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We recently picked up this 1999 Chevy S10 with a quarter-million miles on the odometer. It has a relatively rust-free stepside body, a three-quarter 350 (4.3-liter V6) engine, and it will make the perfect platform for our next fun work truck. Our first order of business is lowering the front of the S10. To drop the front of our S10, we chose a set of two-inch drop spindles from Speedway Motors, a set of QA1 front Pro Coil coilover shocks, and a set of QA1 upper and lower control arms.
The Speedway Motors lowering kit included drop spindles for the front, and rear leaf springs designed to drop the rear of the truck three inches. Suspension-wise, the truck’s high mileage didn’t matter since we were wiping the odometer clean with a complete re-do of the suspension. We’ll be doing the rear in a few weeks, but for now, let’s focus on lowering the front of an S10.
Our S10’s body is in good shape for the mileage, but the suspension was shot. Taking three inches out of the truck’s altitude should do wonders for the S10’s stance.
How Low Do You Want Your S10?
We want our rides to look cool and have that “perfect” stance — no matter how subjective that might be. For the front of our little S10, we wanted to close that gap between the tire and wheel opening and provide adequate room inside the wheels for brakes, and such. We like the classic Bowtie look, so scrapin’ frame with 20-inch hoops isn’t our thing. After spending many late nights scouring every corner of the ‘net, we settled on a set of Vision American Muscle 55 Rally wheels measuring 17×8 (front) and 18×9.5 (rear). We’re going to fit them with tires designed to fill those wheel openings nicely while still giving us some sidewall as an insurance policy for the wheels and our kidneys.
You can see how much taller the KUMHO ECSTA 235/55ZR-17 (front), and NITTO NT555 295/45ZR-18 (rear) tires are beside the factory 215/70-15 tire (left photo). We installed the new wheels and tires onto the front of the S10 to see how much of a drop we would need (right photo). 
Lowering the S10 three inches on both the front and rear would give us the look we wanted and still allow for our larger tires and wheels. The coilover shock system will help drop the front of the S10 and fine-tune its ride height. But, taking three inches of travel out of the four-inch operating range of the shocks meant we’d likely be bottoming out the shocks every time we hit a bump. That’s why we included the two-inch drop spindles, requiring the coilovers to only give up one inch of compression. Combined, three inches is very doable while still giving us plenty of cushion over bumps.
Most of the S10's drop is due to the spindles that place the mounting point for the wheel two inches higher (left). The adjustability of the coilovers will help us dial in the perfect height for the front of our S10. Be sure to use anti-seize on the threads of the shock to prevent galling as you adjust the spanner nut. 
Also, comparing before-and-after bumper or fender altitude doesn’t tell the whole story, because the overall diameter of the tires we’ll be using is taller than the 215/70-15 tires on the S10’s swanky, OEM “Swirl” wheels. The actual amount of drop added to the suspension can be accurately measured from the center of the spindle bearing cap to the fender opening, so long as the weight of the vehicle is resting on the spring. Measuring from the ground to the wheel well opening or bumper means the taller tire will skew the overall amount of drop. This bears mentioning, but in the end, we’re lowering the front of the S10 for the look, not the number.
Removing The S10’s Suspension
We set aside a weekend to swap the tired, sloppy front suspension of our S10 with the new spindles, control arms, and coilovers. Since we needed to remove the entire S10’s stock suspension, we decided this would be a good time to change out the old brakes, bearings, and seals as well. We ordered the brake calipers, rotors, seals, and bearings from Rock Auto and had everything shipped to our door.
Another benefit of planning for the swap is spraying all of the fasteners a few times with your favorite flavor of penetrating fluid before you reach for any wrenches. Our truck spent some time in the frozen Northland and all of the fasteners had plenty of time and miles to forge themselves to the opposing threads. A little bit of liquid wrench never hurts to crack that seal.
