robert97dodge
1/2 ton status
I went from 52" front 6" lift springs to 56" rear 5" lift springs on my '86 K20. What I did is I got a chart off all different spring rates and I found a set rated at 420 lbs. Which a friend of mine with a blazer has coil rated at 400 and his flexes damn good for being as big as it is. So I will have more weight than him so I figure I would be good since I have a big block. The rear springs stared out as a 5" pack and first thing I did before I installed them was pull the overload because I knew that would limit flex and I dont want that. Then I installed them using 7" shackles on the rear. The longer shackles will help with flex too. I plan on running 49" tires on my truck so I wanted quite a bit of lift but not to much I pretty much wanted the truck to be real close to sitting on the tires. Before I had pulled my 52's out of the front I had about 3"s of clearance on top of the rockwell diff and the crossmember under my oil pan. I swapped out springs and put the longer shackles and now I have about 8" of clearance. Also remember I pulled the overload out too. Once I got it sitting back on the ground it was higher than I had thought it would be. So I took it back apart and removed the bottom leaf springs out of each side too. So my original goal was to have it about 43" to the top of the front crossmember. Now that the weight has been on the front springs for a couple weeks I am sitting at 42". PLus I dont have all the weight on the front yet since there is no front clip, radiator, electric fans, winch, roll cage, and all that good stuff.
Here you can see how I mounted them. Basically I just chopped the front of the frame off so that it would be straight and I added the 4X4 1/4" wall square tubing. THen I just built the front springs hangers and the springs in the front are mounted at the same height as that factory mount just moved forward about 3"s.
Just for reference that is a 40" tire on the truck.
Also all those pics were taken before I removed the lower leaf and it settled a bit. Basically when it is all said and done I want to be sitting about the same if not a bit lower than this truck. The tires that are on this truck are the ones that I am gonna be using.
I will get some more pics this week with the truck how it is sitting now. ALso on that blazer he used 63" springs in the rear. I plan on running a trailer ball set up and jeep coil springs. Also just for the record now that I pulled those springs out of the front pack the front of my truck is REALLY soft. I can just push on it a little bit and it moves a lot!!!
Here you can see how I mounted them. Basically I just chopped the front of the frame off so that it would be straight and I added the 4X4 1/4" wall square tubing. THen I just built the front springs hangers and the springs in the front are mounted at the same height as that factory mount just moved forward about 3"s.
Just for reference that is a 40" tire on the truck.
Also all those pics were taken before I removed the lower leaf and it settled a bit. Basically when it is all said and done I want to be sitting about the same if not a bit lower than this truck. The tires that are on this truck are the ones that I am gonna be using.
I will get some more pics this week with the truck how it is sitting now. ALso on that blazer he used 63" springs in the rear. I plan on running a trailer ball set up and jeep coil springs. Also just for the record now that I pulled those springs out of the front pack the front of my truck is REALLY soft. I can just push on it a little bit and it moves a lot!!!
Here is my build thread in case you havent seen it. 
