Lowering?

[daniel4616]

Hello, I am interested in purchasing this truck. I love the looks etc, and the 4 cyclinder seems to get some decent MPG.

Big question though, IF I needed to lower the truck slightly, would the spindles and leafs be my only option? When I say slightly, I mean a 1"/2-3" front/rear drop.

I dont see anyone mentioning drop blocks on this site, do they not work on this truck? If I got a set of 18" rims with low profile tires, would that lower the stance of my truck?

Some of the people I drive around have issues with getting in and out of taller vehicles. So this is actually a big part in deciding which truck I purchase. Competitor trucks seem to be more flexible with how you can lower them. I just want to make sure Im not missing something.

Thanks a ton!

[daniel4616]

I searched for drop blocks, nothing came up in the D40 section of forum. I also couldnt find anything related to the 05+ Frontiers reguarding blocks. Im aware that there are threads about drop blocks, but this thread was posted is in the D40 section, so I was talking about the D40 models. Sorry for confusion?

Just did another search, still nothing.

[WickedPharohe]

you dont have torsion bars, you have coilovers in the front. companies such as PRG make coils that can get you about 1.5" of drop

for the rear, a flip kit moves the axle from under the spring, to on top of the spring. this nets a drop as thick as the axle, so around 5-6" - ScottXGTR

And blocks wont work cause they will actually lift the truck, look at earlier post about lowering in the D40 section, sport truck did a tech article about a suzuki equator that the dearched the leaf spring to get the drop they were looking for

[$krap_IN_flesh]

I didn't even notice it was for a D40 frontier

[daniel4616]

So there is no easy way to go about lowering the Frontier? Even for such a little drop. How much would that drop cost roughly Wicked?

I see you said the axel flip does about 5-6", thats WAY more than what I was thinking. Anything out there that only does 2-3"? Again this is because the people I drive around have a hard time getting in and out of cars, let alone trucks. Im not looking to "slam" the truck really. Its just that the more I look at the truck, the more I want it!

[nislo]

if you don't want a lot of drop I would cut half a coil off each front spring, remove front bumpstops, get rear leafs de-arched a bit, and finish it off with some wheels with tires that are a couple sizes smaller than stock, u can get a speedo calibrator from hypertech if you are worried about that

[pugz]

Best bet to get a good drop is custom made spindles and a custom flip kit. But your probably looking at close to 1500$ but that would get u a good 4/5 drop. The d40s just haven't caught on in the aftermarket parts world unfortunately.

[nislo]

Best bet to get a good drop is custom made spindles and a custom flip kit. But your probably looking at close to 1500$ but that would get u a good 4/5 drop. The d40s just haven't caught on in the aftermarket parts world unfortunately.

unless you are going up :D

[onelozu]

Being that it's spring over axle would drop shackles work?

[daniel4616]

Alright, this was very helpful. I will probably just do what nislo mentioned. I need a truck because I have a boat, and nothing to tow it yet (I have been a heavy burden on my friends with trucks :P) and am just getting enough money now to buy one.

nislo, you mentioned the speedo calibrator: Is this necessary? Will the smaller rims and tires give an incorrect reading without a calibration? Last question, whats the best way to go about dearching the rear leafs?

[nislo]

if you get drastically larger or smaller tires the speedo and odometer will be way off, you could end up putting more miles on your vehicle than you actually are if smaller and if bigger you would be keep miles off your odometer. Look for a spring shop.

[BizzareCustoms]

I have 22" with 265/35/22 and when i went by a speed trap sign my speedo was dead on but i think mine are pretty close to the stock size overall. smaller over all diameter will make you speedo read faster than you are really going which as nislo pointed out will rack up miles on the odo a lot more than you really are. just as an example if you speedo says you are doing 70 when you are doing sixty and you go on 2 hour drive one way. by the time you get there youve racked an extra 20 miles on your odo (40 round trip) now say you make that trip once a week over the course of a year, thats an extra 2,080 miles on your odo that you didnt really drive. (think i did the math right) Not really hurting you car just the resell value.
As for the dearching ive never had a truck with dearched leaf springs. Ive always done axle over conversions which will maintain factory ride quality (or bagging them) a four inch drop in the rear will put you at pretty much zero wheel gap (if i remember the stop look right) which is where mine sits aired up and its not that low. I know my mom and grandmother can get in and out of it with out problems.
Good luck hope you get the truck and post pics of what ever you decide to do.

[BizzareCustoms]

p.s. what part of florida are you in. If your close maybe we can meet up and you can see if you think its too low before you decide what you want to do.

[nislo]

oh and 4cyl. Xe springs dropped the front of my V6 king cab approx. 1" if you don't want to cut coils. It rode just fine on those springs. I still have those XE springs installed on my old struts I could sell for an easy bolt in 1" drop.