Greetings,

I'm getting ready to do the 63" chevy spring swap on my 1997 T100. When I looked at the spring perches, they are "bent" down in a sense so that they don't just have one flat space where the springs rest but rather two, at about a 10 degree angle, kind of like a house roof.

Has anyone seen such a thing? The truck was lifted with blocks in the rear and and IFS lift in the front when I bought it but I don't think any other mods than the suspension and body lift were done.

Here's a picture

Thanks in advance.

Chip

The perch should be flat, not collapsed like yours is.

Dang. Thanks for the reply though. Guess I'll add "replace spring perch" to the spring swap checklist. Shouldn't be too bad, just some cutting, grinding, fab and welding.

You may be able to find new perches if you go to a spring shop and ask..

That's a good idea too. My thinking was to get some 2x4 steel tubing and use a hole saw. I saw some on summitracing.com that weren't too bad. For $21 it looks like it may be worth it to just purchase the perches. (had to say it)
Plus, they are "chevy type", which as ... Ugh. I just realized that the diameter of the axle housing may be different, which would'nt do me any good.

http://store.summitracing.com/partd...=700+4294841030+115&autoview=sku

There you go. Probably metric as well.

Ha ha! Worse -- 55mm & 3/16" in diameter. :-)

Ok, so I figured out what the cause of the problem was.

If anyone ever had doubts about the evils of lift blocks this should further erase them.

Upon closer inspection, the lift blocks are at least partially hollow, so the part that is resting on the perch is just the outer edges of the blocks (which probably resemble a box) are resting on the perches. At the front of the perch, the blocks have squashed the outer edges of the perch and have kind of slumped over the edges of the perch. Unfortunately too in the process the perches have been damaged so they'll either need repair in the form of welding build-up (?) or replacement.

I'm leaning towards replacement because then I can get the pinion angle just right with the new springs in place.

Thanks for your help.

Chip

P.S. Here's a link to a bigger/better picture of the boxy type blocks boxy blocks and the damage done
You can see how the inside on the rear was chewing away on the rear part of the perch.

I would replace them, welding them up may work but I think replacement is better.

As for blocks, I keep telling people it and no one ever listens..their loss..

I'll have the rear all torn apart anyway, so I might as well do it right. We can see what happens when it isn't done right.

It surely is baffling why things are done they way they are sometimes. Blocks blow for sure, but one would naively think that it wouldn't cost TOO much to make them so they don't hose your axle at least. I guess asking for quality in a poor solution is too much. :-)