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Suspension Flex?

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leadfootedracer

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i've finally picked up the truck, and am now ready to start picking out my lift.

my friend has a 82 k10 with 6" RC springs, and its stiff and doesnt flex well. my old 89 k5 had 4" RC springs and didnt flex either.

i only want to run a 4" lift. i've read the more lift to the spring the stiffer it is, thus making it harder to flex. so this is what i was thinking:

DIy4x Shackle Flip N Switch (With Currie's Johnny Joints)
Stock Rear Springs with Flipped Overload
DIy4x 6" Front Shackles
Tuff Country EZ Ride 2" Front Lift Springs
Doetsch 2.0 Monotube Smooth Body Shocks
F250 Shock Towers
DIy4x Rear Shock Inboard Kit.

the truck is a 85 K10 Short Bed. Havent decided on a tire yet, MAYBE a 37" IROK, not sure.

I'm going to be keeping the 10bolts, running chromoly shafts up front and gears/lockers all the way around.

now, i need a pro's opinion... teach me...
 
37" tires and locked 10 bolts won't get along very good in rocks (so I've heard)

Suspension sounds good. If you inboard your shocks you will loose some of the damping effect. I would just run shocks in the stock location unless you are so flexy that you can't get long enough travel. I have read alot about the ford shock towers cracking frames so watch out there.
 
I want to be very flexible. I don't want t be limited in my suspension travel.


I will mainly b doing mild trails and mud. No real rock climbing/crawling.
 
You might need to throw an ez inch or zero rate to get the front up a little to match the rear If you do it like planed. As jameslink said longer springs will help, try searching 52" or 56" or 63/64" spring swaps. Kert at diy4x has some stuff to make longer springs up front easy or you can do the front swap like the writeup http://coloradok5.com/52inchspringswap.shtml
 
I wheel with 3 friends. 2 have leaf springs and they don't flex. 1 has a jeep gc with front and rear coils. It flexes nicely.
 
Rough Country springs have a pretty high spring rate which is why they don't flex too much.

The best thing you can do with the front springs for more flex is go to longer shackles (7" or so) and move the upper shackle mount forward in the frame like this.

Past that, longer springs will flex better than shorter ones but they will have more trouble with axle wrap.


In the rear, ORD makes a 2.5" shackle flip if that's what you want. Both the 2.5" and 4" shackle flips will flex very well. If your rig sees any street time, pass on the joints at the end of the springs, you'll lose a lot of side to side stability with them.



Leaves can flex very well, here's mine a couple years ago on 52" springs front and rear (52's are the stock rear 1/2 ton springs, I was using the stock shackle setup).

avatar1.jpg




Many people with leaves have more flex than this but at what point are you really increasing the capability of the rig? More flex does not make a rig more capable if it makes it less stable.
 
that's some nice flex. I like that and it's what I'm looking for. What was your shock setup? That's stock 52" 1/2 tons up front? Did you run a 6" shackle? What lift does a stock 52" spring give you?

The johnny joints are a bad idea for street driveability? I'm going to drive it daily, wheeling it on the weekends.
 
leadfootedracer said:
that's some nice flex. I like that and it's what I'm looking for. What was your shock setup? That's stock 52" 1/2 tons up front? Did you run a 6" shackle? What lift does a stock 52" spring give you?
Click to expand...

At the time, there were no shocks on it. I now run 14" travel shocks that I got from the scratch and dent Superlift ebay store, they were $10-15 a piece. You will probably have to relocate shock mounts if you want that much travel.


Yes, those are stock 52" rears up front (minus a few leaves). A set of stock rear 52's up front will generally net about 4" of lift but it varies on how many leaves are in the pack, vehicle weight etc.

52's REALLY require crossover steering, the stock steering won't work; if you install front 52's like most you will move the axle forward 2" which makes the short draglink even shorter. Compound that with more flex and you'll have next to zero steering control with stock steering and 52's.

Basically more flex means you need a better steering setup, either crossover or full hydraulic. If you drive it on the street, full hydro is probably out of the question.

leadfootedracer said:
The johnny joints are a bad idea for street driveability? I'm going to drive it daily, wheeling it on the weekends.
Click to expand...

I've wheeled with a few guys in 'Yotas that had them, pretty unstable on the road. You can get plenty of flex without them.
 
sorry if i'm asking newb questions its that im new to this whole custom leaf springs suspension thing.

what does removing a few leaves from the springs do?

the shocks i picked out run somewhere around a 14" travel as well, but they are pricey. i kinda wished this whole setup came as a kit. a 4" long travel kit.

so help me out here, i want to run a stock 52" in the rear with a shackle flip WITHOUT Johnny Joints for a total of 4" lift. do i want to flip the overload spring?

and in the front i want to run a stock height 52" spring with stock length shackles and a few leaves removed?
 
Removing leaves will soften and flatten the spring. It is up to you weather you want to remove leaves or not, by adding or taking out leaves you can adjust the ride height and stiffness of the spring

Not sure about flipping the overload, mine is the stock way on my rear 56's and hasn't been a problem, it flexes pretty damn well
 
If you want to invest in good (crossover) steering and you want good flex, 52's front and rear will be flexy and fairly cheap. 52's in the front (no leaves removed) will probably get you ~4" of lift, a 4" shackle flip in the rear will cover the rear.

Removing leaves will lower the spring rate and will lower the ride height (less lift).

I have mine set as low as I can without full hydro steering and with leaves in the front, roughly stock suspension height. It would be a pain on a rig that had to drive long distances, it practically sits on the (not stock) bumpstops at ride height.
 
guarantee anyone here could put you together a "kit" to use 52s but it ain't gonna be cheap, worth it but not cheap.

To start you need some stock 52s. Then a way to mount them (either a kit from DIY4x or move mounts yourself) the kit is highly recommended. At minimum xover steering (where you are keeping your 10 bolts thats all I would do) long travel shocks and towers to mount them with (you have this taken care of). Extend your front driveline and bam you are done.

In the rear what you are planning sounds good. Now that said the tuff country ez ride springs flex pretty good too. Longer shackles and moving the shackle hanger forward in the frame will help with more droop even with lift springs.

You are going to want xover steering anyway you go though, the stock steering sucks when flexing.

Hope this helps
 
Rough Country springs got their name for a reason. I've had a set of them and they were very stiff. No flex at all. The (production) springs with the lightest (fastest) advertised spring rate on the market are Tuff Country EZ rides. I have 4" EZ rides on the front of my K1500 with ORD greasable shackles and they ride great for a solid axle truck. Yes, I have a heavy winch bumper and a winch. Tires are 35x12.50. The flex in the front was so much that I had to put on some longer bumpstops to keep the tires from getting shredded by my cut fenders. In the rear I kept the stock springs. I used a 4.5" ORD shackle flip and some 6" shackles from DIY4X. The truck rides pretty good and is about level on flat ground. The pinion angles are good. My suspension is quite flexy.
 
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