73redblaze
1/2 ton status
so i know these guys that i met wheelin and today they came over to bull$hit with me and while we were talkin they told me they did 64's front and rear. anyone else hear of anyone doing it?
CK5
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64's front and rear?
- Thread starter 73redblaze
- Start date
There was a crew cab on pirate with 64s up front. Seems excessive and would make for an amazing approach angle
front 64's, completely unnecessary. Hell why don't we all have custom 100 inchers made then. Thats about how ridiculous 64's up front is.
73redblaze
1/2 ton status
haha i dont know about that but yea its a little excessive. i dont even know how you could keep it straight on the road.... oh yea i didn't tell you that part, its not just a wheeler, it sees the highway. not a DD but still.. thats scary
I was building a '93 model on rock's with 1-ton 64's up front. I had moved my axle way out front and made some more hangers, but didn't get to finish the project before I could test them. I was also running 52's so the approach angle wasn't bad at all. Smaller tires than that and it just doesn't seem like a worthy idea. The main reason I was using them was that I had them in the rear of my rig already, was switching to halfton 64's and inboarding the rear while moving up the rear axle. Too give u an idea, my build thread is over on Pirate and my user name is Red Chevy.
four_by_ken
1/2 ton status
What is it that makes you guys say that it is excessive?
U would need a good sway bar to make it streetable. Even with the thick 1-ton packs that I was using, they were very soft, even with no motor or tranny in the truck, cab only. The other reason is the massive over hange in the front. Think about my setup, 64" spring, 52" tire leaves 12", only 6" in front of the tire not too bad. About like a set of 52" springs and 40" tires. From there, the smaller the tire the worse the departure angle.
Ten_Bucks
1/2 ton status
A few years back there was an issue of Petersen's 4 Wheel & Off Road magazine that had an article on a '80s model K10 that had 64s front and rear. The truck was primer gray with a yellow rollcage and its from Hawaii.
Scott
Scott
Spring length has nothing to do with how soft they are.
Also, I thought 64"s were stock rears on newer GM trucks ... if the packs in question came from a 3/4- or 1-ton, they could be stiff as all get out, have eight or ten leaves.
Plus you can easily mix-and-match leaves to tune your springs. My front 52"s came from two sets of stock Blazer rears; I think I ended up with five or six leaves.
Now, that said, if you want crazy flex up front, then you can only do so much with soft leaves and eventually you'd want longer ones ... or go coilover.
-- A
73redblaze
1/2 ton status
true but 1/2 ton 64s will flex SO much more than 1/2 ton 48's dont you agree? I'm referring to having stock 48" 1/2 ton springs up front vs having 64"s 1/2 ton springs up front. i dont think they make a 1/2 ton 64 do they?? so 3/4 tons perhaps
Yes they make 1/2 ton rated 64" springs. I have them in the rear of my truck, 2 leaf + overload. I ended up adding another leaf as well as a 1" zero-rate
Umm, yes it does. A long spring has more leverage on its two attachment points and hence will act at a different (lower) rate. ALL of the leaf spring calculators (including the SAE one) use length in their calculations.
And IMO 64's are more flex than anyone needs at the sacrifice of weight and clearance, front or rear. As mentioned, front 64's would make for a terrible approach angle (I bash the hell out of my 52's in the front).
Okay, oversimplification on my part. The rate of the spring pack is not (solely) a function of its length. Better?
Point being you could make make a 64" that rode well; that's so bloody long doesn't inherently mean it'll drive like crap. (But unless it's offset 25%/75% the front overhang WILL suck
)-- A
Not to mention the spring wrap would be horrible with 64's. I broke my front driveshaft because of the spring wrap on my 52's this weekend
dfl701
1/2 ton status
So seems the conclusion is this would be a completely stupid idea and pro ably would not work in theory?
You can get more then your rig can deal with with a shorter spring. You have to move the axle forward with a good 52" setup to keep the tire out of the firewall not to mention get awesome flex. You can get just as much flex from a custom pack without relocating anything too. How much fabrication time and work do you want to waste for no good reason? There are better suspension setups with less work and more gain. If you were to do 64's which considering the frame you have to make them work on, you might as well go 4 link and coils. 52's or custom stock length spring pack will get you all the flex you could possibly ever want.
73redblaze
1/2 ton status
make an anti axle wrap bar. do a search, theres LOTS of recent infoNot to mention the spring wrap would be horrible with 64's. I broke my front driveshaft because of the spring wrap on my 52's this weekend
He said FRONT driveshaft. There's not too many trucks out there with a front anti-wrap bar
Just in an attempt to clarify a few things:
The issue with axle wrap is not solely, but does play a factor, a function of how long the springs are. The first thing to consider that but installing 64's, 52's, whatever is that they are usually a much softer spring rate than a spring pack designed for the front of the truck and thus cannot resist "wrap" as much. Same goes with driveability issues, as the soft spring rate not only affects the vertical (up and down) movement of the springs but also allows more side to side movement and flex.
Regarding the spring rate vs. leaf length mentioned above, the reason it is factored in is that on a longer leaf spring they do not "deflect" as much for the same travel as a shorter spring......i.e. if the tires moves through 4" of vertical travel a stock 47" front spring "deflects" a lot more along it's length versus a 64" spring.
The issue with axle wrap is not solely, but does play a factor, a function of how long the springs are. The first thing to consider that but installing 64's, 52's, whatever is that they are usually a much softer spring rate than a spring pack designed for the front of the truck and thus cannot resist "wrap" as much. Same goes with driveability issues, as the soft spring rate not only affects the vertical (up and down) movement of the springs but also allows more side to side movement and flex.
Regarding the spring rate vs. leaf length mentioned above, the reason it is factored in is that on a longer leaf spring they do not "deflect" as much for the same travel as a shorter spring......i.e. if the tires moves through 4" of vertical travel a stock 47" front spring "deflects" a lot more along it's length versus a 64" spring.
