Your Opinion Please - 1/2 ton coils with air shocks or 3/4 ton leafs?

[mdwilf]

I do some towing - not every week, but several times a year I tow things on my dual axle trailer, and occasionally I haul some weight. I'd say the most I'd ever tow would be 6,000 or 7,000 pds, not counting the truck & trailer. But most of the time I drive my truck for pleasure.

I've never been happy with the way the 1/2 ton coils handled loads, even with HD shocks. I have a frame with 3/4 ton leafs from a 68 GMC I could use, or since the truck I just got has "Heavy Duty" 1/2 ton coils (visibly much stronger looking than regular coils) I've been thinking about spending the money for air shocks so I could have the added capacity when I need it. I guess a third alternative would be to keep the coil setup & make a set of overload springs.

I would appreciate your thoughts & experience.

[1-PU70]

well I have been down this road and and most the time I tow I have a load in the bed too. This is what I have done. I run a half ton with coils. There are 3/4 tone coils and HD 3/4 ton coils and progressive coils for the rear. I have tried them all. The progressive were the worst . They would really squat the rear with any kind of weight. The HD 3/4 ton sat a little bit lower with no load and road very rough with no load. The 3/4 ton where just right. I also added factory overload springs and coil over shocks. The truck rides very nice and tows and handles weight very well too. I tow a duel axle trailer with a car and the bed loaded with at least 1000 lbs. I have towed from FL to CA and back and was very comfortable with the handling and ability of the truck. Good luck

[mdwilf]

Thanks for the input & experience. I don't have any experience with coilover shocks - any brands, part #s, etc to recommend or stay away from? I didn't know they were available for the old trucks.

[capev86]

factory rear coil springs weight rating (per side)

1/2 ton: 1400lb, 2000lb

3/4 ton: 2000lb, 2750lb

as you can see the hd option coils on the 1/2 ton are essentially standard 3/4 ton springs. gm made it easy for us to upgrade and they should have been mandatory on the suburban and long wheel base pickups. i would not use 3/4ton HD option springs on a 1/2 ton. if you need that kind of capacity, go with a heavier duty truck with a tougher axle. i wouldn't even bother with a stock height 1/2 ton coils on anything 'cause i like the weight capacity for towing. the overload leaf's are neat, but the cleaner/lighter way to go is just get heavier duty springs. i just ordered a pair of 3/4 HD option coils for my 72 burb 3/4 ton. just hoping i don't lose any ride height as you mentioned....i want to keep the rake but also be super rugged for towing really big trailers in the future.

[1-PU70]

Here are the shocks I use in the rear.

http://www.autozone.com/autozone/cat...&parentId=46-0

[Tx Firefighter]

I've seen the lower shock mounts rip completely out of the plates a few times. Adding the load of air shocks to this would certainly add even more stress to a part that sometimes fails anyway.

Just an observation...