Front leaf springs too high

[SunSoaked]

That looks terrible! Drop it off at my house and I'll take care of it and return it in a year or two

This is one of my favorites to be honest

Originally Posted by ryanmctee

Well, after a full week of driving, I think I'm just going to leave things alone. I don't know if it's me or what, but the front springs have seemed to settle just a bit. Check the picture, the truck almost looks level. Once again, the ride is awesome. Super smoothe for an old 4x4. Thanks for all's opinions!

[72longbed]

Ryan,
first off ... Great Truck!! As far as your difference in height front to back ... did I read that you used a new spring pack in front and old springs with blocks in the rear?

If that is what you did, I can almost guarantee you I know what the problem is. I have been installing Tuff Country products on 67-72 trucks and Blazers for many years now. Each time a "block / spring combo" is used by customers there is a disparity in finished height. If I were you, I'd replace the stock rear spring packs with the #19470 52" Springs with NO blocks, and it will give you a matching ride height to the front. That is ... if you installed the 2" lift front springs (#18260) NEW from Tuff Country. If you installed the #18261 up front, then you are running a Heavy Duty front spring pack.

Let me know if this helps. Great truck ... keep up the great work!

72longbed

[ryanmctee]

[QUOTE=72longbed;5567554]Ryan,
first off ... Great Truck!! As far as your difference in height front to back ... did I read that you used a new spring pack in front and old springs with blocks in the rear?

Yes, that's exactly what I did. Believe it or not, the truck seems to be "settling" down a little in the front after putting a couple of hundred miles on it. Thanks very much for your information though....

[GCncsuHD]

Truck looks fantastic!

Something else to check though, is if you tightened the spring hanger and shackle bolts with the axle drooped, or with the weight on the ground? If you tightened them with the axle drooped, it is actually putting the bushings in a bind and essentially preloading the front suspension. Driving around for a while like you have might allow that to settle out, but loosening and tightening those bolts with the weight on the ground could settle it some as well if you did not do it that way before.

And as mentioned, the 2" lift springs may have replaced stock springs that had sagged an inch or two over the last 40 years...I know on my 78 K30 that was used and abused for 30 years as a brush truck, it had sagged some and my 4" Tuff Country springs added about 5" after settling.

[ryanmctee]

That makes sense. I did tighten everything up without a load on it. If I get some time over the weekend I'll loosen and re-tighten and see if it will drop some. Funny thing is everyone but me likes the height of the truck. Had I had it to do over again, I would replace the old stock springs with new stock springs. The truck is about 2" higher than I would like. Anyways, here's a couple of pictures I just took this morning. You can see it still sits just a touch proud in the front....

[swclassics]

Ryan, You nailed it man. Truck looks great! I'm putting the same Tough Country 2" lift on my 71 GMC K10 Super. I was going with 8" rallys and 32X11.50 tires, but after seeing your truck I'm thinking about the 8" steelies and 33X10.50s. Question for you, did you have to use extended brakes lines with the 2" lift? I'm getting conflicting answers on this. Thanks, Frank

[Stocker]

Originally Posted by swclassics

did you have to use extended brakes lines with the 2" lift? I'm getting conflicting answers on this.

I can field that one. I put 2.5" Softrides on my K20 several years ago. Stock hoses were plenty long enough.

However, I did replace them recently, only because they were 40 years old. Got the standard replacement hoses from NAPA and they are slightly longer than the OEM hoses, so no problem. You don't need any mods unless you lift it 4" or more.

[mud.man.rj]

I don't know, looks like your eyes may be foolon you, did you measure front to back to see if a difference, when I did mine I used new leaf packs front and back and the back looked lower too then I measured and was hardly any difference at all and a month later is exactly the same, the darn front wheel well being bigger just makes it look like more too. Sure is a beauty though. Thanks for sharing.

[ryanmctee]

Again, thanks for all the compliments. I did not extend the brake lines as there is more than enough room on my truck. I think the truck gives a optical illusion as to if the front is too high or not. It really depends on the ground it's sitting on. I haven't put a wrench on the truck for the past month, just have been enjoying driving it. We'll see what happens over time....