Raising a C10?

[Gibble]

I know, I'm crazy, I don't want to lower it

I want to raise my C10 a few inches...what options do I have?

[jared stewart]

You're not crazy, different opinions and ideas is what makes the world go around. I personally don't care for lowered trucks.

When I raised my truck I bought the springs for the front and just made my own blocks for the back out of 3" square tubing and then I put a 1/2" piece of steel in the middle for extra support. I drilled out the hole for the tit to sit in and bought longer u-bolts. Also had to buy a new pitman arm and shocks.

[Prerunner1982]

ok, well first off the cheapest route would be a body lift, helps if you are mainly going for looks.
secondly, a suspension lift, though more expensive, gives you better suspension performance. (more travel, better ground clearence)
the best way to lift the front would be to do a spindle lift, in addition to coils. As of currently i have not found a company making spindle lift for our trucks. (atleast anymore). though i have heard you can modify a late model spindle to work.
Most front end lift consist of lift coils, and tubular a-arms. some people JUST use lift coils. much like drop coils this affects the alignment and can cause tire wear issues.
you can also use coil spacers with your stock coils, a 3/4" spacer can lift upto about 3" due to the geometery of the front suspension. these too cause alignment issues. they do offer ball joint spacers to help with this some.

as far as the rear goes, thats simple, you can go with blocks (not my fav), new lift springs, or shackle flip.

i have an idea for my c10 but i wont be able to do it until i get the job i want. it may or may not lift my truck, but will hopefully allow close to 24" of wheel travel, atleast in back, 18" up front would satisfy me.

feel free to check out my prerunner webpage, it is a bit out of date at the moment due to slow connection and POS comp. Here are a few pics that inspire me....

[Gibble]

Where can I get lift coils? I'll need new coils anyhow when I put in my BBO, since the added weight will lower the front

[Captkaos]

That White one is (or was) John Bitting's. It has a Camburg built suspension in the front. He used to hang out here: http://race-dezert.com

The Grey one is(or was) owned by Dave Woulf, it has the Fabtech 3" suspension under it.

Camburgs website is here: http://www.camburg.com

You might also want to look at Michael Parkers BlueGoose page (he sold the Blazer though) but his links are still up.
http://mkparker.com/goose/

Thought I would put this out there for you too Jon just incase you haven't seen it. http://www.off-road.com/4x4web/features/1998/11/
It uses a Ford I-beam suspension.

[Prerunner1982]

chris, i have michaels site on my favs, and he has that exact truck on there as well as a couple others with ford I beam front ends. i wish John Bitting still hung out here. Would be good to have someone more knowledgeable than myself to talk to. i have talked to michael on various occasions. unfortunately he doesnt hang out here either.. though he use to hang out over at CK5..

[Captkaos]

Yeah, I wondered where Jon went. There was a guy on chevytalk that had a lifted Blazer also. I haven't been to CK5 since they started charging.

[Zilverado]

Originally posted by jared stewart
You're not crazy,...

When I raised my truck I bought the springs for the front and just made my own blocks for the back out of 3" square tubing and then I put a 1/2" piece of steel in the middle for extra support. I drilled out the hole for the tit to sit in and bought longer u-bolts. Also had to buy a new pitman arm and shocks.

I agree, your not crazy. I too like the look of a "raised" truck - 2 or 4wd - better than lowered. To each their own.

As far as using spacers to raise the back end as jared did, I'd make sure you talk to the local authorities. You wouldn't want the truck pulled off the road or insurance (MPI) not to cover you for damages should something happen.

The reason I say this is because this is what I was told when I asked about this very same thing. Unfortunately, it was a while back, so I can't remember who I was talking to (MPI, RCMP, etc.).

On my '86 C10, I ended up simply swapping my rearend, incl. springs, with the ones from my old '77 "heavy-half", with seven stack leaf springs. This added about 1 1/2" lift in the back. I also used the heavy-half coils in the front - added about 1" there.

Now, having said all this, I'm not sure that what I did to mine in the end is "OK" with the authorities (I actually didn't ask them about that). But..........

[Gibble]

I don't see where what you did wouldn't be ok with the authorities...they let people drive around with wheels that extend past their fenders

[Zilverado]

Originally posted by Gibble
I don't see where what you did wouldn't be ok with the authorities...they let people drive around with wheels that extend past their fenders

You've seen our Pathfinder, have you??? Had some body work done a couple of years ago and haven't put the plastic fender flares back on. Plus, with the new BF Goodrich All-Terrain T/As, sitting out a little, it looks nice.

[1FaastC10]

another option, if you're just going for looks is to space the front crossmember down in the frame. however, if you do this, it might be a good idea to replace the factory "L" supports/upper control arm mounts with something custom fabricated, for added side to side strength. this wouldnt add any suspension travel, nor would it change geometry, other than the steering, which would need to be addressed anyways.