If you're thinking about suspension for your c10 you don't want to miss this
video. Let's check it out.
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All right guys we're in the shop here today and we're checking out two c10s
and I'm here with Damien Brase our Fitment Technician.
And one of the cool things is the two c10s we have behind us are not only our
personal trucks but they had a heavy role in the development
of our c10 suspension and so let's have a discussion here today and talk about
the careful thought and R&D process that we put into these
trucks and the suspension that resulted and
I guess help anybody that's considering suspension for their truck
um better make a decision on what they're gonna be doing for theirs. So
um Damien just kind of kicking things off reflecting back a couple years ago
to when we launched these products and developed them. What were some of the
things that you know stick out in your mind as being
some of the major uh goals and considerations as we sought
out for development? Well we wanted to be able to lower the
trucks so we wanted to get them on coil-overs all four corners
um we wanted we wanted to improve the ride quality.
You know old trucks drive like old trucks which
is fun if it's grandpa's truck but you know if it's something that you want to
put a lot of miles on you want to be comfortable when you're
driving it you want it to handle well you want it to ride well and you know
just and and we also wanted to make sure it
was something that was relatively easy to install.
So with the truck kits that means let's do it with the bed on.
Right and and so you hit on a couple key things. So
ride height is a big one getting that perfect stance that was uh one of the
major uh topics that we sought out for in this
project. The ride quality and drivability
don't always come hand-in-hand with a lowered stance.
I know with my truck originally when I first had purchased it
driving down a freeway where you hit expansion joints or on a back country
road that's maybe not you know super smooth the truck would
just float and you're constantly chasing the wheel
a little unnerving at speed to be perfectly
honest. Sure. Yep. For you know a lot of the 72 and
earlier trucks didn't come with a front sway bar.
So I remember riding around with grandpa when I was a kid in his 72
we always thought grandpa was a crazy driver.
Just didn't have a sway bar! That may have been part of it but there also
was not a sway bar on that truck. Right. Well and then you know
one of the other things that we we really focus on we do this for all of
our suspension systems. Is we put a lot of time energy into the
installation experience and oftentimes a lot of the
careful thought and consideration into either the design or the things that we
include don't always get I guess discussed in
whether it be the marketing material that gets put out on it or different
things. Um let's let's talk about that let's
dive into you know some of those considerations
for installation. Um Damien from kind of your thoughts and
uh reflection back on the kit
what were some of the bolt-in considerations that we had to make on
both the square body and the 63 to 72 trucks? Well the biggest
one and I think we play it up a lot in our
videos and advertising is they can be installed
with the bed on the truck. You know you don't have to call up a couple buddies
come over help you lift the bed off you can just put it up on jack stands do
it in your garage at home. Yep. So you know that's a big one. Having
the hardware to be able to install everything you
know the the front u-bolt kits for the lower control arms.
That's that's a big one and one that I don't think really gets emphasized
enough. So for those that are unfamiliar if you haven't been underneath your c10
in a while the lower control arms are held on by
u-bolts and Damien you have to remind me here on
exactly the year split but the early trucks had a relatively
thin u-bolt. So on the half-tons GM actually used three different bolt sizes
over the years. 67-ish and earlier they were 7/16
diameter. About 67 68 to 72 GM stepped it up to a
half inch bolt on the half tons and then 73
they stepped it up to a 9/16 thread. Sure. So being that
you know your truck's a perfect example you've got a lot more engine and a lot
more power than those trucks were ever designed for
having that 9/16 bolt is a definite benefit to make sure the
lower control arm stays attached. Right and that's something that we include
automatically in the kit so if you get home from work on a friday night you're
excited to start installing your suspension system or it's the weekend
you know you have all the parts that you need and that's the biggest frustration
at least from my end is when I'm installing something and I find out
oh shoot I have to go get this part and so that's something I'm really happy
that we were able to build into this kit. But in addition too, I think packaging
of how all the components work within the chassis are really
important to discuss too because I know when building this truck there
were some major considerations that I had
right from the get-go. One being the fuel tank
the other being what rear end housing I was going to use
into the future. So touch on the fuel tank first
as many of you know the fuel tanks on the early trucks are in the cab with you.
So not only is there potentially a safety hazard of having
20 gallons of fuel four inches from your back
but in addition that fuel is sitting up relatively high
in terms of your center to gravity and moving that towards the rear down low is
going to have a lot of benefits not only safety but also just the performance of
the vehicle as it handles. And so when we're looking at
our rear link suspension and looking at the panhard
bars and looking how it has to be tight against
the the pumpkin but not too far back where it'll interfere with the gas tank
those are major considerations. I know in the square bodies there's fuel tank
considerations as well. Yeah so the square bodies come with
saddle tanks mounted out board of the frame
on both sides or either side depending on the year of the truck.
