hen Pete and Leslie Richmond sat down with the Cotati Speed Shop crew to determine how to get their 1968 C10 to sit right, look good, handle well, and stop even better, the one thing they knew was that they were going with a company that offered a “full system.” They knew that mixing and matching components had the risk of incompatibility. It was also decided that they wanted a system that would allow for full adjustability when it came to the stance as well as the handling of the truck. Stock coil springs and non-adjustable tube shocks wouldn’t cut it nor would the stock trailing arm setup out back.

Last month, we followed along with the Cotati crew as they installed a QA1 front suspension kit from Speedway Motors on the Richmond C10, so it should come as no surprise that when it came to addressing the rear suspension, the guys went with more of the same.

QA1’s Tubular Truck Arm Kit is the perfect complement to their front tubular control arm coilover shock setup. With double-adjustable 200-pound coilover shocks, fully adjustable tubular trailing arms, adjustable sway bar, and extended Panhard bar, the limits are endless when it comes to setting up the suspension exactly as desired. The upper coilover shock mounts on the bolt-in C-notch bracket, relocates the shocks to the outside of the frame, closer to the wheel, providing more cornering stability and increased real estate for a rear-mounted fuel tank. Tubular truck arms built from seven-gauge DOM steel replace the stamped factory trailing arms with integrated pinion angle adjustment, eliminating the need for angled shims. The adjustable truck arms also allow for wheelbase adjustments to get that rear wheel perfectly centered in the wheelwell, a common problem with lowered trucks. A full-length, adjustable Panhard bar with multiple mounting locations keeps the rearend centered while also correcting roll center geometry on a lowered truck.

Installation of the QA1 kit begins with the removal of a number of crossmembers, as well as a handful of stock brackets. Thankfully, the Cotati crew did the dirty work before we arrived, going so far as sending the chassis out for blasting and powdercoating after they installed the new QA1 C-notch and shock brackets. We showed up just in time to catch the guys as they started bolting in all the new componentry.

1. Here’s the QA1 rear coilover conversion with tubular truck arms from Speedway Motors (PN 721R210200). The tubular truck arms are front and center, flanked by the 200-pound double-adjustable coilover shocks, sway bar, mounting brackets, and hardware. The fully plated and powdercoated kit makes it ready to bolt in.

2-4. The Cotati crew got a jump start on the chassis by installing the QA1 C-notch and shock brackets as well as a custom crossmember built by Quarter Tilt Metal Company. Though the QA1 kit is designed to be a fully bolt-in affair, it can be welded in place as well, if so desired.

5. First things first, the adjuster links are installed on the truck arms and centered per QA1’s instructions.

7. The rotator box bracket is first attached to the truck arm and adjuster link …

9. Here’s a look at the installed rotator box assembly.

11. The Cotati team decided the stock crossmember wasn’t going to cut it, so they again teamed up with the guys at Quarter Tilt to design their own, one-off center crossmember, based loosely around the stock C10 item and thusly accepting the QA1 forward truck arm mounts. Note the adjustability built into the QA1 mounts for easy pinion angle and ride height adjustments.

12-13. QA1 X Series self-lubricated rod ends, high-misalignment spacers, and ¾-inch hardware are used to mate the truck arms to the brackets. Antisieze compound ensures the threading surfaces never gall.

15. The 200-pound double-adjustable QA1 coilover shocks are assembled and then installed on their respective mounting brackets.

17. … before the bracket is bolted in place using the provided fasteners.

19. A pair of adjustable endlinks mate the sway bar with the previously installed frame brackets.

20. Here, the sway bar assembly is clearly visible.

22. With the QA1 suspension install a wrap, the Cotati crew turns their attention to the binders on the rearend.

23. While the rearend in the C10 is original to the truck, savvy readers will notice that the axle flanges are not. That’s because the original 12-bolt had an axle conversion many years back to upgrade the C-clip axles to the more robust 9-inch Ford 31-spline axles. Due to this axle swap, the rear drum brakes were also upgraded to Ford products in the shape of a disc brake kit from Classic Performance Products (CPP).

25. … properly shimming the calipers and installing the brake pads …

26. … and torquing everything to spec.