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Time to build a suspension... (looking for input on springs)

campfire

campfire

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Well, in a few months it will be. :rolleyes: Right now it's time for suspension questions ('cause I don't wanna be redoing this every year like @Deuling ;)). After last month's overlanding trip, I've decided to fix my camping suburban and I would like it to have more ground clearance than the K10. I don't want huge tires. I've been aiming for 33s. I wouldn't turn down 35s if they dropped into my lap, but I don't wanna be messing with hydro steering, probably not even crossover. I don't want anything that compromises reliability or durability. This is an overlanding rig, not a rock crawler. Trail performance is a good thing, but not as important as getting home afterwards. No death wobble, no huge amounts of body roll. I want to keep my street manners while adding a little more clearance and some tires that actually grab the ground instead of sliding around all the time. The stock K10 did nearly everything I wanted to do, so I don't need much. But while I'm at it I MAW grab some 42s and some portal axles and a couple ARB lockers. (sarcasm :rolleyes:)

Suburban thread is here if you wanna follow along this winter.

With that established, questions:
 
At what point does stock steering become unpleasant/unworkable? I see folks running 4" lifts with push-pull steering, and I see some folks switching to crossover even without lift. Aside from draining my pocket book, what benefits does crossover bring to a mild trail rig? I'm not expecting boulder crawling or large amounts of articulation. I'm happy with the way my stock steering behaves. Do I have anything to gain from crossover?
 
I'm also looking for a much softer ride. I will probably retain the sway bar for highway use (adding disconnects). I'm impressed with the custom ORD springs that @Blue85 and @Deuling are running. One thing that has me curious...a bunch of folks run expensive springs in the front and then just the cheapest thing they can find on the rear. I know a couple of guys here running cheap 57" Ford springs and a shackle flip in the rear, spending 4x the amount of money on the front suspension. Is there no benefit to softening out the rear? Or is this just cheapness in action? I'm gonna replace the sagging rear springs anyway, but I'm not gonna buy high-dollar springs unless there's some benefit in the back like there is in the front.
 
How many of you have modified your suspension without redoing driveshafts? Custom driveshafts seem crazy expensive to me, I'll hafta think about it before I cross that line. As I said before, I don't need much. But I might as well do it well enough that I don't wind up tearing it all apart next year. :rolleyes:

If I redo driveshafts, I definitely don't want to do it twice. Unless there's some cheap solution out there that I'm missing. I'm not going to weld up square tubing for a highway rig. :dunno:
 
Stock rear 52's are nice and soft and we have shackle flips available so you can get off the bump stops and get your tire clearance with stock springs. Stock fronts are soft, too, but they are way too low, so you have to replace them. The aftermarket is full of super-stiff front springs that provide nearly identical lift for everything from V-6 to big block, so they are all stiff. Just read the threads of front 52 swaps and how they are so soft the truck is barely streetable.

Long-term your 30 year old 52's will fail, but they can work fine for some time.
 
Blue85 said:
Stock rear 52's are nice and soft and we have shackle flips available so you can get off the bump stops and get your tire clearance with stock springs. Stock fronts are soft, too, but they are way too low, so you have to replace them. The aftermarket is full of super-stiff front springs that provide nearly identical lift for everything from V-6 to big block, so they are all stiff. Just read the threads of front 52 swaps and how they are so soft the truck is barely streetable.

Long-term your 30 year old 52's will fail, but they can work fine for some time.
Click to expand...

I'm already riding on the rear overleafs when the truck is unloaded (:doah:), so I'm not convinced that keeping them is a good idea. They're tired and saggy, and riding with the overleaf isn't helping the stiffness issue. If the stock 52s are wonderfully soft, why are you running the ORD springs in the front instead of using those? :thinking:

And are your "temporary" rear springs still the stock 52s that came with the truck?

I think I understand the barely streetable side of things now. I spent a lot of time watching your rig swaying back and forth on the trail. :haha:
 
brans87 said:
Do we have a budget in mind here?
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Not yet. I hafta see what's out there. But every proposed expense will be run through a cost/benefit analysis. And I won't buy something unless I both see a clear benefit AND I can't find a better way to allocate the funding.

I can say that I'm not gonna put thousands of dollars into this suspension. I might spring for $600 custom leaves (not sure yet), but I'm definitely not interested in $2500 coil-over kits. This will be a glorified road tripping machine when it's complete.
 
Why not a set of 4 inch tuff country EZ ride springs front and rear then zero rate if needed? same in front with new 52 springs and shackle flip? just throwing out ideas....
 
I know someone will disagree, but the GM "push-me-pull-you" steering was one of the things GM got wrong on the design of the square body 4X4 truck. If you look at today's Dodge and Ford 4X4 trucks with solid axle diffs, they both have cross-over steering linkage. The Ford and Dodge engineers did not do that for no reason.
 
brans87 said:
Why not a set of 4 inch tuff country EZ ride springs front and rear then zero rate if needed? same in front with new 52 springs and shackle flip? just throwing out ideas....
Click to expand...

That's a fine idea. Wifey and I are both a little intoxicated by our soft rides in Luke's truck, but I don't think I've ridden in a truck with a TC lift. I hear that they are softer than other lift springs, but I don't have much to compare it too. I'm new to suspension mods. I sure wish I had been more diligent in bumming rides with the various rigs at dunefest, I had a really good chance to see what's out there. :doah:

@82355, what are the suspension specs on Red's silver K5 that we were riding around in over Memorial Day?
 
brans87 said:
Why not a set of 4 inch tuff country EZ ride springs front and rear then zero rate if needed? same in front with new 52 springs and shackle flip? just throwing out ideas....
Click to expand...

Why bother with the TC springs if stock 52s (front) + shackle flip (rear) yields the same result? :dunno:
 
Push pull sucks, Ford abandoned it it decades ago.

My 52s came out of my truck at 145k miles. I drove it to Moab and back, no sway bar. If that's not streetable, someone can buy me a trailer
 
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