The front shocks have one nut at the top, but bolt to the underside of the lower control arm with two bolts (left). Remove those bolts and nut, and the shock should drop right out. The only component we reused was the sensor that is attached to the backing plate for the disc brakes (right). 
When working around automotive coil springs, it goes without saying that there is an enormous amount of energy stored in any spring able to hold up the weight of an automobile. Even when removing the castle nuts from the spindle, we always like to have a floor jack under the lower control arm, just in case.
Things get real tight trying to loosen the Stover nuts holding the upper control arms in place. We used a ratcheting combination wrench taped to a serpentine belt tool to reach down between the engine to loosen the nuts (left). The ratcheting box-end fits into the tight area and the extra leverage makes removing those lock nuts much less troublesome. Laying out all the old parts, we could see how bad everything was worn. 
Remove the shocks first. That’ll give you more room for a spring compressor, and you won’t have to fight with them while trying to keep the spring under control. Loosen the nut on top of the shock and the two bolts under the control arm and the shock will drop right out.
A nice benefit of using these components for dropping the front of an S10 is shedding over 12 pounds per side! 
Our S10 uses a reluctor wheel on the inside of the brake rotor for the anti-lock brake system. We simply removed the bolts for the backing plate and set the sensor and backing plate out of the way until it was time to reinstall them. Just be careful not to damage the sensor wiring in the process.
Installing Coilovers On The S10
The QA1 Pro Coil coilover shocks are a hybrid system, meaning they use the S10’s factory spring seat at the top, but the bottom of the spring rides on an adjustable spanner nut fitted to threads on the shock’s body. Raising or lowering the spanner nut raises or lowers the spring, thereby raising or lowering the vehicle. This brings a wealth of adjustability to fine-tune our S10’s ride height.
The lower shock mount comes with a T-bar which needs to be swapped out for the supplied spherical mount. This allows the shock to be mounted to the QA1 lower control arm with a through bolt. 
Also, since the top of the spring rides directly on the frame, raising or lowering the spanner nut does not put any appreciable pre-load on the spring since the spring will always compress the same amount under the weight of the vehicle. Raising or lowering the spring only raises or lowers the vehicle without changing the ride characteristics of the vehicle.
We did need to trim this flange from the S10's frame. The coilover would fit into the spring pocket, but would hit when we tried to mount everything up. Removing that little bit of metal and everything fit perfectly. 
All of this adjustability does require a bit of trimming to the spring pockets to make room for articulation of the coilover system. There is a small lip around part of the spring pocket. Removing this small lip was quickly accomplished with a hand-held grinder. This gave us enough clearance to install the coilovers without interference with the frame.
Choosing The Right Spring Rate
For a street-driven vehicle, QA1 recommends that a properly rated coil spring compress approximately 25 to 30 percent of its overall height when the vehicle’s weight is applied. That number goes up to 30 to 35 percent for drag racing applications.
Finding the right spring rate for any vehicle is similar to finding the perfect camshaft for an engine. Personal expectations can vary, and how you intend to drive the vehicle will greatly affect the final spring rate for each application.
We found recommendations all over the internet, ranging from super-soft 350-pound spring rates, all the way up to recommendations of 550 and 600-pound spring rates. QA1 has a page to help find your spring rate on its website and, you can always give them a call and have a QA1 representative guide you through the process.
Our S10 is a street driver, so we opted for the Pro Coil shocks with 450-pound, 10-inch springs. Our S10 is just two cylinders shy of a V8, and we’re not ruling out finding a couple more cylinders to stuff under the hood when the time is right. These springs will give us a nice, performance ride, and still provide for any engine upgrades down the road.
Tubular Control Arms On An S10
One look at the factory upper and lower control arms of our S10 and it was obvious they needed some serious work. Any rubber bushings that were still in attendance had ceased any usefulness many miles ago. You can say the same for the upper and lower ball joints. With this truck’s northern exposure, it was easy to understand how everything had gotten so corroded as well.
