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Please help educate me..lift and suspension

R

rva3050

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Very novice questions here...I'm looking to get schooled in lifts and suspension. First step is to know what I have (I bought her with existing lift. I've not done any work or maintenance to the suspension. I don't have any experience lifting or modifying other 4wd vehicles). I'm attaching some pictures. Hopefully you all can help me identify how she's been lifted. I'm fairly certain all the non-lift suspension and steering parts are stock but I'd like that confirmed too. Lastly, based on the pictures, can anyone see any glaring problems that need to be addressed? Is there a better way this lift should have been done? Not looking to make her the biggest, baddest beast - just wanting to make sure things have been done right.

I will add that I recently experienced what I think was the dreaded "death wobble". Put new tires on (was planning on doing this long before the incident) and haven't had that problem again. In any case, part of the reason I'm looking at and learning about the suspension now it to possibly diagnose further problems or trouble spots.

Any advice or observations are welcome. Thanks...

lift.jpg

front 3.jpg

front 4.jpg

rear 1.jpg

rear 3.jpg
 
Stock. Flat front springs, horizontal drag link, factory rear springs with no shackle mods or lift blocks. What size tires?

If death wobble is an issue, check tie rods, ball joints, frame cracks at steering box, u-bolts, and spring center pins.

Best way is have someone in the truck sawing the wheel back and forth (truck running). Climb under and look for anything that moves independently of the attached components or is generally loose. Have to jack up the axle to check ball joints and hub bearings, though.
 
33.12.5.15

can you explain in layman's terms how it was given it's current 4" (?) lift and what the alternative methods of doing this are?

Thanks.
 
If you put new tires on and the wobble went away then I suspect your tires were out of balance ... and that is not considered Death Wobble.
 
rva3050 said:
33.12.5.15

can you explain in layman's terms how it was given it's current 4" (?) lift and what the alternative methods of doing this are?

Thanks.
Click to expand...

Like rebelgregory said, there appears to be no lift on your K5. The flat front springs are a give-away. With having the 33x12.50's on there, it can appear that the truck is lifted when it's actually just the tires being larger than stock. Most K5's are able to fit 33's on them with little to no lift or major trimming.
 
The truck has a 3" body lift, you can see the lift puck on top of the frame in the pic of the rear springs.
 
Body lift. Looks like the rear has an add a leaf. Suspension looks stock
 
Thank you all for the feedback. Much appreciated.

As for the death wobble - it was there. (Not to say the old tires were balanced - they probably weren't. But I've had other vehicles with unbalanced tires and this was not that) This was an earth-shattering violent shake that you knew would rip the truck apart if you didn't stop immediately. Happened if you hit a hole or very uneven pavement going 20-30mph. Continued until you stopped or fell below 5mph.

So new tires are balanced. I will jack it up and check the front end for slop, loose fittings and other problems this weekend. Can worn rotors cause the wobble? It brakes fine but, as I mentioned, I've not done any repair or maintenance on the suspension/brakes since I got it. Maybe time to crack open that section of the Haynes manual...
 
Warped rotors will only shake when you are on the brakes.

The big difference between warped rotors and out balance tires is pedal feel. You'll feel the pedal pulsate when on the brakes if the rotors are warped badly. If the pedal is solid and doesn't' pulsate, then its normally tires.
 
I had bad rotors coupled with a bad steering stabilizer. Never experienced death wobble, but it would be what I assume death wobble feels like. Literally felt as if one wheels lug nuts were loose, and you were about to lose the wheel. But only when hitting the brakes. Somewhat odd because it seemed to occur fairly randomly. Just happened to notice a wet spot on the dampener that clued me in.

I believe this was around the same time the ball joints were giving up the ghost, so that probably didn't help matters. But new dampener was installed, and problem went away...could feel the brakes pulsing from the warped rotors, but it was at least consistent and not scary like before.
 
Chalk it up to karma for having such a rust-free truck. Seriously, has that thing ever seen moisture and oxygen at the same time?

For real, nice truck. Give everything under the framerails the once-over. You'll find the problem pretty easily 9 times out of 10. Sometimes it's so obvious that Ray Charles can find it.
 
What can I say...SoCal. Sure, we get relatively rust free trucks but I will also spend 45 minutes in bumper-to-bumper traffic going home from work today. Trade-offs....
 
Not a lot of snow or salt on the rods where I live so I can't complain. However, if you spend enough time on here, you'll see some of the Northerners' (yankees) trucks. You'd have to be a glutton for punishment to be into these rust-prone trucks up there. I don't know how they do it.

Edit: More to the point - someone mentioned steering stabilizer. Good call. You'll probably have to remove one end and collapse/extend it. If there's not some pretty significant resistance, replace it.

If you have to buy parts, check out rockauto.com and don't cheap out on parts. I recommend MOOG if they offer the part you're after.
 
You probably had a slipped belt in one of your front tires. That will cause death wobble. Like was said, check condition of all steering components, and probably replace your steering stabilizer.

As for the lift, you have a 3" body lift, which is kind of cheesy, but I don't know that I would call it unsafe.

Martin
 
rear springs have 2 extra leafs .

easy spot as stock are cut ends on the corners .

the extra leafs have square cut ends no corners cut off.
 
Thank you, everyone, for the input. I'm going to give the underside some care and attention, making sure the source of the wobble isn't related to something broke or worn.

Knowledge base on this site is incredible. While I'm not so vocal, I've referenced and bookmarked more threads from here than I care to count. Seriously, thank you. Keep posting!
 
your welcome .

and your $25.00 membership fee here is worth its weight in gold over other sites and any books other than gm dealer books. :D
 
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