[offroadjack]

my daughter has a stock 95 sierra and we got to the point to put in a 2" body lift and 2" suspension.
what do people on here run on theirs and how do they perform offroad? (leafsprings)
she does not want heavy duty springs as she won't be carrying big loads but she's after max flex and a not too harsh ride (not easy with a sierra).
cheers.

[tanshi]

RUF!!!!!

[offroadjack]

tanshi...man of very few words RUF?..meaning?

[tanshi]

It means Rear Up Front.

basically involves moving mounts around to fit the rear springs funnily enough in the front.

have a search there is heaps of info on here about it.

[offroadjack]

ah..thought that be the case. don't think she wants to hack it, cut weld job, so far i have found tough dog and dobinson that do kits for them. so basically just off the shelf and wack them in on a saturday.

[tanshi]

in all honesty no off the shelf kit is really gonna cut the mustard.

i use EFS springs though if that helps

[supa_slim]

Ruf
Did it to mine.. it works great

[offroadjack]

thanks, i will have a bit of a read on here (i'm new on this forum) about that.
she's basically after 4" in total to fit bigger tyres and gonna fit auto lockers in front and rear so i don't really see the reason for her to get max. flex out of the little thing.

[offroadjack]

so if you fit the rear up front, what's going in the rear then?

[tanshi]

generally standard 2 inch lifted rear springs go in the rear.

[Teracis]

Both ends 65mm efs rear springs, usually with some leaves removed

Edit: spelling

[offroadjack]

ok!....this is getting interesting now! so looks like EFS is the go for the rear and might have to do a search on the rest of it. i assume none of yous is running the swaybar in it....the thing is huge!! twice the size of the one on my patrol!! so that will give it more travel as well as the lift she's after?

[tanshi]

sway bars always come off and very rarely go back on

[sideways]

offroadjack wrote:

thanks, i will have a bit of a read on here (i'm new on this forum) about that.
she's basically after 4" in total to fit bigger tyres and gonna fit auto lockers in front and rear so i don't really see the reason for her to get max. flex out of the little thing.

How big do you want to go? Lift doesn't fit tyres, bumpstop spacing and chopping does.

31s would fit with no lift if you lost the outriggers and fitted a small amount of bumpstop spacing I reckon. I run 30s with the outriggers and some bumpstop spacing on a NT.

[offroadjack]

2" body and 2" spring will def. give you much more room (4") under the guards and yes, 31 bighorns are the plan

[tanshi]

2 inch body will give you 2 " of space for tyres.

2 inch spring will not as during flex the tyre will still move up and down as much as it always did.

[offroadjack]

yes, the body gives you an extra 2" but the 2" of the springs will compensate for the 2" bigger tyres

[mika]

here goes the lift fits bigger tyres debate again!

where's the popcorn smilie on AZ?

[SierraDan]

offroadjack wrote:

yes, the body gives you an extra 2" but the 2" of the springs will compensate for the 2" bigger tyres

:popcorn:

[sideways]

offroadjack wrote:

yes, the body gives you an extra 2" but the 2" of the springs will compensate for the 2" bigger tyres

[atari4x4]

mika wrote:

here goes the lift fits bigger tyres debate again!

where's the popcorn smilie on AZ?

right here mika, just need to click over to page 3 on the smilies window

[offroadjack]

and thats all she's after really, she would love to have a rockcrawling low geared zuki on 38's but this will do her for a while...they usually don't last longer then a few months as she bloody well uses them for what they are made for!

[pezz]

offroadjack wrote:

and thats all she's after really, she would love to have a rockcrawling low geared zuki on 38's but this will do her for a while...they usually don't last longer then a few months as she bloody well uses them for what they are made for!

what are they made for? destroying them?

a well built rig, with good maintenance will last for years... not months

[sideways]

atari4x4 wrote:

mika wrote:

here goes the lift fits bigger tyres debate again!

where's the popcorn smilie on AZ?

right here mika, just need to click over to page 3 on the smilies window

[Chop]

pezz wrote:

offroadjack wrote:

and thats all she's after really, she would love to have a rockcrawling low geared zuki on 38's but this will do her for a while...they usually don't last longer then a few months as she bloody well uses them for what they are made for!

what are they made for? destroying them?

a well built rig, with good maintenance will last for years... not months

They probably get killed at loveday!