Opting for QA1 control arms is definitely an upgrade. The company offers upper and lower control arms designed specifically for street performance, as well as drag racing and pro touring applications. The street performance control arms for our S10 are engineered for coilover shocks, so we don’t have to worry about bending, or needing to beef up our stamped-steel control arms for coilover use.
Before Lowering The Front Of An S10
There are a few things to do before installing the new wheels and sending the S10 back to Earth. Now is a great time to go over all the fasteners, making sure everything is torqued properly, all the wires are secured safely out of the way, and all the cotter pins are installed. This is also a great time to give all the grease fittings a pump or two of lube before putting the wheels on and lowering the S10.
We zip-tied the wheel sensor wire to the upper control arm and gave each of the grease fittings two pumps from the grease gun before installing the wheels.
We also needed to adjust the spanner nut to set the vehicle’s ride height. It took a little bit of trial and error at first, but in the end, this is a great tool for getting that perfect stance. Having this adjustability at each corner means you can also correct any “GM lean,” when one side of the vehicle sits lower than the other.
You never want to adjust a spanner nut with it holding the weight of the vehicle as this will gall the threads on the shock and spanner wrench. Always adjust them with the vehicle’s frame resting on jack stands for safety and the suspension at full droop, and always apply some never-seize to help lubricate the threads. Adjusting the spanner nut is much easier to do with the wheels and tires off the vehicle.
Performance Alignment Specs For S10
It goes without saying whenever you swap out suspension components you will need to have an alignment done. This is for several reasons beyond simply extending the life of the tires. The QA1 control arms also allow for increased caster and more negative camber of the vehicle’s alignment. This helps the vehicle to track straighter and increases overall stability while driving.
We added a QA1 sway bar to make the most of our upgrade. You can see how much beefier the QA1 bar is compared to the OEM unit (left). The lower control arms came with these offset end links (center). They can be used with any brand of sway bar, even the factory original. Before installing the QA1 bar, we put some of the supplied grease onto the bar's frame mounts to prevent squeaking when the suspension moves (right). 
That said, you’ll want to let the guy on the alignment rack know the recommended specs from QA1 to get the most out of your investment. It goes without saying to ensure you use a reputable alignment shop. A quick “toe-and-go” alignment, or simply setting everything to OEM specifications will not allow your S10 to reach its full potential, and may negatively affect its handling. For a street-driven S10, QA1 recommends setting camber between 0 to -1.0 degree, 4.0 to 7.0 degrees of caster, and toe adjusted to 1/16- to 1/8-inch inward. The recommended alignment specs are part of the supplied instruction sheet, which is also linked on QA1’s website.
We finished lowering the front of our S10 by installing the wheels and tires for the last time. The difference when lowering the front of an S10 is substantial, and we did notice the suspension settled a little bit more after driving the truck for a few miles. Driving the truck is now a totally different experience. The ride is firmer but not harsh. The QA1 double-adjustable shocks allow for 18 different settings for both compression and rebound. We adjusted both and decided on three for both compression and rebound.
As far as the truck’s appearance, those classic Rally-style wheels tucked up into the wheel openings really make this truck stand out. It’s amazing how lowering the front of an S10 that was once just an “old truck” helped turn it into a cool-looking ride.
We ordered the Vision 55 Rallys and caps from Speedway Motors. The Rally-style hubcaps are a shorter version of the classic Rally cap. They fit just like the originals but don’t stick out nearly as much. Their modern touch on the OEM style matches our Rally wheels perfectly!
We think our dropped S10 looks great and the several snapped necks we observed driving through the local parking lot recently prove we’re not alone. It also shows that these little quarter-ton haulers from the ‘80s and ‘90s can be a great option when looking for a fun hot rod. We’ll soon be dropping the back with a set of Speedway Motor’s leaf springs, but for now, we’re enjoying the drive in our dropped S10.
