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wayne

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Ok, Donna and I have been tossing ideas around on what to do to the K5. Right now it's pretty good with the 3" TC lift and 37's but I think I can improve it some. The rear springs in it now are 4" TC Easy Rides which come with the 3" kit for K5's. Even with the 4" spring it still saggs just a bit to the assend. Would it be worth it going to a 4" flip and 57's on the back along with inboarding the shocks? Would it make that much difference in flex to be worth doing? Just tring to decide if it is worth considering.
 
Rene would prbably be best to comment on the 57's..... But I feel you will get better flex with the shackle flip and 57's then the lift springs. My experience with lift springs is they always seem to be stiffer than stock and offer less flex. There are two drawbacks I see with this though. #1 would be the shackle flip and towing. Not sure where that discussion is at now, but weren't people getting weird situations with flips and towing?(not sure if you tow anything)... #2 Inboarding the shocks may lead to a looser(more body roll) rear end... But hell I have know people who dont even run back shocks and they're fine. LOL

If it were me, I would go with the 57's and the flip... But maybe try mounting the shocks like SW used to run on the ORD K5 in the rear.

My .02cents. /forums/images/graemlins/thumb.gif
 
What Mikey said.../forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

57's will give you more flex than you can easily use. To maximize the travel the 57's are capable of I have to tub my truck and run some very long shocks. My inner fenders are getting pretty polished by the tires...but if the inner fenders weren't limiting up travel the shocks would be. Droop is currently limited by my shocks...

I inboarded my shocks a long time ago when I still had stock rear springs...it was fine then. With the 57's I'll likely put them vertical and fab some mounts through the floor. This will help the road manners a bit I think...

Rene
 
Rene, you run the anti wrap bar, so hop isn't a problem for you.

For those of us that don't have that equipment, isn't it better that we just leave our shocks where they still have some chance to control axlewrap?
 
I run the ORD and 57's on my K5. Rene's description of how these units improve over stock is dead on. You'll likely have more articulation than you can use.

When I first completed this swap I kept the shocks off to get an idea of where I wanted to mount them. W/o the shocks driving characteristics on the road were unsettling to say the least. I also kinked a spring the very first time I was remotely "heavy" on the gas pedal (still with no shocks) during the testing process.

Based upon my observation on how it handled w/o shocks, I ultimately decided to run shocks in their stock orientation to try an limit axlewrap until I could come up with an apparatus that didn't limit orientation or ground clearance (much like the one on Rene's rig.) My inner fenders / shocks currently limit my up travel and my shocks limit my droop in this configuration, but it does provide *some* stability against axle wrap.

Additionally, I was concerned with body roll. Inboarding the shocks like this ( / \ ) is tolerable on a mildly street driven rig (to the trail, around town on the weekends), but daily driving like this I believe would be undesirable. Had I decided to keep my K5, I was planning on tubbing it out and run shocks near vertical, again like Rene described, as I believe it offers a good compromise on articulation and limiting body roll.

For an example on how much the body rolls, my truck has a noticeable lean either to the left or to the right when it's parked, based upon the direction of my last turn. Again, with stocks in their standard orientation.

One other thing, when you pick the springs up at the j-yard be sure to pick up two sets. Mainly because even with this set-up you'll likely have a slight squat to the rear. I have a squat to the rear and I used a zero-rate on my rig, mainly to accomodate the off-set center pin but also b/c I thought I would get a little extra height to the rear. (I was wrong. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif) If you don't have a squat, at least if / when you kink them you won't have as much down time.

There's my 0.02 from my experiences.

Good luck,

Lance
 
[ QUOTE ]
Rene, you run the anti wrap bar, so hop isn't a problem for you.

For those of us that don't have that equipment, isn't it better that we just leave our shocks where they still have some chance to control axlewrap?

[/ QUOTE ]

Yes, the anti-wrap bar I have works so well I forget it's there most of the time /forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif Stock shock location will help with axle wrap...

Unaltered 57's will probably net some 'butt-squat' as Lance mentioned...I'll be adding a zero-rate or another leaf or two from my collection to correct that. 57's are cool, and they do flex like crazy, but they are definitely not an off the shelf modification.

Rene
 
I'm not concerened with towing. I am more worried about wheel hop. I did the flip on my 89 with stock springs and I don't think it flexed much better then the 4" TC's. Just not sure if I want to mess with dropping the gas tank, cutting and rewelding mounts on the axle, if it is only going to be a slight improvement.
 
What is everyones thoughts on shock mounting anyways?

GM's stock orientation (with one exception I believe) on the trucks was always one shock on either side of the axle. For axle wrap, wheel hop, whatever, wouldn't two shocks mounted on the "front" of the axle be the most effective? Once wrap starts, then I guess one on both sides would be more effective, but when trying to PREVENT axle wrap in the first place, wouldn't forward mounted shocks work better?

I've thought about this on numerous occasions, but never checked to see what other automakers do, or what theories there are on leaf sprung axle shock mounting. Not really trying to hijack the thread, but axlewrap is obviously a consideration in this post, I'm curious if others have found what works best, or what theoretically should work best in certain applications.
 
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