What's new
CK5
Register an account today to become a member! Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members.

1 ton suspension lift or 1/2 ton?

for now, i'm gonna run the 285's. Later on down the road I'll either buy a set of 36's for my mag wheels or hopefully I'll find a set of 12 bolt beadlocks and run the military 37's. In reality I only need shocks for my truck. But if I'm going to do it I want to buy nice ones like bilsteins. If I'm gonna spend the money on them I might as well do the lift now too. I think my rear springs are ok it was the fronts I was more concerned with. I'd go with the springs up front and the shackle flip with zero rates front and back but I would end up with 5 inches front and back and I don't know if I would be asking for trouble. I want as little nonsense as possible with this truck. I've seen my buddies destroy good trucks putting lifts in. I want to avoid as many vibration and binding problems as possible. I know with 6 inch lifts you run into clearance/binding issues with the front CV joint on the drive shaft, and I don't really want to get new driveshafts made up. Maybe I'll just use the blocks in back like I originally planned for now and save the shackle flip for when I need more clearance.
 
Lifting doesn't destroy a vehicle. Lifting a vehicle improperly will. In fact most GOOD lifts address problems with the factory setup. It's generally a given that when you lift a truck you may just have to mess with your driveshafts, brake lines, and other components aside from the springs and shocks. Folks seem to forget that and/or just try to skip over that.

I dislike blocks. Especially considering in the slick stuff I can get axle wrap with my stock rear springs and tall tires. The 6.2L isn't a powerhouse but it has nice low torque and that combined with 4.56 gears means it can and will give you axlewrap if you try hard enough.


Trust me, you'll love it with the bigger tires. Get to an actual 36" tall tire and it'll drive so much better than it does now.
 
86m10086.2L said:
I want as little nonsense as possible with this truck.
Click to expand...


Maybe you should skip the zero rates for now. Just go with a 4" lift all around. It will give you the room for up to a 37" tire (or more depending on how much you want to cut). The axle placement is not noticeable and tire clearance is fine. You can always add them later if you get the urge. Driveshafts will be fine as long as you get decent pinion angles.
 
even if I changed the springs front and rear which I'm not, the pinion angles stay the same. I am not removing and replacing the spring perches. Do I need to run shims with a 4 inch lift? I haven't heard that as being necessary. I drive this truck alot, and I mean alot. If i have to spend a few extra dollars to make sure I do it right and everything works well, I will.
 
Run it if you want :surepal:. I'm just trying to help YOU out. I did a very similar lift, if not the same lift on a m1008. The drivetrain would bind up just moving it in the yard. Shims fixed it right up. Really, you just need an angle finder and then to figure out how to use it and you can figure it out for yourself. But you could just run it w/o shims. I'm curious how long it would hold up. Make sure you post up that info for future reference (sarcasm). :waytogo:
 
The axle will swing forward when you install the shackle flip but as the spring compresses it moves rearward and creates no clearance issues even with 37 inch tires and no trimming. I know this because I run this setup. Check my photos on this site and you can see some poser pics of my rig. Don't waste your time with blocks, you will like your lift. For the ride quality I would say that the front end gets a little firmer with the 4 inch arch in the springs but it is not a worse ride. The back end will get a lot softer with a lighter duty spring pack and the flip but you are correct about shock selection, my ranchos are total junk.
 
Alright so I'm gonna do the 4 inch lift. Tuff country HD springs up front, shackle flip in back. I'm gonna throw up a list of all the things I know I need to do this lift properly (parts wise). Let me know if I forgot anything or left anything out. Remember this is just a 4inch spring lift.

- 4 inch drop pitman arm
- 4 inch tuff country hd springs (front)
- spring eye bushings
- ord/diy 4 inch shackle flip kit
- Bilstein or equivilent shocks for truck with 4 inch lift
- possibly new u-bolts
- pinion shims to corrrect for new pinion angle?

I think thats it. I've been told I dont need to either extend the brake lines or the driveshaft for a 4 inch lift. True or false? And I know the rear axle gets moved forward with the shackle flip. but I'm not running a big enough tire to worry about that right now. did I miss anything? Tell me now. I would like to get everything I need before hand. That way I only have to worry about what I break/might break during the install.
 
