[rharris]

Installed a CPP 3” coil spring drop on a 72 short bed last night and this morning. I wanted to keep the factory ‘rake’, so I decided to go with 3 on front and back. I ordered the kit from summit; it included the shocks and the springs, and I ordered the rear coil retainers as well. Hopefully this can be useful to someone who plans to do the same or decide what drop to go with, if any (still undecided if it’s staying this way). It did drop the truck 3”. I have read where some kits under/over drop. I should’ve taken step by step pictures, but the anticipation got the best of me.

Lessons Learned
1) Some of the shock bushings do not fit. There are multiple bushings with the shocks. Some are thinner walled than others. Make sure your bolt fits through the bushing you are using, and that you checked the other bushings are sufficient for the remainder of the installation.
2) Shock bolts are not included. New 2 ¾” long, ½” bolts, lock and flat washers, and nuts speed things up.
3) The front coils did not seat the greatest in the upper and lower control arms.
4) Should probably replace ball joints while truck is apart.

Parts Used
- 6372CSSK (Summit # CLP-6372CSSK) CPP Coil Spring and Shock Lowering Kit $330
- RCR-K (Summit # CLP-RCR-K) CPP Coil Spring Retainers $20

Extra Parts to Consider
-Rear spring pad mounts. Chances are, the pads and bolts you remove will not be too friendly reinstalling. For $20, it was worth it IMO.
-6 -2 ¾” long, ½’ bolts. These would replace the original front lower, and rear upper and lower shock bolts.
-4 Cotter pins.


Tools Needed
-3/4” wrench and socket
-15/16” socket
-½” wrench and socket
-Breaker bar
-Jack and stands
-Small sledge hammer
-Needle nose or diagonal pliers



FRONT

Support the truck with jack stands on the frame.

REMOVAL
SHOCK - After removing the wheels, remove the front shock with a ¾” and 15/16” socket. The lower bolt and nut are ¾” and the upper stock mount is a stud on the shock with a 15/16” nut on the inside of the frame. A new upper bolt is supplied with the shock, but not a lower. I would suggest replacing the lower. It is a 2 ¾” long ½” bolt. On the driver’s side, there is a small clamp around a fuel or brake line, you’ll want to remove the nut and bolt with a ½” wrench and socket so you can get your 15/16” socket on to remove the shock mount.

STEERING ARM - Remove the steering arm by removing the cotter pin and nut with a 3/4” socket.

LOWER CONTROL ARM and SPRING - Loosen the lower control arm ball joint by removing the cotter pin (and 5 pounds of dirt, mud, grease, etc) and the nut with an adjustable. I should have checked the size but I forgot. I couldn’t get a socket in because I chose to leave the caliper on. You want to leave the nut on because it will keep the spring in place when the ball joint pops out. Once the ball joint nut is loose, but still threaded, use the jack as a support under the lower control arm and hit the spindle with a small sledge until the lower control arm pops out of the spindle, and is only held on by the nut that you loosened. The jack will keep the spring from going places you don’t want. The front springs are only pinched in by the control arms – there is no bolts or brackets holding them. Once the ball joint pops down, remove the nut - make sure you have the jack keeping tension and slightly compressing your spring. After the nut is removed you can slowly release the jack and the spring will drop out.

JACK DANIELS/BEER/SODA/WATER/COFFEE BREAK


INSTALLATION
SPRING– When installing the spring, be sure to have it in correctly. The top of the spring curls around a flare in the upper control arm. The lower control arm has an indent where the tail of the factory spring snugged up against. The CPP’s tail did not fit as well as stock. You only have so much movement in the upper end due to the flare on the control arm. Use your jack to raise the control arm and new spring into place. While doing this, try to get your ball joint into place. Once you have the control arms close to being where they need to be, adjust your spring until you find a nice seat. Hopefully you can get it to seat nicely on the upper and lower control arms. After getting the spring in the desired position, replace the ball joint nut. I let all bolts and nuts loose until everything was into place.

STEERING ARM – Replace the steering arm and nut and use new cotter pin.

SHOCK – Install the new upper shock mount into the frame. Install the nut and bolt that was removed for the line clamp. Mount shock to upper mount, and compress/extend shock into place to lower mount with the ½” bolts. The steel bushings that were supplied with the shocks were too long to fit into the lower mount, I had to cut about a ¼” off.

Before replacing the wheels, make sure all your bolts and nuts are tight. Remove jack stands. Stare at your truck in awe or disgust, and get moving on to the back, or re-installing the originals!!!

JACK DANIELS/BEER/SODA/WATER/COFFEE BREAK

REAR

Support the truck with jack stands on the frame.

REMOVAL
SHOCK – After removing the wheels, remove the shock with a ¾” wrench and socket.

SPRING – The upper spring pad has a nut on the inside of the frame. The lower spring pad has a nut welded onto it. Use the jack to support the trailing arm to keep the spring somewhat tight as you loosen the upper and lower spring pad mounts with a ¾” wrench and socket. Take note to where the notch is in the pads so you can get to relatively the same position on install. The rear springs do not have as much tension on as the front. As you are removing the bolts you will notice the spring is loose if you slowly let the jack down. Once the tension is off, you may have to clamp on the pad to keep it from spinning to remove the bolt.

JACK DANIELS/BEER/SODA/WATER/COFFEE BREAK

INSTALLATION
SPRING – Get the new spring into place between the frame and the trailing arm. Place your spring pads with the notch in the same area as the stock. Start the lower bolt, but don’t tighten, to hold the spring into place. Jack up the trailing arm and move spring and pad mount until it is lined up with the upper hole. It helps if you have another person working the jack at this point. Start upper bolt and nut. Make sure your spring pigtails are flat with your pads as you tighten up the bolts.

SHOCK – Install the shock into the lower mount, and extend the shock into the upper mount. Like the front shock, the upper bushing needed cut to fit in the upper mount.

Before replacing the wheels, make sure all your bolts and nuts are tight. Remove jack stands. If you’ve made it this far, stare at your truck in awe, or order a lower drop to satisfy.

VERDICT
I wanted a little rake to the truck, but it seems a little too much. In the pictures, the concrete does have a slope to it, so it’s a little misleading. It rides much nicer and I do not have any trouble bottoming out, or with speed bumps. I’ll give it a few weeks to see if it stays.