52s vs 6" ez ride?

[greywolf]

which do you guys think is better? i have a b52 kit but read they can have a little body roll, this is for my 90 burb street truck light wheeler(but would like to build for better wheeling just in case) family hauler but the whole family is getting excited about the lift. my wife likes to drive it so it has to have road manners

so 52s and a good swaybar or buy new 6" tuff country ez ride

 

[85 Jimmy]

Here's my personal experience with both 52" springs and 6" lift EZ ride springs.

I had the 6" springs on my truck when I initially lifted my truck and had no issues. The ride is kinda stiff compared to the 52's, but it's a leaf sprung truck, so I can live with it.

Then when I swapped to a Dana 60 I figured I'd put some 52's in b/c I wanted to be able to flex it out more than with the lift springs. When I put in the 52's I used the B52 kit and I relocated my shackle hanger with one from DIY4X. At first I had really bad death wobble do to my caster angle, so I swapped from 7.25" to 6" shackles and that got my caster closer, but it still wasn't right and I still had death wobble. I already had all the stuff to put hydraulic assist in, so I installed that and it covered up the death wobble, but I never fixed the problem to actually fix the death wobble.
I drove it like that alittle and I experienced really bad steering problems (not body roll). When I'd turn it would seem like the axle would shift under the truck to either side, and it would do the same thing if I was on an uneven road that would put a side load on the springs.

Just last week I swapped back to the 6" EZ ride springs and the steering is night and day. The steering is tightened up like before I did anything to the truck. I'm still using the B52 kit with my spring in the furthest back mounting location and my shackle hanger is still moved forward. With 4.5" shackles my caster is dead on and my axle is moved forward 3/4" from the stock location. I'd really like to move the axle forward some more, but I'm going to just keep on driving it for now. If I move it forward 1 hole it should put me at 2" total forward from stock.

My goal with the truck is to be able to DD it if I needed to and to be able to drive to any trail, wheel for the day with no issues, and drive back. I was uncomfortable driving it for long distances with the 52's, so I swapped back.

This is just my experience, other people will say that they can daily drive with their 52's no problem.

 

[82355]

I drove on my 52's from California to Nebraska. It was a little scary for the first couple miles. By Vegas I didn't notice they were there.

Martin

 

[Kay86K5]

Depends on what you really want out of your truck. Do you really want to wheel the thing? Than do the 52's. Do you care more about how nice it drives down the road and you just want to do some fun wheeling on the side? Than don't do the 52's. Sounds like the 2nd option is more your style from your description in the first post. A lot of people complain about their 52's on the road. I can see what they are saying, but it doesn't bother me too bad at all. I think if you did do 52's, just make sure to spend the money on really good shocks for the front and maybe even try ORD's sway bar disconnects so you can have a sway bar for the road. That should help with any type of body roll you might be concerned about. Speaking of ORD, if you have the money, you can get a set of their custom springs for the front. They claim to have just as much flex as a 52, but have good road manners like a ~48.5 lift spring. They are not cheap though, but could be an option for ya.

 

[greywolf]

Its got to have road manners, I have de arched stockers on there now I'm cool with the roll wife not so much.I'm not trying to make a koh truck just a nice rig that I can play in

 

[sweetk30]

if you want the best of both time to call www.offroaddesign.com and order a custom pack for a few bucks more.

lots of guys swaping to the custom pack these days .

 

[Kay86K5]

^^ Very true. A lot of people are going to these. There are a lot of guys on this site who have them now. They seem to still flex really well. Call and talk to Stephen or Chris, they can give you all the in's and out's of this. They seem to work really well.

 

[ryoken]

you can add life expectancy of the springs to the mix too...


I'd only do 52/56's on a dedicated BUDGET trailrig that would see minimal street time...

but I'm sure that's wrong cuz this is the intraweb....

Mutt's getting 6" stock length Alcan's being a DD'er...

 

[Kay86K5]

you can add life expectancy of the springs to the mix too...


I'd only do 52/56's on a dedicated BUDGET trailrig that would see minimal street time...

but I'm sure that's wrong cuz this is the intraweb....

Mutt's getting 6" stock length Alcan's being a DD'er...

