Thanks for explaining that to me. I have been wondering.
There should be some money coming your way in the spring time.
CK5
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Time to build a suspension... (looking for input on springs)
- Thread starter campfire
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- awesome suspension
Thanks for explaining that to me. I have been wondering.
There should be some money coming your way in the spring time.
The long drag link occupies roughly the same space as the factory sway bar. Is is possible to resolve? Sure, given enough time & money workarounds are always possible. But the easy answers conflict with each other.
Sort of piggybacking on what @Stephen is saying for shackle angles and the free droop. I figure it's worth about 4/5 inches on my setup.
Btw that spring pack is really soft.
I am not a fan of the shackle flip mainly because of the way it makes the truck look, I can see the minor change in wheelbase.
It is possible to use the stock sway bar and run crossover but only at the expense of a taller lift.
The keyword is to use the word "taller" in a few key components. Such would be the pitman arm, steering arm and sway bar brackets. Even though I say the word taller it generally goes for the word "drop" as we know with pitman arms and sway bar brackets.
The idea I have that I'd like to incorporate such system into a K30 would be to use 6" Skyjacker (or whatever brand you desire) springs on 1" thick shims with 4 degree tapers for 7" total lift.
Then mount the sway bar at the u-bolt plates and leave the front part of the sway bar hanging down so low to where they're about an inch away from hitting the leaf springs. This keeps the bar almost level to the point as it came from the factory with no lift. Just basically the stock form. Then fab some drop brackets from the frame to the sway bars. I would guesstimate in the range of 7" to 8" drop as per total lift. This should keep the bar down so low in order to make room above it for the drag link.
The steering arm should be a raised type preferably the one from Off Road Unlimited. They have a cast arm that raises somewhere in the 3" range. This should allow the passenger side of the drag link ample room over the sway bar.
The pitman arm should be the standard F150 arm #1104 or equivalent with aftermarket numbers.
Taller suspension lifts would still allow all the above to fit and work but if the drag link needs more drop or raising, Skyjacker offers their Extreme Drop pitman arms which drops a few more inches past the 1104 arm. The ORU steering arm can still be raised more with a spacer and longer studs.
This spring I plan to do all this to a K30 chassis. If my calculations are correct everything should work like a charm.
Meanwhile here are two pics of a V3500 with 8" lift and running the sway bar with crossover as I mentioned above:
Here's the second pic of the same truck:
Sounds like a plan, Wes. I don't plan to go that high with my rig, but I will be taking notes.
That is/was zcar zach's from years ago and I have some of the same pics since it was a pretty cool truck. I think you'd want to ditch the zero rate and put extra arch in the springs to drop the spring top and swaybar down away from the pitman arm. You could use our shorter drop pitman arm if necessary but even with a riser block or riser arm you're building in a bit more bumpsteer that way. You also end up with the swaybar bolted directly from frame to axle again which tends to bind up the taller springs which is right back to why we came up with disconnects in the first place. None of this is unworkable. But I would throw out the idea that a suspension 4" and under used more for transportation than as a toy has a good chance of keeping you happy with the stock steering and swaybar arrangement. It's the really twisty stuff that gets the shorter lift guys with factory steering and then once you get over about 6" of lift the front to back draglink doesn't even work decent on the street.
So...when are you guys gonna sell a Suburban shock brace? I've already welded up this mount once, I would prefer to double-shear it when I have the suspension apart anyways...
Alright, I'm slowly bringing this truck back to life and am now back to pricing springs, checking my gain vs. the dollars invested. Given how few miles this will see, and how much of it will be road time, we're leaning away from the pricier side of the spectrum.
So talk to me about cheaper springs.
As a recap, I'm looking at 2-3" of lift, not messing with crossover steering or custom driveshafts, and trying to keep the stock road manners (including ORD's swaybar correction kit and a set of Bilstein shocks).
For front EZ rides, I'm looking at $340 + shipping.
http://offroaddesign.com/catalog/2inchliftsystem.htm
Superlift springs are half that price. I got a taste of those riding in the Iron Maiden last summer.
https://www.summitracing.com/parts/...984/make/gmc/model/k1500-suburban?prefilter=1
There's a set of four 2" Skyjackers posted here for $500.
And lots of other brands floating around.
Is there a tech article I missed detailing what the differences are? Every spring claims to ride nicely in every application, but given the differences in vehicle weights I don't see how that is remotely possible. My diesel Suburban is heavier than the average square body (on both ends), so my idea of "soft" requires a higher spring rate. Right?
So talk to me about cheaper springs.
As a recap, I'm looking at 2-3" of lift, not messing with crossover steering or custom driveshafts, and trying to keep the stock road manners (including ORD's swaybar correction kit and a set of Bilstein shocks).
For front EZ rides, I'm looking at $340 + shipping.
http://offroaddesign.com/catalog/2inchliftsystem.htm
Superlift springs are half that price. I got a taste of those riding in the Iron Maiden last summer.
https://www.summitracing.com/parts/...984/make/gmc/model/k1500-suburban?prefilter=1
There's a set of four 2" Skyjackers posted here for $500.
And lots of other brands floating around.
Is there a tech article I missed detailing what the differences are? Every spring claims to ride nicely in every application, but given the differences in vehicle weights I don't see how that is remotely possible. My diesel Suburban is heavier than the average square body (on both ends), so my idea of "soft" requires a higher spring rate. Right?
Pay close attention to what does or does not come with the spring. Such as bushings.
Get, once again imo, a spring on the softer side. Not too soft but on the softer side.
Get rear springs but just use blocks for now if you can't afford them.
Bilstein shocks probably 12s for the front 10s in back. Mount them properly.
Replace all your suspension bushings go have fun.
Link it
Get, once again imo, a spring on the softer side. Not too soft but on the softer side.
Get rear springs but just use blocks for now if you can't afford them.
Bilstein shocks probably 12s for the front 10s in back. Mount them properly.
Replace all your suspension bushings go have fun.
Link it
This with air bags.
Again, I don't typically find published spring rate data. I don't know which springs are actually soft vs. those who just advertise a "soft ride." It's not like any of them walk around advertising their harsh ride quality.
I haven't thought about running rear blocks. My rear springs are lopsided and sagging badly enough that I want them replaced anyway.
For shocks, my rear shock mounts hang lower than stock (cargo van axle). So I currently have 22-23" of shock length at empty static ride height (without any lift). Not quite enough for the 14" 5125s that I have lying around, but after adding 3 more inches, a 12" would be just about perfect.
Need a smiley beating a dead horse.
Yessir, I already have the rear zero rates.
Just lift the damn thing I already did mine!
