[backtobasics]

http://www.dodgetalk.com/forums/showthread.php?t=102318&page=3&pp=20

I read the "how to" on this post. I would like to provide some detailed feedback.

I perfrormed this trick recently. It was a mixed bag.

The spring hanger flips over, and 2 diagonal holes line up, and the others need elongated, as slammed1 says. The holes that lined up on my truck were front lower, and rear upper.
This took 4 "above average" wrenches 6 hours to do, on a lift, with adequate tools, but no torch. A torch is absolutely critical for this job :VHOT: Air chisel takes off the rivet heads, but the rivets to not just punch through and we ended up drilling. I believe the bolt holes are 1/2, but check to make sure. We bought 14MM (9/16)bolts, and they were larger, necessitating opening up the holes larger then needed. Since this was done after hours, there was no close hardware store.
The frame is double wall thickness, on my 96 club cab. Tons of drilling.

The leaf does not need to be disconnected, you can just turn the spring hanger around.
With a 2' rear shackle, the truck is .5 away from the bumpstop. Ride is rough (hitting bump stop) but will probably be better once bumpstop is removed. With 4" of drop, (I already had rear shackle installed) I doubt stock shocks will be happy, but I will decide once bumpstop is removed.

1996 Ram club 2wd. With shackle, and flip, no front end modifications, the rear sits exactly 1" lower then front.

Tools needed:
TORCH :VHOT:
Air chisel
drill bit 1/2 SHARP
1/2 grade 8 nuts and bolts, with flat and lock washers

Directions:
Remove tires
Support frame
Support axle, floor jack preferable, for adjustability
Heat rivet head, and air chisel head of rivet off
Drop axle, to lower front of springs
Heat rivet in frame and punch through
Rotate hanger
Bolt up front lower and rear upper
drill out rear lower, and front upper
bolt rear lower and front upper./

 

[xtremewlr]

Great info, thanks for posting that up.

Did you run into any issues on the driver side with the gas tank being in the way?

 

[backtobasics]

Yes, no and sort of

Yeah, it was hard to get in on the backside, and it would have been easier to drop the tank, but we were glutton (sp) for punishement, with wrong size bolts, no torch, etc.

The tank is plastic so we were able to push it a little bit.

 

[slammed1]

Sounds like you did a nice job,you took a little longer than I did to do the whole frt and rear on mine but I know you didnt have all the right tools as you stated. I was able to pry the gas tank away far enough to get the spring bolt out and I ran it in the opposite way afterwards and worked like a charm. I used a punch on an air chisel to knock out the rivets but used a torch to knock off the heads of the rivets. I dont know why everyone says to remove the bed doing hangers as I did mine on the floor with jackstands and such and had no issues where I wished the bed was off.

Keep us posted on whats next,and glad you were able to use a homegrown method for a basically free drop mod.