ORD Suspensions???

[Brian 89KBlazer]

Hi Stephen

Just talking to another board member who tells me that he had a ride in your Blazer and it made the ride in his Blazer seem poor by comparison.
Any plans to produce your own line of ORD springs anytime soon? I'm only a month or two at most away from ordering my new suspension and would love to have the ride I hear yours has. Any idea on what the price might be?

I thought you had a post about this a while ago but the site is so slow right now that I can't find it!

Thanks
Brian
89KBlazer

 

[Chris Demartini]

<font color=blue>I heard somewhere that the springs on the green Jimmy were made by Alcan Spring. I would also like some more info on these springs because I am planning to re-do my suspension this year (I'm running Rancho springs now and they're way too stiff), and I was planning on having Alcan make me up a set.</font color=blue>

 

[Stephen]

I'm about to the point now that I can't think of any reason to NOT turn out some springs. They haven't settled in the last 2 years of flogging and work really well, so we should be able to run with it pretty soon. What I need is a database of weights of set up GM trucks (all kinds, not just k5's). I need front, rear and total weight, along with a list of important mods like winch, heavy bumpers, axles, motors, etc.
With this I can look at building a few different springs that will cover most of the field.
if I did them as one off's like National, they'd cost about like nationals, so we need to be smarter than that. They are worth every bit of the $1K like total customs, but since we are working with very similar vehicles, we should be able to do better.
I'll see if I can get some kind of form up on my site to make the data collection a little easier.

They really do whup some behind, I haven't ramped it for real and measured it, but I parked at the top of a 20 degree at a friends shop one afternoon. I've got about 12-13" of vertical travel front and rear, and it'll articulate about all of the 12" shocks. Ride quality is awesome, handling is ok (lots of body roll), so overall i'm really happy with them. Others probably would be too.

SW-ORD

 

[Donovan]

Well if you do build springs you need to kick that rear shackle back toward rear tires. Set them at around 20-30 degree angle and the ride is excellent. But you will have to get the right shackle lenght. Here are some pictures of my front springs.<A target="_blank" HREF=http://albums.photopoint.com/j/AlbumIndex?u=1461652&a=10988972>http://albums.photopoint.com/j/AlbumIndex?u=1461652&a=10988972</A>
Here is some weights for you.
73 Blazer, Caddy 500 TH350 with T/C203
Dana 44 front 12 bolt rear 31" tires Factory Ralleys
33 Gallon fuel tank and it was full. No winch or big ass bumpers I had about 125lbs of tools and 2 rear leafs packs in the back and it wieghed 2630 front and 2700 rear.
Next 74 Chevy truck with 454 TH400 and T/C205
Dana 44 front with 14bolt rear. It is a Long Bed
Tires are 31x10.5 on 16.5 steel rim that is 8" wide
No spare tire in it either and about 8 gallons of gas.
Front weight was 3200lbs and Rear was 2200lbs

Donovan

 

[Chris Demartini]

<font color=blue>How much do think these springs will be? When do you plan on starting to make them? Just tell me when the setup sheet is ready and I'll head down to the weigh station by school. This sounds like a good idea.</font color=blue>

 

[**DONOTDELETE**]

Hey Donovan,

Did you fab those pivoting rear spring mounts yourself? They look pretty slick! How do they perform so far (road & trail)? 'Might try to copy something like that; any words of wisdom?

TIA. Looks like they like salt out in CO as much as they do here in New England.

 

[**DONOTDELETE**]

That would be great if the springs were mass produced, lower the cost a little bit from the $1K Nationals and I do believe Deaver would be about the same; though I do have a question or two. I'm setting mine up for desert running, maybe some racing involved. Would these springs be able to take that kind of punishment a couple of times a year?

 

[Stephen]

That depends a little on how we go about producing them. The test set on my K5 don't mind being smashed to the bumpstops, they're built to maintain low stress levels over long travel. That may not be totally necessary except for guys like you, and sometimes me who like to really beat it up.
You're a prime candidate for really changing the length of the springs also, I'd recommend looking at making the rear springs a lot longer. We did a set for a full on desert truck that stretched them to about 63" and we were looking for about 18-20" vertical travel. 'course I haven't heard from him since, so I don't know what he finally got from it.
Thought about just going with coilovers? For what it sounds like you do it might be a more cost effective way to go in the end......

Making the world better, one truck at a time.

SW-ORD

 

[Bubba Ray Boudreaux]

I've thought about going to a 4-link, coilover setup and I might in the future; but my big hangup right now is ground clearance. While I want it setup for the dez, I also want to be able to run trails here and there in the mountains and don't want to worry about dragging anything over rocks.

 

[Chris Demartini]

<font color=blue>Hey I know!!! How about an ORD coil-over kit

like Warn had for the j**ps? You can make my truck a guinea pig if you want!!!</font color=blue>

<font color=blue>pavement queen with shinny paint job and car tires</font color=blue>

 

[Donovan]

DieselDan I didn't make them my self. I got them from BC Broncos and they seem to work real well so far. Yes I do have more body roll but anytime you have a more flexy suspension that is what you end up with.

Donovan

 

[Stephen]

We'll see......

Making the world better, one truck at a time.

SW-ORD