CPP's Chevy C-10 Trailing Arm & Crossmember Install - Raise Your Lowered Expectations

Grab your safety gear before the fun begins. The stock trailing arm crossmember is coming out next. It's held to the framerails with 14 big rivets from the factory that all need to be removed. Some people grind the rivets flat and drill them out, some cut an "X" in them with a cut-off wheel, air chisel them off, or air hammer them out. Whatever method you choose, ensure the rivet holes are unaffected.

This whole job is much easier with the use of air tools, but they are not required. Here, Craig is driving out the last rivet on the bottom of the passenger-side framerail.

I had no intentions of saving the old crossmember, so for the sake of time and effort, Craig used a plasma cutter to get the bulk of it out of the way so he could better access the rivets in the top section of the frame on each side. The crossmember can be carefully removed without cutting it up if you so choose.

Here is the stock crossmember next to CPP's new piece. The reasons for using CPP's is two fold. One is that the mounts for the trailing arms are raised to correct the pinion angle in lowered trucks; secondly there are two 3x5-inch holes in it to run exhaust through. The holes for the exhaust really sold me on this after dragging a not-that-old system over every speed bump and driveway in Southern California.

After cleaning up the framerails while the crossmember was out, the new one from CPP slid right in with just two or three tries. I knew I would most likely have to reorganize my fuel lines from the recent LS swap with the new crossmember, but it wasn't a big deal.

The CPP crossmember will line right up with the holes once inhabited by the pesky rivets. The stock doubler plate on the bottom of the frame was cleaned, painted, and put back into use. Don't snug the bolts until all of them are in place. This part is now finished. You could even reuse your stock trailing arms with this crossmember.

I also wanted to lower the back of the truck a bit more, so we prepped to install CPP's bolt-in C-notch kit. More Rivets need to be removed in the back section of the frame to make room for the C-notch.

The stock bumpstop bracket also needs to be removed along with the rivets that hold it onto the side of the frame. Air hammers and chisels are DANGEROUS! Make sure you are wearing safety glasses and gloves.

CPP has gone to great lengths to make sure their C-notch plates fit the frame right and don't pull it out of shape once bolted into place. Not only that, but they locate off the stock rivets that get removed and are very strong.

It's pretty easy to tell where the C-notch plates will be going and once you are sure, mark the area of the notch that will be cut out. Just remember to cut it for the inside of the notch.

Craig uses a straightedge and the plasma to make short work of cutting the frame. This could also be easily done with a thin cut-off wheel. Before cutting the frame, support the rear of each framerail.

After a little notch cleanup with a grinder, the plates were set in place and a few bolts started. Now, drill the remaining holes into the frame with a 7/16 drill bit.