How low can I go?

[dowoplover]

Just picked up a super clean one-owner '91 suburban to use as my DD. I want to lower it, but I don't know how much. I don't needthe frame to set on the ground. Any suggestions.

 

[Sam_Fear]

I like 'em low. Unless you run bags, you can only run it as low as the scrubline (nothing except exhaust is below the bottom of the rims) will allow, which all depends on your rims and tires.

And since those are fairly long wheelbase, I'd think 4" is max unless your roads are all glass, but 5-6" would look real good.

 

[Yankee Transplant]

mine depended on weather or not I could get it in my shop and on the ramp without driving on boards first . Mine is about 5" scrub-line.. Im happy with it my lowest point is the frame . the cab sits about an inch above the bottom of the frame

 

[dowoplover]

I appreciate it guys. I live in Texas so the roads aren't that bad. I was thinking about 4" jsut wanted some confirmation.

THANKS

 

[Neto]

When people talk about the scrub line, I always think of what happened to me once when I came over a hill after the Spring thaw in Minnesota, in my 62 Chrysler Newport. It had been my folks' family car before I got it, & it was actually sitting higher than stock, because the first thing my Dad did when he got it was to swap the 14" wheels it came with for the 15" wheels off of the previous family car, a 53 DeSoto. Anyway, I came over this hill, and the blacktop was buckled up in the middle of my lane. I didn't have much time to decide where I was going to go, so I just tried to straddle it. I was probably going around 50, and it caught the crossmember just below the engine. The whole car hesitated and shuddered. It actually bent the leading edge of the cross member, and it was massive on that car. So talk about the "scrub line" can be a bit misleading, because the assupmtion is that the road is completely flat between the wheels, something it often is not. I don't like to think about what would have happened if that car had been lowered, or even just at stock height. So take it easy on back roads, I guess.

 

[Yankee Transplant]

I think about it like a speed bump .. Ive only got 5" on clearance

 

[Undercover Customs]

Everything I've owned except 4x4's I've lowered. Some too much and have paid a price for it. Lost a flex plate on a speed bump, an oil pan from a rock and a crossmember from a raise manhole cover. None the less I still do them low. I always say ~ make so low the ants run when they see you coming...