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Bigger lift

R

ramses

1/2 ton status
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Jul 2, 2004
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West Virginia
I am going to swap out my 6 inch lift for a bigger one and im not sure how I want to do it. Heres what im sure of: I want to keep my stock rear springs and the add a leafs and add one more leaf to each side, Im getting a shackle reversal kit and throwing my blocks out, and I want new front springs. I cant decide on how much lift to go with-8,9,or 10 inches, or possibly a 9/8 or 10/9, the front being an inch higher. Ive noticed the new front springs settle quite a bit with use so the inch higher in the front might be the way to go. Ive come up with several ways to achieve these lifts and cant decide what to go with. Heres what im sure of: Im installing the shackle reversal kit for 4 inches of lift, plus my add a leafs which is 2, then im adding another set of add a leafs to equal an 8 inch lift. For the front, im installing a new spring pack either 8 inch or 10 inch. I really would like to have 9 or 10 inches since im going to all the trouble of doing this anyway. My questions involve using Offroad Design's 1 inch add a leaf block. I could use this in a few different ways: for the front with 8 inch springs for a 9/8 inch lift or for both front and back for a 9 inch lift, or for the back only for 9 in the back and use 10 inch front springs. Most of my worries come from my driveshafts and steering problems though. Im wondering if my driveshafts will be angled correctly with each combination and what steering modifications I will need with an 8,9,or 10 inch lift. I dont want to have to deal much with pinion angles and caster angles or anything like that. If anyone can enlighten me on any of this please do so.
 
JUst remember the driveshaft issues........The front can be a real pain with the angle issues....................................You could Be looking at over 700.00 for a front shaft with much that lift to work properly.
 
As much as I hate to say it...


Body lift it,seriously the added head aches of going that high put you in drive shaft hell, body lifts may not always seem like the right route to take, but when was the last time you heard of a body lift leaving some one stranded on the side of the road?

On our trucks, it does not look "that bad", my 75 I was running 6 inch bds and a 3 inch body lift, I did not alwys like it, but I only went through 1 rear shaft with a lot of hard driving, the front end claimed a couple though. This was only during a 1 year period too.


just throwing the option out there, body lifts can be a pain in the but to install the right way though and have them look tastefull.


good luck!
 
I second the body lift. Body lifts are more work to install and make everything right but you don't have to throw away a current lift and BL's are cheap.
 
Well I want a taller lift to possibly clear a 37 inch tire or at least be positive my 35's wont ever rub plus bigger is just always better. I know people are gonna say 35's dont rub with a 6 inch but if you really push it they do rub slightly. A body lift is out of the question for me, remember that I said I need my truck to be able to haul a few tons of gravel and other heavy loads. Id rather not warp my whole bed hauling something with a body lift. Id rather deal with driveshafts than that. So with 10 inches im looking at major driveshaft problems? How about an 8 inch lift? Ive seen several trucks with 8 inch lifts that needed only longer driveshafts and had no more problems with shaft angles than a 6 inch lift. It seems like the front is where im gonna have the trouble. So what is the tallest lift I can install that will keep me from having to deal with driveshaft anlge problems? 8,9, or 10? And can anyone explain to me exactly what problems I would have if I went too big and how to fix it?
 
Why don't you just trim the fenders ??? IIRC, someone here is running 42's on 2.5" lift with trimmed fenders.
 
Because that looks terrible if I cared that little about my truck id throw on some 40's and let them do the trimmin while bouncin it off trees lol. My truck has zero rust and a straight body and a good paint job, its not a beater or I would probly do that but I would put a body lift on it too though.
 
ramses said:
Because that looks terrible if I cared that little about my truck id throw on some 40's and let them do the trimmin while bouncin it off trees lol. My truck has zero rust and a straight body and a good paint job, its not a beater or I would probly do that but I would put a body lift on it too though.
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I can understand that, even though I think trimmed fenders look good if done right.
 
Help anyone? How high can I go without having to get do anything but lengthen my driveshafts? 8,9 or 10 inches? If I go too big what kind of problems will I have? Will my front shaft be the one that causes me problems or will my rear shaft also? What are the possible fixes, could I just angle the front diifferential a few degrees with shims to help it like the rear is angled with blocks?
 
