84 Chevy Shorty Suspension Help!

[swissarmychainsaw]

I have a nice 84 Chev Silverado short bed, but I would like some better suspension on it. (1/2 Ton, 305, 700R4)
Most just for ride quality. It's a 2wd, so it's not like i'm offroading it.

My Dad drove it the other day, and I was driving a different car, I noticed that the truck tilted toward the Drivers side as it went down the road. Meaning you could SEE the weight of my Dad, and how it impacted the suspension.
(he weighs 225)

When I first bought it the shocks were really bad, and I put some crappy 35$ Monroe shocks on it.

My question is this:
Should I replace the front Coil Springs (if so with what? Seems chevy offered "standard and heavy duty")
What about the rear leafs? I'm not sure how to eval them. I know when I stand in the back of the truck I can get it to "wiggle" pretty easily.

Shocks: Just go with bilstein? Any thoughts or recommends?

Thanks! This board is GREAT!
--Nick
PS what's a post with out some pictures!

[1980GMC]

Sharp truck! Are you wanting to keep it stock height and just handle the "wiggle" issues?

[swissarmychainsaw]

Originally Posted by 1980GMC

Sharp truck! Are you wanting to keep it stock height and just handle the "wiggle" issues?

Thanks!
Yeah stock height works for me. I don't care too much either way.
Low trucks look cool, Baja trucks look cool!

[1980GMC]

Well I'm biased to lower it but if you keep it stock height then first thing I'd do would be to get some better shocks on it to handle the wiggle issue. Sway bars would help a lot too. Pull one from a wrecked one ton for the front. I don't think the weight of the driver should impact the truck as drastically as you say, so check on a level surface with no one in the truck, the height to each fender and make sure they're not drastically different on each side.

[cory d]

get some moog 6102 or 6454 coils for the front. bilsteins on the front would be good. you can save some cash and put monroe sensa-tracs on the back. a 1 1/4" bar from a 3/4 or one tone with poly bushings would be good too

[54Caddy]

Check your cab mounts also. Could be causing the cab lean. It was on mine, put some poly mounts on it.
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[LEEVON]

Nice truck! I had an '87 swb, 2wd with the same problem. It leaned bad to the driver's side, all the time but worse with a driver. I inspected the entire suspension, tried swapping the coil springs from side to side, bought new coil springs and installed a sway bar...none of these worked. I did enough research that suggested it could actually be the opposite side leaf spring but I never proved it, sold the truck. You could replace the leaf springs or find some used ones and experiment a little. I really hated that lean and it cornered soft to that side too. My current '87 has tight, solid and level suspension.

FYI, shocks can't hurt your ride, but they won't fix the lean. Honestly, as long as the Monroes are sized right, they should be just fine. I've tried all kinds of drop shocks, sport shocks, etc. and I've come full circle back to stock type shocks. Bilsteins would be a step up though. If you don't have a sway bar, adding one will be a huge improvement in ride quality too, but won't fix the lean either.

[swissarmychainsaw]

Originally Posted by cory d

get some moog 6102 or 6454 coils for the front. bilsteins on the front would be good. you can save some cash and put monroe sensa-tracs on the back. a 1 1/4" bar from a 3/4 or one tone with poly bushings would be good too

Thanks everyone for the tips and thoughts.

Regarding the Coils:

Moog:
-------
6454 coils
End 1 Type Tangential
End 2 Type Pig Tail
Inside Diameter 3.676
Bar Diameter .828
Install Height 10.00
Load 3841
Spring Rate 1060
Free Height 13.61

6102
Inside Diameter 3.680
Bar Diameter .812
Install Height 10.00
Load 2600
Spring Rate 1015
Free Height 12.56

So the 6454 Are taller capable of greater load, any advantage to going to a bigger spring?
What is the ride difference going to be like?

( I'm assuming these are just like the OEM Big Block Springs VS. Small Block Springs ) and since I have a small block the smaller ones will do fine?

Dang! Coils are sold in pairs (73$)
But shocks are individual? is that right? Bilenstein Part#: 24-009331 is $78 -- that's for ONE right?
/facepalm.
thanks!
--Nick

[INSIDIOUS '86]

Yah do bilstein shocks. If you want a good ride quality get a good factory swaybar for the front. You can do the one ton springs but if your just looking to cruise around the ones you have will do fine. Grease up all your suspension parts and then get a new steering box from redhead steering if you want the steering to feel real nice again. The Monroe senstracs in the rear will be real nice as well. They are basicly the same valving as the bilsteins but a tad softer which is good for the rear. Also if your truck has a lean try swapping the rear leaf springs this should even it out.

You can also take the rear leafs apart and put new Teflon pads on them and coat them with Teflon spray and they should slide nice and smooth giving a better ride. If you go with bigger springs anywhere your just going to make the truck ride like a rock down the road
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[piecesparts]

Keep in mind that the lean also compensates for the fact that fthe uel tank is on that side and the weight of the fuel is there

[Keith Seymore]

Also keep in mind:

a) They leaned (randomly) when new

b) There is no body connection providing structure front to rear (only the frame rails) so they can "twist", resulting in a different amount of lean when viewed from the front vs when viewed from the rear. The solution to fix a front lean could be different than fixing a rear view lean.

K

[franky69c10]

My 87 leans on the passenger side still don't know what's causing it
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