If you have any other questions feel free to PM me and I will try to help out.

Yeah, I have their lowering kit and the instructions were atrocious. You'd almost be as good without them.

Generally rear speakers in a situation like this are just for the sound stage and as such are significantly lower in volume. If you don't think they are doing anything adjust your fader to full front for awhile, you will notice a difference. I will say that if you pull a high signal from the rears to power an amp be prepared to get something that will adjust the gain. I tried running them straight into my amp on the high input and was getting very low volume just like the rears, I threw a Kicker KX2 active crossover on mine that has adjustable gain and was able to dial the gain up before going to the sub and it made a huge difference. I think my main complaint on the RC stereo is the overall volume doesn't get as loud as I had hoped. A 4-channel class D amp might be in the near future as I had good luck using one on my Tahoe to bring the levels up.

Guess I should join.

Good catch! I was so worn out last night from doing the rear I just dropped it and went on. Yeah, thinking about bringing the front up 1/2" too.

Got mine done, McGaughy's 4/7, but I'm probably bringing the back up another inch to 6.

You work at the Tower?

I'll pull it out in the daylight this afternoon and snap some good ones. Hell, I may even wash it first!

Was too dark to take good pictures when I got done last night but I will try to snap some this afternoon after work. Got my drop done, 4/7 McGaughy's with Belltech rear drop shocks. Boy was the rear a pain in the ass, but it is looking good.