Front wheel travel; 88-98 C1500 vs. K1500

[uncle_handsome]

Hello! I'm interested in buyin' a truck. I don't need 4wd so I thought I might prefer to save myself money and get a C1500. The other day I saw (what appeared to be) a stock C1500 go up on a hydraulic lift for something like an oil change. I saw the rear axle droop at least 6" but the front wheels only travelled maybe 3-4" at the most while the truck was lifted 5 feet off the ground.

My question is this; has anyone noticed what kind of wheel travel a stock K1500 has? I heard that without going to a straight axle it is near impossible to get more wheel travel out of a GM IFS 4wd front suspension. If I can only get a maximum of maybe 4" (or less) of downward travel on a tire (with no weight on it) without going to a straight axle I'll stick with the lamer 2wd truck.

(Ideally I'd like to see the front suspension able to extend down as far as the rear axle does)

[1FaastC10]

stick with 2wd, or SFA. IFS is crap. i'm working on a deal to replace my IFS truck with another SFA truck.

[uncle_handsome]

So 88-98 GM's K1500's front suspension has worse flex and travel than the C1500's do???

[1FaastC10]

i think they're about the same, but the ride with the coils in the front is SOOO much better than the torsion bars that the K1500s have. i'm actually partial to the handling of a leaf sprung truck, my '77 K20 and the '79 K20 i bought a few winters ago were both very smooth riding trucks.

[jays68yak]

Originally Posted by uncle_handsome

So 88-98 GM's K1500's front suspension has worse flex and travel than the C1500's do???

I would bet this would be somewhat correct.

My k2500, basicly the same thing, is almost bottomed out on the stops for it going to full drop. I would also note that I have the bars tighten a bit.

If you think about it, a c1500 and a k1500 are basicly the same design up front. Not saying that parts will interchange, but the basic design of the two is the same. If you are after lots of travel, two options come to mind.

2wd with a prerunner suspension
4wd converted to SFA, leafs would be ok, coilover 4 link setup would be the best.

[uncle_handsome]

Thanks for your help. I don't need 12-15" of travel like a pre-runner or a wild 4x4, I'd just like the same (or almost the same) wheel travel that the rear has. To me a perfect truck would have 5-6" of extension (unloaded) and maybe 4-6" of compression. The main problem I guess is I want a truck for $5000 or less and I live in a "rust belt" area, in a city too; we have a 2 car garage, already own 3 vehicles and have almost no extra land.

Any suggestions (besides moving; I want to but can't now)

[1FaastC10]

73-87 K series truck sounds perfect for you.

[uncle_handsome]

Do you have any advice about what to look for and lookout for in a "rust-belt" 73-87 K-series truck. I don't mind if it's a little ugly. I do want everything to work or at least what doesn't easily (and cheaply) repairable. Are body panels cheap or at least reasonably priced? Would there be any frame damage from rust?

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

[Destructo]

Your going to have trouble finding a rust free body on a 73-87 truck where your at, but usually the 81-87 trucks didn't rust out as bad, and repair parts for the body are just about the cheapest of anything out there, are as all the other parts, very cheap to fix.

I would look-out for frame damage and rusted cab supports, body panels can be fix fairly cheaply, but the cab mounts are kind of a pain and you don't want rusted out body mounts, I don't usually see too many frames that are so rusted their going to be a problem on these trucks, most of the time the frame just has some surface rust if the paint has been scraped off.

And if your not going to use the truck off-road why are you worried about how much suspension travel you have? a 73-87 K10 or K1500 is going to have more suspension travel than a 88-up IFS truck. And I think the 88-up 2wd trucks have coils in the front?

[1FaastC10]

88+ C trucks have coils, in fact, all C trucks have had coils up front since the 60s. in 88 they began to use torsion bars on the front of K trucks, everything prior to that was leafed.

[uncle_handsome]

Can you see cab supports or frame mounts from looking under a truck? (instead of having to remove the cab to see the damage) I'd rather not buy a rust-belt truck but I live in Canada and every vehicle here must have the speedometer and odometer in kilometers, so that'd cost a few hundred bucks. I know if I lived just an hour east of here (in western NY) I could just buy a Southern truck and take it home with no problems. (salted roads are the only thing I hate more than snow and I love weather in the low 100's F.)

Thanks for all your input! You all have been great. Merry Christmas!!!