Do the brake lines. Cheap insurance. Buy the longest you can find and just secure them out of the way. That way if you ever flex the snot out of it unintentionally you won't find your stock or 4" lift lines too short.
 
Oh yeah, what he said. Don't reuse your u-bolts as the fronts won't fit with the thicker spring pack and the rears will probably be rusty anyways.

Be advised that the passenger side front actually requires one u bolt and two bolts. I just took one of the bolts down to my local hardware store and found two Grade 8 bolts that were the same thread but longer.
 
Spring plate flip for the rear is a good low buck mod for clearance. You can get it with the ubolts.
http://www.offroaddesign.com/catalog/uboltreversal.htm

The HD front shackles are as well. I think these make a world of difference for ride and flex (did I mention this previouslyz?). Another good low buck mod but you can do it later if funds are tight.
http://www.offroaddesign.com/catalog/hdshackles.htm

This is a good place to get your pinion shims when your ready (they are towards the bottom). A two degree should work well for the front. The rear I think was a six degree but you will probably want to test fit everything in the back, measure the angle difference and then order the shims. These are nice because they are steel (not alum.) and they bolt to the spring pack. There are shims that will just slide in but the centering pin does not seat enough with the shim in there to give me a warm and fuzzy feeling. JKWs are the shiznit. You may need a new centering pin (longer) to bolt the shim to the spring pack. I got mine from a local spring and chasis supplier but I think ORD has those if you need them.

http://jkwoffroad.com/offroadproducts.php
 
is the sway bar disconnect kit necessary? does it really bind aal that much after the lift is installed. I'm thinking about getting it in the future. But if it can wait on that, I probably would.

Also I was looking at JKW's stuff, and it all looks nice, but the pinion shims are only 2 1/2 inches wide. My springs are 3 inches wide. Is that a problem? And is there anyway to know how much the pinion angle is going to change before the lift is installed? Is there a set amount it usually changes? I would hate to be done with the install over a 2 or 3 day swing, and then have to wait a week or so to get the pinion shims to drive it.
 
IMO it's better not to waste money on swaybar disconnects when you can just scrap out the swaybar altogether.
 
86m10086.2L said:
is the sway bar disconnect kit necessary? does it really bind aal that much after the lift is installed. I'm thinking about getting it in the future. But if it can wait on that, I probably would.

Also I was looking at JKW's stuff, and it all looks nice, but the pinion shims are only 2 1/2 inches wide. My springs are 3 inches wide. Is that a problem? And is there anyway to know how much the pinion angle is going to change before the lift is installed? Is there a set amount it usually changes? I would hate to be done with the install over a 2 or 3 day swing, and then have to wait a week or so to get the pinion shims to drive it.
Click to expand...

Your front lift springs will actually be 2.5" wide with 0.5" wider bushings to compensate for it. Not sure why that is and I have wondered about it myself. You can make a spacer and longer bolts on your upper swaybar mounts until you are ready for crossover or what have you. On the shims, I think the rear shim was actually a 10 degree shim. You can order them if you want and have them ready. No guarantees on that one but I think you will be alright with that setup. Like I said, I did almost the same exact lift, so the shims should be the same.

Post # 413 is how my truck turned out.
http://coloradok5.com/forums/showthread.php?t=198335&page=42
 
To add a couple more things. One of your rear shocks will not mount up until you get your pinion shims in because the shackle flip rotates the axle so much. Your bed is fairly easy to take off and it makes doing the shackle flip a lot easier. Just have about 6 guys to help take it off. The bench seats and cargo cover system in the bed add more weight than you might think. The best low budget way to get the rivets off for the shackle flip that I found was to put an X on the head of the rivet with an cut off wheel, cold chisel the head off, and punch it out with a center punch. When you master that technique they will come off fairly quickly. Good luck getting it done in 2-3 days. When I pulled off my bed, I decided to POR 15 the rear part of the frame. My 2-3 day project stretched out to 2-3 weeks (limited spare time). If you have some help and just keep plugging away at it you should be alright. Have fun.
 
Ditch the sway bar. Doesn't seem to do much other than cover GM's rear for liability issues. Don't drive like an ass and you'll be fine.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest Posts

Top Bottom