And you know it it's great if somebody wants to go to a rear-mounted fuel tank
there's still room to do that because it's a very similar
panhard bar setup to what we're using on the early trucks
but not everybody wants to go to a rear-mounted fuel tank
you know you don't have the safety considerations with the tank in the cab
it's already mounted down low so you know we wanted to make sure that we kept
the option to run the factory fuel tanks. Yeah and that and that's a really good
point so you know whether you have plans right now
or down the road to do maybe something different with your fuel tank
be considerate of the kit that you're looking at and making sure it'll work
with both uh situations because uh you don't want to find you have to start
to change out your suspension later because you decide
to move your fuel tank. But another area that I touched on was
the rear end housing. My truck came stock with a 12-bolt
one wheel wonder it was awesome. But as further upgrades got made to the
truck I started looking more at 9-inches and things like that. Um
just for long-term durability and ease of maintenance and things of that nature
and the nice thing is there's a lot of companies out there
that make drop-in housings that work with our suspension.
In this truck particularly I use a Quick Performance 9-inch.
It dropped in and the suspension would never know it was ever changed and so
that's something I think should be a consideration for people as well as they
look at modifying their truck. Now those aftermarket housings for the
early trucks a lot of times they don't have the panhard bar mount on the
center section. Oh yeah. So our our rear system works really well with
that being that we've mounted on the passenger side truck arm
you don't have to worry about having a panhard bar mount on the housing itself.
That's right. That's right. And you know another area to look at you know
you're kind of shifting towards the front is
you know getting these trucks low is important
right? The stance is everything for these trucks and
you know as you can see here there's a lot of different wheel and tire packages
you can choose from whether it be something that's a little bit more
traditional something that's a little bit larger
more of a pro-touring look or maybe it's that deep dish you know
20/22 style wheel that you want to maybe run on this truck. Now one thing that you
oftentimes find when you lower these trucks
with different suspension kits is that you pull the wheel off
center. So one thing that we're able to do
is give you that forward caster but we did some unique things with the ball
joints in terms of how we move the upper and lower
in conjunction so that we're able to keep the wheels centered. I don't know if
you have any comments to that. It's more prominent on the 67 to 72s
with the rounded wheel wells. So the the trucks have such an
aggressive caster gain as they're lowered it just
moves everything back in the wheel well. Right. And it's it's very noticeable on
the 67 to 72s once they're lowered. Yeah and caster is so important these
trucks were designed to be easy steering way back
when. The wheel and tires that people ran
before are totally different and the wheels sorry the tires today
obviously be more radial base are going to be
completely different. Forward caster is more and more
important because it helps with that straight line stability and that
steering feel that we've become more accustomed to in
recent years so the caster is definitely important
definitely important. So you know the the kit is built
we've had it on our trucks for let's see here I think this is year
three that i've had on this truck i think you've had yours on for three
years now. I'm on my third driving season with it.
Yep. I mean you you had a lot more of the prototype
production so
you had a little bit more seat time with it in the year prior to it being
launched. But one of the cool things was as soon
as we had I guess the production kits available we
set out on a lot of different road trips and
journeys one that sticks out in my mind the most is Hot
ROD Power Tour of was it 17 or 18? 18. Uh 18
and one thing is that I can't emphasize enough about these kits is that
they're designed to be driven. They're designed
to not only you know sit low look good but they're great drivers. They
are designed to go across the country do anything you want to do thrash on them
and ultimately be relatively respectful on the racetrack as well. There's a lot
of these trucks that get autocrossed or road coursed
drag racing you're starting to see more of them in drag racing.
But I can't help but think back to that Power Tour we drove
a couple thousand miles in just about -3700 miles
over 10 days through 13 states and we did tail of the Dragon.
That's right we did Tail of the Dragon which was an absolute blast.
But I remember us going through there just
commenting to the ride quality and how well the trucks performed um you know
through that and since then I've you know my truck has been in dozens of
more states. Raced in you know different events
across the country. But again I can't help but emphasize
enough that it it has the drivability and the
comfort yet has the performance characteristics to be
very respectful on the racetrack as well. And that's something that really sticks
out my mind with these trucks. So yeah now uh you know kind of in closing
for anybody that's you know been thinking about a
suspension system for their c10 Damein from your perspective what are
some things that one should consider when looking at different options for
their truck? You know is it something that you can
get as a a full system are you going to be
piecemealing something together? Is it something that's coming
assembled are you going to have to do a bunch of paint and assembly on it when
you get it? You know the nice thing about our
control arms you don't have to press the ball joints in they're already installed.
You don't have to put any bushings in. Pull it out of the box bolt it on the
truck. Yeah the ease of installation is is key and again that's a major focus as
we build different suspension systems. But yeah I reflect back to not only the
ease of installation but is everything there that you need? Again
we touched on the u-bolts just one small detail but I also look at again
that you know future proofing your truck in a manner where
you're able to upgrade it down the road without having to
rethink your suspension that's already been installed. Whether it be that 9-
inch. Whether it be your fuel tank placement or any other combination of
things. Sure. So being able to have that peace of
mind that the suspension you install today will
still be that suspension you're going to have 10 years from now
across several other iterations of how you build your truck
so. Yeah. All right so there you have it there's a deep dive into a lot of the
considerations and thoughts on when designing these suspension systems for
our c10 pickups. If you want more information for your
truck visit QA1.net/c10. Visit us on social media and make
sure you like and subscribe this video right here.
Lots more coming your way so in the meantime guys make sure you get out and
#goDRIVEit.
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