Alright, so i decided to do the 52" spring swap in front of my 78 PU, already put 56" springs in the back with a new 4" lowering bracket from ORD and the super shackles from DiY. absolutely love it and works awesome. but getting back to the front. i also put in a high steer arm instead of the stock location. so i did all the cut/torch of the old brackets and pulled the old 4" lift springs out(think their 47" or so) and welded in the new front brackets from DiY and the front rear brackets are now bolted in. put in my old 52" rear springs in front with a 8* shim and it hits my high steer tie rod but more importantly when i took weight off the truck sat down to stockish height and i didnt get any lift out of it. so i then pulled the springs and took the shim out and put the overload spring plate back in to stiffen it up. sagged about the same and hit my tie rod even worse. so i added a regular leaf from a diff pack and put it in. cleared the tie rod but still no lift from the springs. finally gave up and put the 4" lift springs with stock length back in and called it a weekend. not sure what else i could have done but the 52 swap did not work. dont know if i need to use 52" lift springs? because i thought i was supposed to use stock ones. any help or suggestions would be great.
CK5
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52" front spring help
- Thread starter 78Chev
- Start date
swedester
1/2 ton status
if you use new 52" stock springs,you will get some lift,depending on how much sag your old front springs had.I got 6,5" lift going from really sagged std springs to new 52"s with 6 leafs,and removed overload,including the longer shackles and the angleshim.
How flat are your 52's? I got about 3-4 inches with mine. And they are pretty flat. You may need an add a leaf. The interference witg the toerod is why alot of people do the tierod behind instead of in front
Note that this arrangement is most often on Dana 60's; if you're running a D44 or 10b, I donno that I've seen steering arms that do this.
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what front axle do you have and are you using crossover?
The reason I ask is because when you swap a dana44/10bolt front to crossover you have to use the flat top knuckles where the tie rod goes in from the top. If you do not modify the knuckles to put the tie rod in from the bottom or use the 76 and older tie rod setup you will have very little clearance between the tie rod and spring.
I run a 10 bolt with crossover and kept the tie rod on top for a little extra clearance but it does rub when turned and it is very difficult to remove the tie rod. Adding a zero-rate solved that problem.
As far as height goes I run a 4 leaf pack with no overload and the zero rate, my leaf pack is almost flat and I have about 3 inches of lift over stock. Sounds to me like you need a less worn out set of springs and I advise you to keep the overload if you want your springs to live very long.
The reason I ask is because when you swap a dana44/10bolt front to crossover you have to use the flat top knuckles where the tie rod goes in from the top. If you do not modify the knuckles to put the tie rod in from the bottom or use the 76 and older tie rod setup you will have very little clearance between the tie rod and spring.
I run a 10 bolt with crossover and kept the tie rod on top for a little extra clearance but it does rub when turned and it is very difficult to remove the tie rod. Adding a zero-rate solved that problem.
As far as height goes I run a 4 leaf pack with no overload and the zero rate, my leaf pack is almost flat and I have about 3 inches of lift over stock. Sounds to me like you need a less worn out set of springs and I advise you to keep the overload if you want your springs to live very long.
Taller arms and/or spacers would make it fit. I am not saying that this is a good idea, mind you, just offering possibilities. Lots of folks don't like D44 highsteer on a fullsize, and spacers are just begging for breakage.
As I've been fiddling with this very problem, there's been a coupla threads lately with some good info:
http://coloradok5.com/forums/showthread.php?t=289276
http://coloradok5.com/forums/showthread.php?t=289609
In my case I ended up moving the tierod back to the knuckles (i.e. not high steer), which necessitated zero-rates to clear the tierod UNDER the springs. This in turn meant I needed to bump the steering arm up a smidge to clear the draglink (i.e. 1.5" arm instead of of 1"). Mighta been able to do like 1/2" or 3/4" zero rates and split the difference, but I was rolling my own with what I had on the shelf.
-- A
As I've been fiddling with this very problem, there's been a coupla threads lately with some good info:
http://coloradok5.com/forums/showthread.php?t=289276
http://coloradok5.com/forums/showthread.php?t=289609
In my case I ended up moving the tierod back to the knuckles (i.e. not high steer), which necessitated zero-rates to clear the tierod UNDER the springs. This in turn meant I needed to bump the steering arm up a smidge to clear the draglink (i.e. 1.5" arm instead of of 1"). Mighta been able to do like 1/2" or 3/4" zero rates and split the difference, but I was rolling my own with what I had on the shelf.
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I see, didnt realize that when you said you were running high steer what you meant was that you had high steer
I run my tie rod in the knuckle like dremu said for fear of breakage. dana44/10 bolt knuckles arent known for their strength and I wouldnt want to push my luck but it looks like the tall arms/spacers are what you need for the clearance.
I run my tie rod in the knuckle like dremu said for fear of breakage. dana44/10 bolt knuckles arent known for their strength and I wouldnt want to push my luck but it looks like the tall arms/spacers are what you need for the clearance.
I believe that is the problem...
no i did not move my front rear mount forward, i enlarged the hole and used the DIY4X upgrade ones. as in my pic, but the pic is with the 48" springs
you then need to either remove the hangar and relocate it, or get 56in springs and run those. your shackle angle is going to blow with 52s or 47s
Honestly, using either a 52" or a 56" up front without the overload will flatten the springs in no time. You'll end up putting a new spring pack on and going through this all over again -- been there, done that.
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update: so i found another tie rod and put it in the stock location on the knuckles, problem solved with the clearance. only issue tho. i have 4" rear drop mount with 6" shackles in the rear with 56" springs. i need the front to be even so if i do stock 56" with overload in the front will that put me near level or will it be higher as it is now by 1"?
depends on arch of springs. I have 56s in rear with 7in shackle 52s in front with 6.75 shackle and my truck sits pretty level.
Overloads on both
Overloads on both
think im gonna have to just throw my 56"s on front and see where it puts it. then adjust the rear to level it. know any good bumper shops in nor cal? id like to get rid of my giant stock ones and have some closer tube ones that arnt too expensive