Nah, that is really true. I have a BUDGET wheeler that doesn't really see that much street cause I have a wife, and 2 kids under 2 yrs old with a mortgage. So to do some really good wheeling means buying other people's junk and throwing it on my K5 like it's new

 

[ryoken]

I know, but someone will find a reason to argue with me, cuz it's the intraweb....


now the 52 crowd will chime in with how durable and street friendly theirs have been, blah, blah, yada....

 

[blazinzuk]

52s are durable street friendly and whatever else Paul said they were bad at, they are good at

I have done 56s, 52s, lift springs, and some other weirder stuff.

56s and 52s I don't think are bad but I daily drove a samurai that had 33s on it for years. Then my blazer became my daily driver, it was on 38s.

My Jimmy has superlift lift springs on it. I would like them to be softer. Have thought about going to 52s just to make it ride nicer. They do ride nice overall.

As far as the body roll goes it just depends on what your used too. Used to have a buddy always brag about how well his stock Jeep (YJ) handled the road compared to the rest of our lifted trucks. One day I had his Jeep doing some work and a buddy there. We drove said Jeep into town. Guy commented on how scary the body roll in the Jeep was . All about perception.

I think the 52s can be used effectively for street use but it usually takes more work than most want to do. The last 52 swap I did we messed around with the leaf pack for a couple months before we hit what we wanted.

Putting the anti sway bar back on would help but require custom fab.

IMHO no matter what you do if you just stick em on you are never going to get maximum performance whether it be 52s, 56s, or lift springs

 

[greywolf]

i'm a budget also and that's why i ask stupid ?s because i don't want do something a 100 other guys with a family did and had re do it because it wasn't safe for the street and spend more money.im going ord 6" ez rides, i'll keep the 52 kit and if i get a trail toy ill put it on there
thanks guys

 

[MTBLAZER89]

you can add life expectancy of the springs to the mix too...


I'd only do 52/56's on a dedicated BUDGET trailrig that would see minimal street time...

but I'm sure that's wrong cuz this is the intraweb....

Mutt's getting 6" stock length Alcan's being a DD'er...

X2.. I really do like my 52's and 56's, but my rig sees ZERO street time. For a trail only or a budget trail rig they work very well for what they are.

Mine were awful on the street the few times I drove them. I do run el cheapo Pro Comp shocks and no sway bars, but IMO they are far from a street friendly setup.

Sure many of us myself included may feel fine driving them on the street because we are used to the excessive roll and sway, but I wouldnt be ok with my wife taking it out for a spin or hauling the family down the road at 65 mph.

Spring life is another issue. Depending on their prior life the side affects may be better or worse, but if you "use" the springs hard on the trail they will sag, break, bend. Without bump stops I destroyed a set in a season. My second set with bumpstops have survived a couple years, but are definitely a bit flatter than they used to be

For a mixed DD, Family rig, trail rig I'd go for the EZ rides, or for some more $$ the custom setup is the way to go.

 

[colbystephens]

my $0.02, since I think you and I have similar concerns in mind...

My rig is set up to do reasonably challenging rock crawling. I drove the Rubicon last year, and am doing it again this year. If that's the most challenging wheeling I ever do, I'll be fine with that. And I made it through unscathed. But, it also has to be able to haul building materials and a family with reasonable ease and comfort.

If you're set on 6" of lift, I'd say do a custom 4" spring pack (I have cheapo Pro-comp springs and no complaints, really), a 1" EZ-Inch to relocate your axles for more wheel base and to keep the tires out of the fenders. Then do a 1" body lift with new body mount bushings. This will effectively give you 6" of lift (though 5" on the frame). This is the system that I'm doing now, and I like it a lot! 38" tires, FWIW.

I'm using the Bilstein 5100 shocks, and I like them just fine for ride quality. My truck certainly isn't a Cadillac, and speed bumps aren't so comfortable, but it is a straight axle truck. In my limited experience in a friend's HD modern diesel Chevy with IFS, the ride quality isn't much worse (if any at all).

I just completed the 1" body lift, and added hydro assist. I'm doing the Rubicon next week and have no worries that my truck will be up to the task. This week I have to haul some building materials to a job site, and it'll handle that just fine.