Calling All Dana 60s

[Orange Crate]

Of course a search came up with nothing specific. I guess I could read everybody's build thread....But maybe someone has a K20 with a 2" lift AND a Dana 60 in front? I'm looking for what front shocks work. I have new shocks from Tough Country ( came with the lift kit) and they will just about throw me out the truck window. Wow these things are terrible. I need to slow the rebound down A LOT. Anyone have a similar set up? So far the rear shocks from the kit seem ok, I have not added weight back there yet to see how they perform under load.

[907burb]

I do not have a K20 with 2 in lift. I do have a 68 K10 Burb that I put a Dana 60 up front. It has a 4 inch lift. I use Bilstein shocks and I like them. Bilstein won't give you a suggestion on what shock number to use, they suggest going to an offroad shop that can get the measurements needed to decide which shock to purchase. You need your resting measurement, sitting flat. You then need full drop and full compression, which then gives you then measurement needed to purchase the correct shock. You can do this in your driveway which gets you close enough for the average driver, unless you are doing extreme off-roading. I think the Bilstein's are one of the bets shocks you can buy for a driver.

[Richard]

Same shocks should work as the D44. The springs account for 50% or more of the ride. Unfortunately most off the shelf lift springs are even stiffer than the stock springs. No idea what came with your lift but IMO a standard hydraulic shock (no gas) as original will work best with a stiff spring, JMHO.

[Orange Crate]

Originally Posted by 907burb

I do not have a K20 with 2 in lift. I do have a 68 K10 Burb that I put a Dana 60 up front. It has a 4 inch lift. I use Bilstein shocks and I like them. Bilstein won't give you a suggestion on what shock number to use, they suggest going to an offroad shop that can get the measurements needed to decide which shock to purchase. You need your resting measurement, sitting flat. You then need full drop and full compression, which then gives you then measurement needed to purchase the correct shock. You can do this in your driveway which gets you close enough for the average driver, unless you are doing extreme off-roading. I think the Bilstein's are one of the bets shocks you can buy for a driver.

Good stuff here, thanks.

[kwmech]

I'd take a closer look at the springs first. A lot of people over tighten the shackle bolts too much thus binding it up when it tries to move. I've got the quad shocks on mine, but I'm using stock springs that have been reworked to get my lift

[57taskforce]

Originally Posted by Richard

Same shocks should work as the D44. The springs account for 50% or more of the ride. Unfortunately most off the shelf lift springs are even stiffer than the stock springs. No idea what came with your lift but IMO a standard hydraulic shock (no gas) as original will work best with a stiff spring, JMHO.

I second this. I’ve got a rough country 4” all spring lift on my K20 with a front 60 and plan to just run skyjacker hydraulic shocks on it.

[cadillac_al]

Well, I have a Dana 60 with a 2" lift EZ Ride springs and Rancho rs5000 shocks. Everyone says the 5000's are junk. It rides surprisingly like stock. I have never rode in a K10 or K20 that rode nice. They all ride like heavy duty trucks to me. I'm used to Cadillacs but C10's do ride as nice as any truck can. I always wanted to try the Rancho RS9000 adjustable shocks but some kind of hydraulic shock like Skyjacker is probably a very good option.

[Orange Crate]

Thanks Cadillac. I'll look at the Rancho and Skyjackers. I am sure I need just hydraulic rebound dampers , no gas charged needed (compression dampning).

[Orange Crate]

So I looked in to a few brands. The Bilsteins are expensive and I didn't want to commit to that kind of money and not have them work the way I want. I went with a pair of Skyjacker 7K hydro and they didn't change one damn thing. I took off a pair of Tough Country gas charged units thinking that if I could just control the rebound better (eliminate the added nitrogen compression damping). Someone above had mentioned going with just hyrdo but that is clearly not what this lift needs. So I have two pairs of new shocks and I'll be looking for a third.

[Orange Crate]

What I decided to do was remove one more leaf from the front. I had already removed one and added it to the rear set to get a better rake. The Dana 60 is about and inch taller than the D44 so I was making up the difference. It took some real elbow grease to get the crimped straps off that capture the individual springs (three leaf pack) Once the straps were off I had a choice of two leaves, one shorter than the other. At first I installed the shorter of the two but when I lowered the truck back down on its own weight I lost 3/4 " of the 2" lift. I did not drive it after but elected to disassemble the spring packs again and remove the short leaf and substitute that with the longer of the two. Once again with the truck back on the cement I had only lost 1/4 of the original lift. Oh well that's hot roddin' I have yet to get it around the block but I expect an improvement. Plus I now can supplement the compression damping by adding back in the gas charged Tough Country shock set. Wish me luck ( cuz I think I'm gonna need it). Hey manual labor is cheap, I don't even pay myself minimum wage!

[Orange Crate]

So I got a chance to drive it today and it seems to be back to how I remember this truck 14 years ago before I tore it down for paint and 5 speed install and the new lift kit. I have the Sky Jacker hydro shocks on it now so I'll drive it for a while like that and then switch back over to the Tough Country gas charged jobs, just to see if they are worth a darn. They just might be.....It might help to add some compression damping now that the front is softer. I attached a picture of the spring pack complete and then the one short spring as removed with the straps unfolded. I'll have to remake another set of straps to keep everything together over rough ground.

