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Ride and flex w/ 56" lifted springs

J

Jay74

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Does anyone have experience running 56" springs with a 2" or 4" lift front and rear?

I'm new to the K5 world and picked up a 74 with a huge lift and 44s. It's not very capable as it sits sky high with very stiff springs. After a bit of research I was leaning towards the 4+ 56's hoping I may be able to still pack a 40 or 42 tire in there, and gain some much needed flex for hitting the trails.

Any opinions or advice is much appreciated.
 
What set up do you have in the rear now? If stock rear shackle set up then you'd probably be better off with a shackle flip than lifted springs.

As for the front, do you have crossover steering? Maybe someone will chime in but I don't remember any users here with lifted 56's in the front. I run 2.5" Superlift 52's in the front and they seem to flex decent but I've only wheeled it once so far.
 
Already has the crossover steering. The rear shackles look to be stock, but the forward perches have been moved back. The front looks to have a larger shackle, maybe a 6".

I'm learning as I go here. I hope I am getting all the vocabulary correct.

Here is a picture. I know it doesn't show much but at least you can get an idea of what I'm working with.

Pb54497.jpg
 
Good looking truck! Can't tell much about the suspension from the pic, post more undercarriage pics when you can. Any blocks in the rear?
 
No blocks. I was told they were custom 14" springs, and with the 3" body lift you can get winded just trying to climb in.
 
I helped a buddy do 6" 56s on the front of his truck. We were hoping for 10" of lift ended up around 11.5.

It drove nice. It was a thousand times nicer than his previous 12" springs. Flexed good too
 
blazinzuk said:
I helped a buddy do 6" 56s on the front of his truck. We were hoping for 10" of lift ended up around 11.5.

It drove nice. It was a thousand times nicer than his previous 12" springs. Flexed good too
Click to expand...


Do you recall what size tire we was able to run with that setup? Also did he leave the 12" springs in the back or swap them as well?
 
He had a one linked rear end with 8" lift Cherokee front coil springs.

He ran 49s but the fenders were cut big time.

With his front springs I bet 40s or 42s max it had really awesome up travel.

You could limit it and get away with bigger
 
Are you willing to trim the body? If so, how much?
 
I'd cut what ever it would take. I figured bringing the wheel well forward to accommodate the new forward axle position and maybe bringing it up to the body line would be a good start. The body panels look good from far but up close you can see where there is plenty of body filler and some rusty treasures. I don't know if I would be so quick to hack at the sheet metal if it wasn't in the condition it is. Function over form at this point I guess.
 
Trimming like that you could fit 44's with a 2" spring. You might could do it with a stock spring but that would take a big cut. Fwiw, Hawgs run small for there size so they would fit easier than a similar size Swamper.
 
I'll keep that in mind. The hawgs that are on there are about shot and slight over kill for the local trails around here. I planned on downsizing if not just for clearance but also to help with the frame flex when I try to steer.
 
Those are some pretty large tires. If you're going to run those and lower it down a bit - gonna need massive fender trimming.

Lets hear a bit about that caddy!
 
Yea the tires definitely need to be replaced. Most likely I'll be looking to a smaller size.

As for that caddy. It's a 65 fleetwood limo. I picked it up down by the long Beach shipping yards over 12 years ago. It runs and drives fantastic. It has a 429 and I've kept it all as old skool as possible. Mainly using used original parts. The body gets a little ruff in spots but I dig the creepy look. It would be my daily runner but I just got tired of stopping at the pump every other day.
 
I don't say this often, but try to find a set of front fenders to cut and sell those nice ones to someone who needs em. CA wont have clean early square body sheet metal for long.

Also, that picture looks very local. What city?
 
Intended use... well in a perfect world, it would be awesome to have a higher speed desert masher with the capability of slowing down to hit some of the more difficult rock trails when I'm with all of my jeep buddies, but Breaking my wallet on a nice linked coil over setup isn't in the cards at the moment. Basically I am trying to produce something as close as I can to that.

As for the sheet metal. Everything looks a lot better in the picture than in reality. The fender you see there has had rust that was painted over and bubbling, and taken a tire to the lower bottom and tweaked it up towards the windshield. The PO's fix for this was to shift the door position to hide this which resulted in moving the strike beyond adjustment and figured they'd just weld it in where they needed it.... I could go on and on.

So once I start really digging in to this thing and the panels look like they could be cleaned up and straightened. I totally agree with octane. It just doesn't seem right to hack or toss a perfectly good panel.

I'm in Menifee CA, haven't found much wheelin locally yet other than Ocotillo. Riverside County is still new to me, I grew up in the IE so Big Bear and places like that were basically in my back yard.
 
In all reality a truck like your talking just needs a good plan. There certainly are expensive bits you have to buy but not all at once.

Look at springs from ORD the custom ones easy flex good and with the right shocks they not only flex well but can really put down some speed.

If your willing to cut fenders then it opens up tons of possibilities
 
Wow those springs are looking like the best bang for the buck option. I didn't really expect to find options that would bring the rig up to that level within the budget. I'll have to shoot em an email and see what they have say.

Kinda reminds me of a local joint called deaver spring. I haven't dealt with them in over ten years, but I remember them being on the top end of the price spectrum. Does anyone know how the two compare?
 
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