[TryHard]

ok .. i think and alot people here will think the same thing you are doing this all wrong .. if she wants to play on the rocks u want to keep it stable lifting a suzuki more just simply going to make it fall over so much easier then they already do iv been down that path of lifting them .. and fell over a few times .. my current car 2 inch suspension 30 inch tyres
twin lockers and 6.5s basically goes everywhere more places.and does not fall over current zooky will out drive anything Cruisers (on the rocks ) etc budget was about 4k in extra mods

then my old stupid 31 . 2 inch lift 2 inch body 2 inch shackles and it had more flex ..
the key to playing on rocks is stability u go tall on short wheel base u need to go wider and ideally slightly longer WB .. the golden WB some say 100 but it all depends what u are trying to do u can fit 35s with no lift just a bit of chopping >.. My sugestion 65 mil EFS good springs / Como budget shocks / 31s / Gears / Lockers Auto if u want to be cheap but not ideal u want Air / Cromo axles

[offroadjack]

i was about to mention that some on here are getting way off topic.. cheers for that TRYHARD thats the info i'm trying to get!.
We are trying to set hers up on a budget but it needs to be good enough as a daily driver, which it is.
i was just saying "she won't mind a rockcrawling machine" but not actually serious about it.
all we/re after here is info on different brands of springs that can be just bolted on there without cutting, welding and mixing & matching springs etc.
she's just after a bit more groundclearance as in stockform it's got the clearance of a skateboard! + the rear bottom leafs are bend down like a banana and get caught up on just about everything. after the lift we see how we go with tyres, either 30" or 31's and work out then wich rims to go with to give it just a bit of a wider stance.
we're not after huge amounts of flex here as thats just for show and looks good in pics, the lockers are higher up her list and far more important then that. and as you mentioned we want a budget play/weekend toy so for now we thinking of auto lockers.
i run them in my GQ and don't have a problem with them, they are there and work when you need them, no chance of anything electrical etc. that leaves you without it if anything goes wrong in that department.
a set of crawlergears are also on her list.
for now, cheers. EFS sound like the no 1 choise here.
BTW, does anyone use climax or drop shackles? my thinking is that in combination with rubber bushes (poly is to stiff)would give just that extra bit of drop if thats what she really wants in the end.
cheers tryhard.

[Joshyboy26]

the general consensus is climax shackles are poop and just add to the instability factor. they are good for ramp days but thats about it. becuase they offer uncontrolled droop ie when they 'open' up they allow your car to kinda flop around. so if you are crossed up and both your diagonal wheels are fully extended your car is able to rock between them possibly leading to a rollover. if you know what i mean

[Daz7]

FWIW if your after a budget build....

OME or EFS springs
235's or 30's on 7" rims
1 litre transfer case
Sill guards
chinese ARB air lockers

I wouldn't even think of drop shackles on a road car your missus is going to drive.

would be great onroad, look good and be very capable offroad and most of all cheap to build

[Zook_Fan]

Daz7 wrote:

FWIW if your after a budget build....

OME or EFS springs
235's or 30's on 7" rims
1 litre transfer case
Sill guards
chinese ARB air lockers

I wouldn't even think of drop shackles on a road car your missus is going to drive.

would be great onroad, look good and be very capable offroad and most of all cheap to build

It's his daughter so hopefully not his missus too.

No one else yet has said OME springs, personally I think they have the best ride of any aftermarket spring. Some people have issues with breaking them but it took me 3 years with only 4 leaves in the back to bend any springs so I don't think that's too bad considering the punishment they were given. If I were to build it straight up it would be the OME springs, 235's, 1L transfer to help a bit and wheel it.

If you go to 31's you will need gearing or she will burn the clutch in no time at all. You also haven't mentioned how much 4x4 experience she has but driving a dual locked sierra without much experience will end up in tears. Get her out there with a simple set up and lock the front with some chromoly cv's when she is getting stuck and the only thing stopping her is the lack of traction, not the line she took or driving error, etc.