Skyjacker; 1" or 2.5"?

[glhs]

I'm looking to replace my front springs and bushings with Skyjacker soft rides. Currently my truck carries an 80# grille guard and the distance between my bumpstops and springs is about 1 1/4 inches. My ground to wheel well measurment is 37 inches with 235/85/16 tires (30. 5 diameter). The ground to wheel opening measurment is 41" at the rear. My question is to those of you who have the 1 or 2. 5 inch kits is what are your measurements? I'm just looking to raise the truck a little and hopefully smooth out the ride. For what I want, I think the 2. 5 inch kit may be a bit much. Any info would be appreciated. Kurt

 

[PPeters]

I installed 2. 5" kit, distance between bumpstop and spring after is 3. 75". Installed Skyjacker nitro shocks, the ride is much better and overall height looks good. Someday I will get pictures and post.



Pat

 

[RDusch]

Kurt,

Pat is right on the money, the 21/2" front springs ride great and level the truck front to back, really looks good too ... ... ... ... ... Rick

 

[Midnite]

Rick and Pat, did you guys only do the front springs, or did you do both front and back?



I'm thinking of doing the same thing, but I like the load carrying capacity of the stock springs, and I've heard that the Skyjacker rear springs may sag more than stock under a heavy load.



Thanks,

Mike

 

[PPeters]

I did the front spring pack (5 leaf, vs 6 in the stock config), and put the add a leaf in the rear just to relevel the truck. So springs in the back are stock plus the add a leaf.



Pat

 

[midwestdually]

i dont understand whe people say they need to raise the front of these trucks to be level with the back... neither front nor rear are sagging much but yet i think the rear needs a leaf to raise it up a bit so the front doesnt look higher then the rear even unloaded... . mayb it is just my crooked eye but i think i am right

 

[RDusch]

midwestdually,



Stock my truck was a good 4" higher than the front, felt like i was driving down hill, plus the fact the the front springs had only 3/4 of an inch travel before they hit the bump stops... ... ... ... Rick

 

[Midnite]

What Rick describes is exactly how my truck is--the front leafs are completely flat, and it doesn't take a very big bump to make it bottom out on the stops.



Mike

 

["Mad Max"]

Fellas,

For comparison, I have a set of Softrides on my dually, and have the pic so you can see how high they sit.

Fronts are 4", rear's are 6" - stock blocks in rear, none in front, rides nice and has LOTS of payload capacity in rear. Truck doesn't really notice 2200 lbs of trailer or 3600 lbs of car on back, handles nice and firm.

- Sam

 

[MAX A/C]

Kurt-

I put the 2. 5's on the front about a year ago; rear is stock. The ride is noticeably improved. I have same tire specs as you mentioned, and it now sits at 39. 5". It sits perfectly level unloaded.



Here's the problem. Put a load on/in it, and it sits nose-high, which is a look I don't care for. The other problem is that when the axle is at full droop, such as when put up on a hoist/lift, the front driveshaft is dangerously close to pulling all the way apart at the slipyoke.



For these reasons I am going to change out to the 1" lift. I believe the 2. 5 is too much unless you are going to mod the rear, and lengthen the front driveshaft.



Scott

 

[glhs]

Thanks for the replies everyone.



midwest dually:

If I remember correctly 4x4 trucks 89-91. 5 used a 3" or 4" block in the rear suspension; 92-93 4x4 used a 6" block which is why the older trucks sit higher in the front than back.



Scott:

That's what I was wondering. I don't mind the front sitting a little lower than the back when unloaded, but if I have a load I don't want the front "sky high. " So I may go with the 1" as well.

 

[PPeters]

Don't get me wrong, I had the same concerns that you do about getting nose high under a load, that is why I got the rear add a leaf when I bought the kit as added insurance. After installing the kit the truck has a slight nose down attitude unloaded, but nothing like before replacing front springs (can you picture top fuel dragster ). I have loaded my 20' gooseneck equipment hauler with 9K lbs of hay since and the truck runs nicely level if not still downhill to the front.



Scott, thanks for the heads up on the driveshaft. I have it out of the truck right now for U joint R&R, perhaps I will have some shaft added to counter the problem. How much do you think would need to be added to the shaft?



Pat

 

[glhs]

PPeters

You didn't mention what your ground to wheel opening measurement was or what size tires your running. I edited my first post to say I also have 41" from ground to wheel opening on the rear with new factory springs.

 

[RDusch]

Here is a couple of pictures i took of my wheel well openings with 255/85/16 rovers on 33" tall.



these are with 2 1/2 " front springs and 6" rear springs ( no Blocks stock hight )



Front

back



Rick

 

[Dscholz]

glhs,

I put the 6" Skyjacker springs on the back of my truck over a year ago to get rid of the 4" blocks on my '90. I've towed my 14K lb fifth wheel without having the back end drop more than an inch. It rides fine for me and doesn't feel like it is sloping toward the back.

Dan

 

[MAX A/C]

Pat-

I did not have the opportunity to look at my truck while it was up in the air, I am repeating what Dan at Quad 4x4 told me, and he knows what he's doing. I did go out just now and looked, and remembered a couple other problems he told me about.



The slip joint boot pulled off it's "clamping boss" ( this would be the rear of the front driveshaft boot) and has "relaxed" to leave a new gap of 1". So I would say adding 1" would put it back to "original length".



Another thing Dan mentioned was that the CV joint had signs of binding due to the lift, so he clearanced the joint a bit.



All these problems after the 4x4 shop that installed my springs told me it looked real good and there were no problems!



Scott

 

[PPeters]

glhs:



I'm still running stock tires on truck, when I get home tonight I'll try and remember to measure my wheel well heights. If I can figure out my digital camera feature on the camcorder I'll take pic's



Scott:



Thanks! That's what I like about this place. While the shaft is out I'll check into adding an inch and perhaps relieving the CV joint too.



Pat

 

["Mad Max"]

Good point about the shaft lengths. In my case I had all three shafts custom made after all the suspension was done, so the shafts slipping apart because of a lift wasn't a factor. Wouldn't have thought about that one... good catch.

- S

 

[glhs]

Scott Morgan

Scott, I think I'll just order the 1" kit and see how it turns out. If I don't feel it's enough maybe we could just swap springs? Kurt

 

[MAX A/C]

Kurt

Kurt- I'm sure you'll be happy with the 1" lift... but if not, then I would certainly swap with ya. Thanks.

Scott