1978 K10 Suburban Suspension Assessment

[cadillac_al]

I would put 2" lift soft ride springs all around it and call it a day. That gap in the springs is pretty weird. There is a company that makes really nice beefy front shackles for these trucks. I can't think of the name right now.

[Richard]

Originally Posted by kwmech

couple more

Nicely done. Looks like you have the factory quad shock option. Installed those brackets on my 85.

[Richard]

Originally Posted by RyanAK

Really very well done! Thanks for sharing. You took that rig from 'huge station wagon' to 'capable truck'. I don't have any plans for major driveline changes unless something in the diffs would fail. Only possible thing would be converting the full-time NP203 to part time. I get about 10mpg at the moment.

Here's the wrinkle with all this... this is my daily driver and my slider is currently being used by a friend that got jammed up. So I don't have the luxury of having my truck laid up for days or weeks while I rebuild. So this will be a 'phased' approach. Which also let's my phase out my budget to buy everything I need. So right now I think it'll look something like this:

Spring rates and height TBD, but will be between stock 1/2 ton and 3/4 ton. I like the idea of going towards 3/4 rate and height.

Step 1 - Shocks. Front and rear. I've always had good luck with Bilstein 4600s. I can fit the install in in an evening or Saturday.

Step 2 - Rear springs. Buy new or grab pull-a-part leaf packs to have rebuilt/re-arched. New bushings, new U-bolts, new center pins. Have everything ready to go so I pull the old and slam in the new. I have 5+1 leafs now.

Step 3 - Front springs. Buy new or grab pull-a-part leaf packs to have rebuilt/re-arched. New bushings, new U-bolts, new center pins. NEW SHACKLES. Have everything ready to go so I pull the old and slam in the new. I have 2-leaf fronts.

Step 4 - fine tune height and level with ORD 1" zero-rates or spacers.

Step 4 - Steering and alignment.

A couple questions...

Bushings - rubber, poly, grease-able poly (ORD)?

Re-arch - is this a long-lasting solution? I have a line on pull-a-part springs for cheap that I could rebuild and have re-arched.

Any thoughts on a supplier for front shackles? I'm not seeing any stock ones around...

Really appreciate everyone's input. This should bring the old Burb back to it's former truck self.

R

For shackles check out RuffStuff. Good products for reasonable prices. https://www.ruffstuffspecialties.com.../Shackles.html

[cadillac_al]

These are what we want.

http://ww.offroaddesign.com/catalog/FUSH.htm