[Richard]

Originally Posted by Orange Crate

So I got a chance to drive it today and it seems to be back to how I remember this truck 14 years ago before I tore it down for paint and 5 speed install and the new lift kit. I have the Sky Jacker hydro shocks on it now so I'll drive it for a while like that and then switch back over to the Tough Country gas charged jobs, just to see if they are worth a darn. They just might be.....It might help to add some compression damping now that the front is softer. I attached a picture of the spring pack complete and then the one short spring as removed with the straps unfolded. I'll have to remake another set of straps to keep everything together over rough ground.

Great that you got to point that satisfies you by modifying what you have. If you want something better that will make a real difference look into springs by Deaver, Alcan or Atlas.

[KQQL IT]

Orange Crate when I see your tag.
This truck comes to mind.

[Orange Crate]

A quick update in the next exciting episode....I switched back to my Rough Country gas charged shocks from the newly purchased Skyjacker 7000 hydraulic only shocks. I do/did need the extra compression dampening but again, the RC can not handle the rebound speed required for this set up. The added compression charge is good but on rebound it jumps around like a trampoline. So, anyway, that's the end of those shocks, kind of a waste since they only have about 50 miles on them. It would be nice if there was a standard measure for shock speeds in compression and rebound.

[Orange Crate]

So another next exciting episode. I had a conversation with a spring manufacturer engineer. Interesting that what i want is almost impossible to obtain with THE DANA 60 that I have installed. Because the Dana 60 is about 3/4 of and inch taller at the spring pad than the original Dana 44. I am losing that critical height needed for the arch in a new spring pack. The arch is what can make or break a good riding spring, it allows the shackle to move/work. So what I have done by removing two leaves from this spring pack to try to make it work is remove the "arch" (the two leaves left are flat at the front end weight I am at, 3200 lbs on the scale). SO...the issue here is compounded 1) the spring rate WAS too high BUT 2) I removed two leaves there-by eliminating any "arch" AND the movement necessary for the spring to actually work as a spring. WOW. The company I was talking to basically said that what I want would be almost impossible to make work (2 inch lift with a Dana 60 front). He calculated my current spring rate (with the two leaves removed) to be 377 lbs. if they built new leaves for me they would come in at 260 lbs so slight improvement but not much. My choices right now are to put the Dana 44 back in to gain that 3/4 inch back for the arch to work better OR go to a 4 inch lift also then gaining more arch for the leaves to work better/smoother. WOW. I don't think a 4 inch lift is going to look right with my all new powder coated rims and new 33" tires. I would have to probably go with 35 inch tires to make it look right. SO my choice really comes down to reinstalling the Dana 44 and give up the full 1 ton drive line.....hhmmm. Ok so now help me spend my money to solve this conundrum. I guess there is a third choice and that is to have the springs made and accept the slight improvement in reduced spring rate and call that good enough......WOW just wow......

[Orange Crate]

Forgot to make a slight correction, sorry for the confusion I have a 2" TOUGH COUNTRY lift not a Rough Country lift. Sorry to Rough Country for the mistake.

[57taskforce]

4” on 33’s isn’t terrible. Granted it’s a 1/2 ton but the end result should be close on a K20. My truck will rub if turning sharp while articulated much at all with the 4” lift and 35’s on it fyi.

[Orange Crate]

Fixed it. Thanks. Yes the new debate: is 4 inches too high? I am not a young pup and getting in to just the 2" lift can sometimes be a (literal) pain. Plus the GF is short. And also I would need to go to a 35" tire but I just bought these 33" tires so there is a $1700 choice just in that. If I go with the 4" option I would also be buying 4 leaf packs and not just the two front so that adds at least another $1000-$1200 on top of the larger tires. The 4" option is the most expensive route for sure BUT probably the best ride possible with this truck. So, what do I want and what am I willing to live with if I compromise. The middle of the road choice is reinstall the Dana 44 get the front springs made for that and have a slightly better ride than the 60 with a new spring set, keeping the 2" lift. For me right now the stance and height of the truck are just right. It is the way I want it to look. You can"t have everything...darn it. Running boards maybe for the GF and 4" lift?

[Orange Crate]

ok, so this saga continues. I decided to buy all new springs with a 3" lift to try to compromise between what I have and the 4" lift. I gave the spring company my truck total weight and front to back bias also. It took 6 weeks to build the kit and ship to me BUT here is how it turned out. As you can see, something is just not right. The rear lost an inch from my original lift! I spoke to the spring company engineer (recommended above) but they could not tell me what went wrong. I did convince them to take the rear springs back and rework them at no cost (they originally wanted to charge me for shipping). We shall see if they can literally make this situation right.(this kit was NOT cheap).

[Orange Crate]

AND another update. I got the rear springs back and they are still 1 inch too short. I spoke with the spring engineer again but he had no clue. I still had the 1 inch zero rate block from ORD from my last lift kit so I installed that and the truck now sits just about right. This kit cost about $2300 total and took 3 months to get installed and they screwed it up twice. I'll have to wait until the weather gets nice again before I can even find out if this has solved the original issue....FFS.

[jjzepplin]

Nice truck either way. I adjusted the ride height of my newer truck with helper bags. Had the bed full of sand one day and they sure helped out.