Front 56" spring swap?

[Rhino86]

I read the tech article on doing the 52" spring swap. I'm thinking about doing it, but I've heard about people doing a 56" spring swap too. Would I have to move the front spring hangers farther forward to make the 56's work? I like the simple hanger relocation for the 52" swap, but could always use more flex, and a better ride. Any help would be appreciated. Thank you!

 

[MTBLAZER89]

The 56's wont give you any more "useable" flex or ride quality over the 52's. The 52's will flex farther than most driveshafts, brake lines, and shocks will handle anyway. The 56's will probably result in a bit more spring wrap up front.

The upside to the 56's over the 52's in the front is you dont have to reloacate the shackle hangar. Just move the front mounts. This varies of course and some here have ended up having to add longer shackles or notch the body mount for shackle clearance.

Either setup will net similar results and vary based on the condition of the springs.

Remember for either of these swaps. Crossover steering, Long shocks and taller towers are necessary, and a long slip drive shaft will all be required to get the benefits from. Its a cheap easy way to get a lot of flex up front.

The downside is the streetablitiy of the 52's and 56's is less than optimal. Lot of body roll during cornering.

 

[Rhino86]

The 56's wont give you any more "useable" flex or ride quality over the 52's. The 52's will flex farther than most driveshafts, brake lines, and shocks will handle anyway. The 56's will probably result in a bit more spring wrap up front.

The upside to the 56's over the 52's in the front is you dont have to reloacate the shackle hangar. Just move the front mounts. This varies of course and some here have ended up having to add longer shackles or notch the body mount for shackle clearance.

Either setup will net similar results and vary based on the condition of the springs.

Remember for either of these swaps. Crossover steering, Long shocks and taller towers are necessary, and a long slip drive shaft will all be required to get the benefits from. Its a cheap easy way to get a lot of flex up front.

The downside is the streetablitiy of the 52's and 56's is less than optimal. Lot of body roll during cornering.

Thank you for the info. I think I will just go with the 52's. I used Skyjacker 6" springs on by blazer, and was not happy with them. The 52's seem like a much better alternative.

 

[big dan]

This is good advice. Im running 52s with 15 inch travel shocks and long brake lines. I run straps to keep from over stretching my shocks because I run out of shock way before spring travel.

I plan on going back to a 47 inch spring though. Ive found some disadvantages to 52s that I dont like.

 

[Rhino86]

What kind of disadvantages?

 

[big dan]

Mostly my approach angle. The length of the springs sticks the front spring hangers out a ways and I am always smacking them on stuff. Some obstacles I have to hit pretty hard to bounce the spring hangers over so the tire can get traction.

Good custom 47" springs will get plenty of travel but the cost difference is huge. $500+ for custom springs vs. my free 52s.

I say I plan on swapping back to the 47" springs but I havent made up my mind completely. If you run smaller tires (Im on 37s) and climb a lot of steep ledges its something to consider.

 

[ezoliver]

Mostly my approach angle. The length of the springs sticks the front spring hangers out a ways and I am always smacking them on stuff. Some obstacles I have to hit pretty hard to bounce the spring hangers over so the tire can get traction.

ORD recommended I stay with stock length springs when I was ordering my lift stuff for this very reason.

Unless you are running 42+ inch tires and/or moving the axle forward I think it's good advice.

 

[COCHEV]

Some guys (but not many) have used stock length lift springs and moved the rear shackle hanger forward with longer shackles to get more droop and possibly a better ride...

Sent from my DROID2 GLOBAL

 

[colbystephens]

For what it's worth, I am running Procomp 4" lift springs and they flex real well. Currently, my brake lines are my limiting factor in droop, so I'm limiting my flex to 10" of travel at the shock. Of course, this means more travel than that at the wheel. But, you could get more flex out of the springs if you wanted. You just need appropriately long brake lines, shocks, and bump-stops. I think getting 13-15" of travel out of these springs is possible. They weren't very expensive either.

 

[big pappa b]

Yep, I decided to stay with 47's also and went the custom spring route through ORD. Everything is still on the garage floor as I'm still waiting on some parts

Mostly my approach angle. The length of the springs sticks the front spring hangers out a ways and I am always smacking them on stuff. Some obstacles I have to hit pretty hard to bounce the spring hangers over so the tire can get traction.

Good custom 47" springs will get plenty of travel but the cost difference is huge. $500+ for custom springs vs. my free 52s.

I say I plan on swapping back to the 47" springs but I havent made up my mind completely. If you run smaller tires (Im on 37s) and climb a lot of steep ledges its something to consider.