[hooki]

hi,

just picked up my new sierra a few weeks back and would like some advice on suspension lift. I did a good search but could not find anything that fully answered my questions. I'v just put a 2inch body lift in it and would like to know a little about the suspension.

I was wondering if this set up would work, rear oem 2 inch springs all round, with 2inch longer shackels on the front and rear and the front rear shock mounts drilled further back? just wondering how this set up would go with the oem shocks, would they travel enough?

With drilling the spring pads 20-25mm forward and the setup mentioned above, would there be enough room to fit 32's?

any other setups that you guys would suggest would be a great help in getting my build on track.

cheers guys.

[Chinny]

Is yours the coily in your DP?

[Dee]

Its very very doable mate. you'll get great flex from the RUF.
May i suggest if your going longer springs in the front (ruf) have you thought about doing the same in the rear. quite a few people run hilux front leaves in the rear with heaps of leaves removed from the pack.

Here's how i did my rear up front.

RUF


Chassis mount of front springs. Relocated back 30mm & down a bit too.


What I used to move the diff foward again (moved spring back 30mm which equals diff foward 5mm of stock. These pushed it another 20mm foward = 25mm foward from stock now)
The plates allow the diff to sit further foward on the leaf spring, withough drilling the perch (6mm thick plate).




But you will still need to redrill the u-bolt plate, for the spring bolt to poke through it after you've moved the diff.
Also I would hold off on shocks. Get all your suspension done first, then flex it up to find out what it's maximum travel is (measure the distance between shock mounts at full stuff & full extension. You will need shocks that will allow this travel. (take these measurements with you when you go to buy them).


my mate is running your exact described setup.
(2" lifted ome springs all round & 2" body lift).
It sits a bit higher in the front, but you should be able to clear 32's, with some bashing of the seams in the guards to stop them cutting into the tyres, and also some extended bumpstops in the front to limit your uptravel a bit.

[hooki]

'Chinny' my current sierra is leaf sprung, thats my old ride.

thanks heaps for info 'dee'. With the hilux springs, are they the same width as sierra springs? And to mount them in the rear all i would have to do is mount them further forward on the spring mounts using a setup like yours with the two plates, and use extended shackles?

with the hilux fronts in the rear with the extended shackles, would is still be a good idea to get 2inch lifted oem sierra rear springs for the front?

thanks again for the help.

[Dee]

I used MQ's in the rear of mine, but no, they arent the same width. lux leaves (and my MQ patrol fronts) are 60mm wide, not 50. I made a shackle that widened from 50mm at the hangar to 60mm at the spring. They did fit in the front spring hangar, but are a tight squeeze, & i dont really get as much twist in the bushing as i would like because of it.

They are a bit heavy duty for the rear of my suzi tho (i bought new ome 2" lifted ones). I may have been better going a pair of second handies... I still need to pull the leaf pack out & remove the second leaf though, and also my shocks are the wrong lengths in the rear & will be limiting travel so its hard to say. I just cant be bothered playing with it at this stage... so i cant say for sure.

I actually didnt need the sanwich plates for the rear spring hangars like i used in the pic for the front. I just re-drilled the hangar about an inch foward. not sure what lenght the lux leaves are, or where the 'centre pin' is in the pack, so cant comment on how far they'll need to come foward.






Notice in the above pic how the rear doesn’t quite flex as good as the front. Although, I think it’s a combination of the rear shocks being too long & bottoming out at full stuff preventing more uptravel into the rear guard, & the springs being to tight in the front mount to twist enough to allow more droop on the other side..

[hooki]

thanks again for the info 'dee'. I think i'll go with the 2inch oem rear's in the front with the extended shackels and a spring mount set up like yours.

I'm undecided for the rear though. Are there any other springs that are 50mm wide and longer then the sierra rear springs? someone was saying 323 wagon or something like that?

[hooki]

'Dee' you wouldn't happen to have any pics of your friends sierra would you??

[Dee]

2" ome rear springs all round, (same front setup as mine), and climax style drop shackles in rear, 31" mtz's, 6.5:1 gearing.

[hooki]

thanks mate.

Quick question though, how does the rear flex up? and what kind of shocks is he using for his setup, do they work well?

might have to go out and put in an order next week for some springs

[Dee]

um i think the drop shackles work ok...
i'm not really a big fan of them, i originally had them on mine, 'missing link' style ones to fit the longer springs a bit easier. they didn't really seem to open up all that well for me...
got alot more flex from a slightly extended (25mm extended) shackle, & setting up the longer springs so they sit at a good angle (45ish degrees).
The sharper the shackle angle, the more droop you can get out of the spring & the less uptravel (although there will still be plenty enough uptravel at 45 deg).

I believe the shocks are to suit a hiace or something like that. best bet is to go into supercheap/repco or the likes, pull out their cheaper brand shock absorber catalogs & browse for a shock that is the right length & fitment (pin to eye/eye to eye). Also once youve narrowed it down to a few model numbers pick the one from the lightest car for light valving to suit the featherweight sierra...
Most populars are commodore wagon (rears?) for the front & hiace van something or others for the rear...

[zookernator]

Front: Standard (aftermarket though) zook springs, clamps opened, leafs removed, climax shackles, custom shock hoops.
Rear: Lux springs, (made new front hanger), clamps opened, inboarded shocks, climax shackles. Works good for me!

[hooki]

dam good flex 'zookernator'. would love to get some good drop shackles like yours but just dont have the money which sucks.

[Hybrid]

I'm running the same setup as Dee's mate but without climax shackles. 2inch ome rears on all four corners. It sits nice and level and as you can see you'd fit 32's easy. I'm still not happy with the rear flex. I'm thinking of cutting the rear mounts off and matching the spacing and shackle length of the front. I've also got some lux fronts sitting at home. Maybe I'll try them first.

[Brett]

its not that your front spring mounts are closer together in lenght, it's that the front springs are closer together in width that makes the front flex better.

give the lux springs a go 1st. rear lux springs are pretty close to get the diff in the std spot.

[Hybrid]

Brett wrote:

its not that your front spring mounts are closer together in lenght, it's that the front springs are closer together in width that makes the front flex better.

give the lux springs a go 1st. rear lux springs are pretty close to get the diff in the std spot.

Well there you go. I'd never noticed they were a different spacing. Makes sense though. Guess I'll give the lux springs a crack.

[hooki]

looks good 'Hybrid'. what shocks are you running?

[Hybrid]

I'm running the commo front shocks and the rear are the standard ome 40mmm lift shocks. In that pic the shocks aren't connected but its about the same amount of flex when connected. The only reason I stopped in those flex pics was the tyre eating the guard. It had more in it. Both front and back shocks are currently limitting factors on droop.

[hooki]

cause i will be running the same set up as you, do you suggest that i run the commo shocks or maybe find something else? are they just not long enough?

[Hybrid]

For ease of installation and cost I'd definately go the commo shocks. I had the rears as well but busted a shock thats the only reason I went back tot he omes. You dont want the thing to turn into a massive project that involves fabricating mounts and things like that. Just get them in and drive it. Theres plenty of usable flex.