67 C10 Air ride with leaf suspension questions - The 1947 - Present Chevrolet & GMC Truck Message Board Network

furburd · 07-13-2016, 01:19 AM

I have a 67 C10 with leafs in the rear, I mostly read about trailing arm coil spring suspension... Can someone answer a few questions I have?

1. Were there multiple rear suspensions produced in 67 and/or is mine stock?

2. Because I have leafs, do I need to go to a 4 link in order to put air ride on it?

Looking for a low cost solution to improve ride and drop it a little on demand. Looking at ride tech level 1 but looks to be for trailing arm coil spring suspensions.

Has a bbc, 2.5in drop spindles, and pulled a leaf or two out to level rear.

Any other advice appreciated.

Thanks.

Overdriven · 07-13-2016, 02:03 AM

Generally the only time you combine leafs with airbags is to increase the load handling ability. For those times you have a bunch of crap in the bed and don't want it riding on the bump stops you pump some air into the bags. It's like adding stiffer springs temporaryily, take the crap out of the bed and air back down to normal spring rate.

As for lowering the truck with leafs and airbags it's possible. But to do what you're saying to lower the truck when you let the air out of the bags would require a really soft leaf spring. You'd need a soft spring so it will compress enough to lower than ride height and then use the airbags to raise it for ride height. Has to be a soft spring though, using lowering springs and airbags to raise the truck would be too stiff. I wouldn't recommend going with airbags on leafs unless it just to increase load handling ability.

If you want airbags you need to commit to ditching the leaf springs requiring financial investment as well. Don't cheap out, my truck came with a cheap Airbagit kit and I can't wait to get rid of it. The RideTech level 1 kit for the rear is meant as an upgrade for trailing arm trucks. But it includes the trailing arm crossmember and everything needed to mount it. Not sure if leaf spring trucks had the required holes in them for the trailing arm crossmember or whether you'd need to do some measuring and drilling.

07-13-2016, 01:19 AM	#1
furburd Registered User Join Date: Jul 2009 Location: Port Byron IL Posts: 1	67 C10 Air ride with leaf suspension questions I have a 67 C10 with leafs in the rear, I mostly read about trailing arm coil spring suspension... Can someone answer a few questions I have? 1. Were there multiple rear suspensions produced in 67 and/or is mine stock? 2. Because I have leafs, do I need to go to a 4 link in order to put air ride on it? Looking for a low cost solution to improve ride and drop it a little on demand. Looking at ride tech level 1 but looks to be for trailing arm coil spring suspensions. Has a bbc, 2.5in drop spindles, and pulled a leaf or two out to level rear. Any other advice appreciated. Thanks. Last edited by furburd; 07-13-2016 at 01:19 AM. Reason: Spelling

07-13-2016, 02:03 AM	#2
Overdriven Registered User Join Date: Mar 2016 Location: Long Island NY Posts: 598	Re: 67 C10 Air ride with leaf suspension questions Generally the only time you combine leafs with airbags is to increase the load handling ability. For those times you have a bunch of crap in the bed and don't want it riding on the bump stops you pump some air into the bags. It's like adding stiffer springs temporaryily, take the crap out of the bed and air back down to normal spring rate. As for lowering the truck with leafs and airbags it's possible. But to do what you're saying to lower the truck when you let the air out of the bags would require a really soft leaf spring. You'd need a soft spring so it will compress enough to lower than ride height and then use the airbags to raise it for ride height. Has to be a soft spring though, using lowering springs and airbags to raise the truck would be too stiff. I wouldn't recommend going with airbags on leafs unless it just to increase load handling ability. If you want airbags you need to commit to ditching the leaf springs requiring financial investment as well. Don't cheap out, my truck came with a cheap Airbagit kit and I can't wait to get rid of it. The RideTech level 1 kit for the rear is meant as an upgrade for trailing arm trucks. But it includes the trailing arm crossmember and everything needed to mount it. Not sure if leaf spring trucks had the required holes in them for the trailing arm crossmember or whether you'd need to do some measuring and drilling.



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