[Lee-86suzi]

Hey everyone this is my first ever post and I hope you can help me out.

I have a 86 sierra with a 1.3L, leaf sprung all round running 30" all terrains.
My problem is the ride is way to stiff and I'm getting back pains and I'm only young! 20!

I don't think my springs were stock standard as I could tow a car trailer and 250cc buggy and the back of the car remained quite level...
So
I recently bought a set of new springs off eBay for $396 from the seller onlineautoparts. Here is the description for the new springs :
"1 x Pair Front Springs Raised (50mm) 4 Leafs
1 x Pair Rear Springs (50mm) REAR 4+1 Leaf
8 x High Tensile Spring U-Bolts
24 x Rubber - Poly Combination Spring and Shackle Bushes to suit all 4 springs and shackles

Product Type: Suspension Lift Kit
Brand: Top Quality Non Genuine Aftermarket"


We ( my dad and I) put the springs on and went for a test drive: the ride was still very bumpy and may have improved only slightly whilst the flex had improved a bit too. The old springs were slightly thicker, had over riders on the back and an extra spring on each front set of springs when compared to the new ones.

After doing some research into ride comfort, I believe the problem lies in my old shock absorbers which I don't know how old they are but are labeled "all country" so I presume they aren't stock either.

I want to be able to do medium 4x4ing but really just have a soft and comfortable ride,

Can anyone recommend a shock they have personally used on their zook which has given them a soft comfortable ride and approximate prices ?




Thank you for reading this much hahaha
Lee

[Red89]

What tyre pressures are you running ?

[Marko_SJ]

Lee-86suzi wrote:

Hey everyone this is my first ever post and I hope you can help me out.

I have a 86 sierra with a 1.3L, leaf sprung all round running 30" all terrains.
My problem is the ride is way to stiff and I'm getting back pains and I'm only young! 20!

I don't think my springs were stock standard as I could tow a car trailer and 250cc buggy and the back of the car remained quite level...
So
I recently bought a set of new springs off eBay for $396 from the seller onlineautoparts. Here is the description for the new springs :
"1 x Pair Front Springs Raised (50mm) 4 Leafs
1 x Pair Rear Springs (50mm) REAR 4+1 Leaf
8 x High Tensile Spring U-Bolts
24 x Rubber - Poly Combination Spring and Shackle Bushes to suit all 4 springs and shackles

Product Type: Suspension Lift Kit
Brand: Top Quality Non Genuine Aftermarket"


We ( my dad and I) put the springs on and went for a test drive: the ride was still very bumpy and may have improved only slightly whilst the flex had improved a bit too. The old springs were slightly thicker, had over riders on the back and an extra spring on each front set of springs when compared to the new ones.

After doing some research into ride comfort, I believe the problem lies in my old shock absorbers which I don't know how old they are but are labeled "all country" so I presume they aren't stock either.

I want to be able to do medium 4x4ing but really just have a soft and comfortable ride,

Can anyone recommend a shock they have personally used on their zook which has given them a soft comfortable ride and approximate prices ?




Thank you for reading this much hahaha
Lee

Too many leaves in my opinion.

Drop one from each pack and then Old man emu shocks.

Or read this ALL: viewtopic.php?f=37&t=34303&hilit=longer+shocks

for this result:

rob45x wrote:

ill just throw in my 2 cents worth....

Ok so here goes. This is the combination of shocks I've found that work with my leafy sierra with a 2 inch lift .

For the front Gabriel 81416 and they measure 294mm compressed and 472mm fully extended.

For the rear i used Gabriel 81147 and they measure 314mm compressed and 513mm fully extended.

Got them from supercheap auto and all up they cost me $142.64 on special.
Also note that these shocks are discontinued and may be hard to find so you may need to cross reference them.

Any help feel free to pm. Cheers !

Edit: just checked out what the situation is in my shitbox:

3 leaf front, 4 leaf rear. Gabes shocks, the shackle angle is far better in the front than the rear (which didn't drop that much with a boat)

[Lee-86suzi]

Thanks for that, how do you find the Gabriel shocks go? Are they soft, medium or hard ?

I feel every bump in the road -_-

[N.T.]

As already mentioned, check your tyre pressures make sure they are all below 30. Maybe 24-26psi in them all round (not the 45 psi bob jane puts in) And take a leaf out of each pack!!! and it will drive surprisingly comfy and flex better with less leaves.

[Lee-86suzi]

Subject: need advice on sierra shocks

N.T. wrote:

As already mentioned, check your tyre pressures make sure they are all below 30. Maybe 24-26psi in them all round (not the 45 psi bob jane puts in) And take a leaf out of each pack!!! and it will drive surprisingly comfy and flex better with less leaves.

Thanks for the reply!
Ok I actually did lower my tire pressures previous to this,
this might sound
Stupid : but how would I take a spring out of
Each front set of springs?

The front is the bumpiest as every bump goes
Through the whole axel and the front of the car gets a hard bump :/

Going to try some new shocks and steering dampener too .
Thanks Lee

[N.T.]

I found it easier to just do one at a time (unless you have more jack stands). Jack the car up and put the stand underneath for safety. Take you wheel off remembering to loosen the nuts before you jack it up. Once the wheel is off you will have easy access to your leaf spring. Take the spring out (only 2 bolts) and you will se the leaf pack is held together by a couple of brackets. Just undo these and take the bottom load carring spring out for the rear and reassemble the leaf pack and put them back. Do the same with the front springs although from memory I cant remember which spring I took from the front pack, probably the bottom one or second from the bottom?? Reassemble and your good to go. Once you start you will be surprised at how easy it is. There is a thread on the forum here somewhere with the correct item codes for the shockies to get from supercheap. They work very well for standard zooks or flexy ones.

[SuziBlu]

I find 20psi front and 18psi rear is a good pressure to run.

Another thing, how old are your tyres, if they are old, you many not be experiencing any numatic suspension, ie, no wall flex, very hard old tyres.

When I got my first suzi, the tyres hand a lot of tread left, but it was a really hard ride, buggerised around with it, best thing that happened, I changed my tyres, what a difference in ride. The tyre man said they were old as the hills, so very stiff.

[shep]

20psi is the recommended pressure for stock tyres, when I had sierras I ran as low as 14psi on the road and 5 or lower psi offroad.

[slowsierra]

what shocks are you guys running in the front of your sierra after you have done a RUF and moved the front diff forward? i have got some longer shocks i had off another sierra that have a bigger bore put they are just hitting the bump stop bracket. i don't really want to alter the shock towers or fit aftermarket one what other options do i have.

LWB sierra WT diffs, NT spacing, RUF and the diff moved forward about 10-20mm

cheers greg