What's new
CK5
Register an account today to become a member! Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members.

front leaf springs.

7

77k5boss

Registered Member
Joined
Jul 11, 2006
Posts
48
Reaction score
0
Location
alabama
ok guys. current setup. 6 inch rough country all spring lift, and 36x14.50x15 ground hawg 2's. been driving my k5 alot lately and now its become my dd. as most know rough country is bad, as far as ride goes. and you can forget going down a gravel road and still having any teeth left. so the time has come that im ready to upgrade. i have heard that ord makes great springs but for the price are they that much better than tuff country easy rides. im wanting to stay at 6 inches height wise but lowest i can go is 4. and a shackle flip is out of the question. what is every ones openions. id like to be able to drive this on the interstate as well as down potholed gravel roads and not shake the poor blazer to pieces in the process.
 
Babaganoosh just put his ord springs up for sale here.


I have them. They are nice
 
shipping would kill the deal.. just wish i could ride in a blazer that had a set of each so i could compair. since im sure ill have to buy new shocks as well. im still using to rough countrys that came with the lift kit.
 
I just went from 6 leaf 4" ??? name brand fronts in my k30 to a set of 3" hd tuff country .

:eek1: :thumb: :bow:

its a whole new truck . tuff country is great off the shelf.

custom is nice but if dd I don't see the extra cash at this point.

maybe 4" leafs and 1" zero rate and axle forward 1" in front for extra clearance to get 5" lift or just do there 6" packs and still be great.

why no flip ? I like mine a lot .

and if you can get them BDS has been known for great ride also .
 
i guess i really need to stick with a 6 inch leaf being that i just bought a custom rear driveshaft locally that ran me 700 buck to stop all the vibration i was having.
 
My custom springs ride better than my Grand Prix on the road. I do have fox raptor shocks in the rear, but it's just really smooth and not as truck like as I expected a lifted truck to ride.

If you didn't already have the expensive shaft. I'd recommend a flip for sure. I really think they ride better.
 
yeah. i have been learning as i go. as most of us have. seems the money pit just keeps growing and growing. one thing is for sure. i think i will always have this truck.
 
I'd just go with the EZ rides of you don't wanna kill your pocket. The only person I know of that had tuff country springs and swapped to ord springs was blue85 on here iirc.


Maybe ask him. I went from 28 year old stock springs to ord springs.
 
thanks i just want to get the best ride i can..i have now figured out and learned my lesson on being cheap. so now i wanna do it right the first time...eeer second time:bow:
 
I have never had the custom springs but a buddy of mine put them on his blazer.

I took a ride in it. Wow it rode nice. Probably as nice as my 56" springs up front if not a bit nicer.

Good shocks are very important too.

So on the shackle flip. All it does is lift the truck, pinion angle is set by the perches. So if you did a shackle flip you would just need to measure the pinion angle now, and then reweld the perches on at the same angle after the flip.

So while the flip would be more work than normal. Don't count it out yet.

I also like the idea of a 4" leaf plus a ez inch, plus a bit longer shackle giving you really close to a 6" lift in addition to moving the axle forward a touch helping clearance more than an additional inch of lift would
 
Here's the message I just sent to 77k5boss regarding custom springs:

If you actually want it to ride nice, I don't think there's any other option. I would say especially if you already need springs, it's certainly worth the extra money. (But even used springs in decent shape can sell for something decent.) I started out with Rough Country front springs, but eventually got sick of the bouncing and upgraded to Tuff Country EZ rides, which were noticeably better. And this is considered the best-riding off-the-shelf spring for our trucks. The flex was also pretty respecatble. However, the truck still wanted to "hop up" on every bump. I came to realize that stock pickups rode much better on 2-tracks than my modified rig. The problem became even more apparent in my "overlanding" runs, where I was taking a beating trying to keep up with almost stock Land Cruisers, Rovers and the like on lengthy forest roads. Eventually I took the plunge by calling ORD, and also upgrading to Bilstein 5150s, and I have to say that it's an entirely different truck. Now other solid axle rigs ask me to slow down. The ride around town is downright pleasant. It's like they fixed every road in my area overnight. I don't even swerve around the asphalt patches anymore because they aren't that noticeable. Any 4-wheeling I do is much easier and more stable. Basically the suspension works like you imagine it should work.

You have to question how the lift kit manufacturers can sell the same spring for every square nose, whether 1/2-ton, 3/4, small block, big block, from K5 to K20 Suburban and they all end up at the same height. I think it's OK for an unloaded 1-ton to ride like a 1-ton, but I don't ever plan to carry 2000lbs of gravel on the front of my K5, so why have all that spring rate?

There, that was my soapbox speech - as advertised :-)
Click to expand...

The custom springs have some other advantages I didn't mention:
-No cutting, grinding welding etc. to move spring mouts or shackle eye like a 52" or 56" swap
-Front axle can be moved forward with no extra work (center hole offset)
-Rear shackle angle can be perfect with no extra work (length of the spring)
-No trial and error or experimentation to get everything working right. ORD does the math - you just bolt them in.
-Up to 12" wheel travel.
-Longer life than lift kit springs.

In some cases, this will make them cheaper than a 52" or 56" swap.
 
Thanks blue85 for your responce. you have just confirmed my choice in what direction I'm going to go... did you have a 6 or 4 inch lift?
 
yah if you have the cash its really hard to go wrong with custom springs.

If my long term plan in my Jimmy was to keep leaf springs I would spend the money on custom springs.

But my plan is to go coils in the next 3 or 4 years or so
 
Just to throw in my opinion, I had tuff-country e-z rides in my '70 for way too long. I now have ORD springs up front, and I wish I would have done it sooner. The price is steep until you feel the difference.
 
Thanks guys for you input. Since there so expensive I think I'm going to order the front first then next month get the rear.
 
better check shipping first . might be truck frieght to you . if so might be cheeper to ship all 4 at once. :whistle: and save some money :thumb:
 
yea i'll just wait till next month and order them all at once. shocks may have to wait till christmas then..lol
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest Posts

Top Bottom