rear lift Q

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate
links, including eBay, Amazon, Skimlinks, and others.

ballinjefe22

ballinjefe22

10 Year 15 Year
Joined
Jul 28, 2009
Threads
7
Messages
20
Location
Yakima, WA
91, v6, ifs. ordered some bj spacers from sdori today...seems pretty straight forward (fingers crossed) thats not the issue im worryin about. i know i can space the front shocks a bit to make them not bottom out. my ? is about the rear, any suggestions? shackles? AAL? what kind of issues should i be lookin at for the shocks back there? im sure its been dealt with, but i couldnt seem to find anything with the search. if theres a link or anything, pointin me in the right direction would be great. thanks in advance.
 
Shocks don't add lift. Unless you're talking about 1972-era air shocks. Pump those babies up in the back, you stylin' in your Chevy Nova with Cragar Mags... far out!!! Just don't expect the ride to be very nice.

How much money do you want to spend? Do you want to do it right? Or cheap? They're not the same thing.
 
well i just want to level it out after the 1.5" lift of the bj spacers. i thought extended length shackles would lift the back a bit...either i have been wrong all my life, or something suddenly changed on me. haha i just dont want the back of my truck sittin down lower than the front. i might be makin this s*** more difficult than it should be, but who knows. :rolleyes:

my bad, for some reason i thought you said shackles dont add lift.
 
Last edited:
Longer shackles are a possible solution, as long as your springs are still in decent shape and not all sagged out. You just have to keep in mind that you only get 1/2" of lift for each 1" of shackle extension. You also can't go too far, as it will get unstable, and it can throw off the pinion angle and cause drivetrain vibrations. They're not expensive, you can actually make your own, so give it a try, see if it works for you.

Add-a-leaks tend to stiffen the ride too much, in my experience.
 
that should have been part of the original post... my rear seems to be wayyyy too soft, even with brand new shocks in the back. just settin my 33" spare in the back makes it drop about 2-3" that just doesnt seem right... maybe an AAL, would give it the couple inches, and make it a little more stiff. i mean, i dont want it to be as stiff as a 2X4, but its to soft. and if the leaf doesnt do the job, then i can just make my own shackles. i already have the metal, a good solid concrete edge, and a BFH. haha thanks a lot guys. might be poitnless, but im gonna take quite a few pics of the process, and maybe see if it will make the FAQ page. im sure im not the only moron with the simple question
 
ballinjefe22 said:
my rear seems to be wayyyy too soft, even with brand new shocks in the back. just settin my 33" spare in the back makes it drop about 2-3" that just doesnt seem right...
Click to expand...

Yeah, your leaf springs are shot. It takes 60 to 70 t-posts, 600 to 700lbs, to drop my rear end that much and I have an all original stock suspension with 253k miles on it ('94 4x4 pickup, 22re).

When it comes time to lift a bit I'll be putting on OME Dakar medium strength springs plus OME shocks. Considered very good to excellent for rough roads at speed. Edit: They add about 2" lift.
 
OME is worth the coin if you have it...

A cheap alternative is to just tune the exsisting springs a bit. You will need to get ahold of an extra set of leaf springs for doner leaves. I like to eliminate the overloads and replace them with enough leaves to make about a 7 leaf pack. Use the long main leaves from the doner pack first and cut them to the right length to fit into your spring pack between the clamps with an inch or two to spare so they don't smack the clamps when they flatten out. Make the leaves step down about 2 inches shorter than the leaf above. Make the bottom two leaves kind of short.

Be sure to gring the sharp edge off of the new cut ends so it doesn't cut into the spring above it. If you don't they will not be very durable and will bend out around the cut oner spring. Slather some grease between the leaves when you put it back together with a new spring pin.

Thes yeild about 2" of lift if you do it right, increase payload capacity like an add a leaf and they ride comparable to a decent set of lift springs like Downey or OME.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Share this page

Back
Top Bottom