When adding a lift the front drive shaft is always more of an issue because of the short length.I run a turbo 400/205 trans and with 8" of lift I had to go to a High angle type of front shaft. The proper way to do it is to have the front axle cut and turned for proper pinion angle. You can add shims but you have issues with caster angles.The slope of the shaft is what you need to know. If I were you i would go to a 3" body lift and maybe some cut out fender flares for the least amount of problems
 
So how can I find the angle of my front driveshaft? Ive heard people talk of using an angle finder, but im not sure what one looks like or where to get one. If the shaft was at too much of an angle, what would happen? Would the u-joints just break? If I had to have a high angle front shaft, how much would it cost me? I figure it would cost quite a bit. Also how much does it cost to get the front axle cut and turned for a better pinion angle? Ive never heard of that before. And are those my only options?
 
you can buy one at places like Home Depot. What you should do is figure out what lift you want to buy then talk to people that have done that size lift and find out what problems they Encountered. What type of Wheeling do you do? you also have to remember the other issues also, Brake lines, Emergency brake cables, bumper heigth, steering geomerty, pinion angles..........................
 
I want an 8 inch lift, I think im gonna go with Skyjacker. I fourwheel my truck probly once a month, but I use 4wd quite a bit pulling trees and other trucks and I haul gravel and wood with it often. It is my daily driver too though. I dont fourwheel it really hard, just rutted out trails and creeks, nothing too extreme. Any fourwheeling I do I can do almost all of it in low range first gear, climbing banks and twisting on rutted out trails. I dont want my driveshaft to fail me though, I have to have 4wd, especially in the winter. Ive talked to several people with 8 inch lifts and some have had problems and some havent it seems. I really think ill be fine with pinion angle though. My brake lines are all long enough because I got them extra long for my 6 inch lift. Steering geometry im not sure about. I have a raised steering arm on it now and that fixed it with the 6 inch lift, im not sure what ill need on top of that for an 8 inch. Where at Home Depot sohoud I look for an angle finder, how much does it cost, and what does it look like?
 
I put 8 inch superlift springs with 1 inch Off Road Unlimited shackles on the front of my truck and a 4 inch shackle flip/4 inch block on the rear of my K20. I had to have the rear shaft lengthened, cost me $75 + $1 per inch of shaft length locally, no big deal. If you have the newer saginaw type front shaft, a local driveline shop should be able to change out the center yoke ("H" Yoke) and grind the stops off of the cv. You will have to have the front shaft lengthened too. My front costed about $300. I have had no problems with that setup on my 9 inch lift, it is close to the limit with no swaybar at full droop, but it works. I have 35's on my truck and they stil tag the back edge of the front fenders with a 9 inch lift, that is without my swaybar hooked up, might not be a problem with the bar connected. I know how you feel about wanting you truck to look good. Hope this helps. I personally don't care for 2-3 inch body lifts, 1 inch might be okay.
 
ramses said:
Because that looks terrible if I cared that little about my truck id throw on some 40's and let them do the trimmin while bouncin it off trees lol. My truck has zero rust and a straight body and a good paint job, its not a beater or I would probly do that but I would put a body lift on it too though.
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Are you trying to say i dont care about my truck?? That hurts man.
 
I think that anything w/ an 8" lift should probably get crossover to make the steering correct. My friend has an 8" on his K5 w/ all the goodies to correct the push/pull steering and it still drives like crap.
...Oh, and just because you chop / wheel something hard and bang it up doesn't mean you don't care about your rig! ...look at mine and I LOVE that little bitch...
 
Lol sorry if you fender trimmers were offended I didnt mean it that way, I just think that thats a quick fix that doesnt look as good as complete fenders. Just my opinion on the look really, what I meant was that if I just wanted some room to stuff some tires under it and fourwheel it then I would trim em, but I dont like the look of that, I like a tall lift on a big tire with a big gap between the tire and fenders. Anyway, I know im at least going with an 8 inch lift. Id like to go with 9 in the front if I can though. I can get my shafts lengthened for next to nothing through a friend in exchange for my 6 inch front springs so that wont be a problem. Why was your front shaft so much more than the back chevydan3? Im not sure what kind of front shaft mine is, I think in 73 they came with a different kind but I cant remember right now without looking in LMC. Does anyone know the spring rates of different companies' springs? Ive seen it somewhere before but I dont know where. Id like to have some 8 inch springs that are heavy duty and not EZ ride because they sag too much after a while.
 
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