lowering a chevy express

[press]

I drive a 99 chevy express 1500 for 7y. now. And always wanted to lower it few inches F/B and make it more stable for cornering. But there is no "off the shellf" solution for this type of van. So i was wondering if there is any type of pickup-truck parts that are usable(springs, shocks, fr/r swaybars) lets say a suburban or silverado maybe? Because most of the us-carpart shops in belgium give verry poor feedback or doenst wanna waste any time to sit down and think or look to any safe solution. i hope that any of your can get me some more feedback so i can get on figuring out the later mods for the van.

[Dezzmo]

Hi press,

your not gonna believe this but I was just about to post the very same question! I have a 99 Express 2500 and this is one of the main upgrades that I wish to do.

I have owned my Van since 2001 and (like you) I have searched high and low without results. But there must be some similarities between our vehicles and say a Suburban, Silverado, etc.. and I'm sure somebody here will let us know.

I'm gonna continue searching our quest until I find an answer and when I do you'll be the first to know:happy:

Hopefully somebody here will have an answer:great:

[press]

hi dezzmo, thx for the reply.
i have read an article in a magazine where they did a lowering job. (4" rear and 3"front)
they used springs from eibach front and custom shackles rear after cutting out some small pieces from the floorboard to get the needed clearance for the longer shackle. I allready informed myself and they were custommade for that job and not available. and you can forget finding a companny here in belgium that even wanna begin such a job due to safetyissues and vehiclelaws here. maybe in the us it is easier to find such a company.

[Dezzmo]

Thanks for the info press,

if you can find that article it would be a big help. I'm not 100% sure but I think a Suburban also has a rear leaf spring setup like ours. I don't have any time right now to research this but when I come home tonight I'll do some searching.

Don't give up my friend, whatever it takes I'm sure we'll find the answer:great:

[dangerous dave]

try air ride technologies at www.ridetech.com (http://www.ridetech.com). i'm not a vanner but they say they can drop anything

[press]

quote=Dezzmo;109433]Thanks for the info press,

if you can find that article it would be a big help. I'm not 100% sure but I think a Suburban also has a rear leaf spring setup like ours. I don't have any time right now to research this but when I come home tonight I'll do some searching.

Don't give up my friend, whatever it takes I'm sure we'll find the answer:great:[/quote]
http://www.truckinweb.com/features/0706tr_chevy_express_van/index.html (http://www.truckinweb.com/features/0706tr_chevy_express_van/index.html)
this is the link to that article i found.

[press]

try air ride technologies at www.ridetech.com (http://www.ridetech.com). i'm not a vanner but they say they can drop anything

ridetech as four as i can see, uses airbags an no coils. and since is a law against refitting your car, van or truck with airbags it is also a dead end. and i don't want to cut a coil to lower it i just want to now if theres any vehicle that uses same dimension coils and weighs about the same(like suburbans or silverados)

[Dezzmo]

quote=Dezzmo;109433]Thanks for the info press,

if you can find that article it would be a big help. I'm not 100% sure but I think a Suburban also has a rear leaf spring setup like ours. I don't have any time right now to research this but when I come home tonight I'll do some searching.

Don't give up my friend, whatever it takes I'm sure we'll find the answer:great:
http://www.truckinweb.com/features/0706tr_chevy_express_van/index.html (http://www.truckinweb.com/features/0706tr_chevy_express_van/index.html)
this is the link to that article i found.[/quote]

Hi Press,

yes I saw that article about 6 months ago and tried to do a search on Hight Fabrications (who did the suspension drop) and came up with nothing.

BUT, I did a search today and found this http://www.hightfabrication.com/251.html so I sent Mike Hight an email today asking him for a little more info on what parts he used for the drop and hopefully He'll get back to us soon with an answer.

Let's keep our fingers crossed:happy:

[Dezzmo]

Hi Press,

as of today I have not received a reply from Mike Hight so I might give him a call and maybe I can get a response then.

BTW, did you see this link; www.rockauto.com ? I shows part numbers and diagrams for all GM vehicles which can give us an idea what parts from other GM trucks are compatible with our Vans.

It might help us understand what type of aftermarket suspension components which are used in some GM trucks can used in ours.

Check it out and let me know what you think:glasses:

[press]

Hi Press,

as of today I have not received a reply from Mike Hight so I might give him a call and maybe I can get a response then.

BTW, did you see this link; www.rockauto.com (http://www.rockauto.com) ? I shows part numbers and diagrams for all GM vehicles which can give us an idea what parts from other GM trucks are compatible with our Vans.

It might help us understand what type of aftermarket suspension components which are used in some GM trucks can used in ours.

Check it out and let me know what you think:glasses:
:yipi: Hi dezzmo, have i got news for express-owners who want to lower it.
Today, at my work (i'm a tyrefitter) i happen to run into a guy who works for koni-suspensions. I asked him if they were able to help me out. But the van doesn't appear in their catalog. (and now the good news:lol:) he is gonna gimme the adress from a guy who makes coils by custom order. I have to go at his place so he can make the nessesery measurements and weighs the van. and then he can make some coils for me. The thing is now once he sets his machine up it is cheaper if i have a bigger order than ask him to just make the 2 coils i need for my van.
so now i'm calling all my connections to make the order a big as possible. so if your interested we can figure out how we can do this.
gimme a yell and i keep you up to date with the prices.

[Dezzmo]

:yipi::yipi::yipi:


Very Cool Press!!

I'm sorry I didn't see your reply sooner, somehow I'm not getting an email when there is a reply to my subscribed threads. I'll check my settings again.

Let me know what you find out because I'm interested. On another note, I may be trading in my van for a newer one (possibly an 05) but I'm sure the coils are the same size so I'll still buy them with you.

I just read a thread in the Express Van forum that someone else is interested in lower their Van too. Maybe they might be interested in a set of coils? I'll look for that thread again and get back to you:glasses: