best lift kit ? ? ?

[yote1234]

i decided on a rancho 2 1/2" front and a 4"rear blocks so it will correct rear sag. does anyone have any input? rancho?,rough country? ect?

[edman87]

Rough country is exactly like it sounds- ROUGH ride. Rancho, skyjacker are prolly the best, but their price shows it. I have heard good things about tough country and their price is decent, thinking of checking them out next on my k5. Dont get me wrong, the rough country is ok for some people for a farm truck or just to get the height for mud, but their road ride is very harsh. Their rear springs might do well for towing though. If all you want is to correct rear sag, try some add a leafs in the rear. If you tow heavy or do hard launches on pavement, I would not recommend 4" of blocks. I will prolly get crap for that statement, but IMO 2" of blocks is the max.

[Prerunner1982]

Yote what kind of off roading do you plan on doing? I agree with edman on the blocks. I prefer no blocks at all.. a shackle flip will net you about 4" of lift and keep your stock springs so that the ride will still be decent and the price isnt all that much more than lift blocks. Also dont forget to check your brake lines/hoses and diff vent tubes, as they might be stretched to thier limit.

[benoit454]

I swear everytime I see a lift kit post someone says rough country is exactly like it's name.

I CALL BS!!!!

Maybe it was their personal experience but I have one on my 86 and the thing rode worse from the factory then it does with a 4 inch front spring and rear block lift with new shocks that came in the kit. The thing was stiff and beat you to death originally now it's softer, kind of bounces up and down or floats up and down instead of BAM that hurt BAM there's another bump.

I haven't had a lifted truck before so i don't know but rough country is not rough, they are like tuff country they offer ez ride springs or soft ride like skyjacker or superlift.

My 86 is a daily driver and barely sees offroad use also. Maybe it was older technology and they sucked. i think now they've got better.

[edman87]

I didn't know rough country had a soft ride option. I have personal experience with the rough country more than the rest and have never seen 1 that rode anywhere close to as soft as factory.
Let the spring rates tell the story, I know that rough country has 1 of the highest rates. I don't have the chart here, but will get it if anyone wants.
Btw, lift blocks will not change the ride harshness at all, only the handling and spring wrap, etc. and by design, pretty much any lift spring for the front of 73-87 gm will ride more harsh than factory because add arch to what was a flat spring. There are ways around some of these issues, but it takes more than a simple lift kit.

[Captkaos]

I have found (along with alot of other people ) that Tuff Country has the best ride and flex due to their softer spring rate.

[benoit454]

Well my 86 was completely stock underneath, and it rode alot rougher then, compared to now with the rough country lift.

[edman87]

I will take your word for it and everyone has their own opinions.
Numbers don't lie: http://coloradok5.com/springratetable.shtml
I think that factory springs are around 400 lbs/in

[Jonboy]

I had good luck with the 4 wheel parts wholesaler's house brand kit. It is made by Pro-Comp, and seems to be a pretty decent kit. I am pretty sure they only come with rear blocks, though. I will say I usually went with them because of price, not because of the ride.

[benoit454]

Well numbers may not lie but I know from personal experience that the rough country front springs ride nice.

If you want a real nice ride I'd buy one the expensive kits. I hear nothing but good on them. There was another lift kit had good rep. also started with an A I forget their name though.

I know for sure superlift or skyjacker has soft/easy ride front springs, and so does tuff country. I don't see much difference in the tuff country and rough country, they are pretty well the same price and everything.

[benoit454]

Also I hear different things, same say all spring lift is rough, some same blocks are rouch. I'm not really sure.

[Zoomad75]

I've got rough country 4" springs up front in my K5. It's not pillow soft, but I'm not getting my teeth rattled out either. It is stiff enough I could probably get away with ditching the front sway bar completely, but it's not so stiff that I would call it Rough or Harsh. Tight is a good word to describe it as far as ride quality is concerned. Still off road with 15 psi in the tires it rides like a dream.

I've got a shackle flip in back that does add something to the ride quality though. The rear is really soft with stock springs nice and flat with 30 yrs of use on them.

Here's the deal though. High spring rate springs are ok if you have a heavy front end. big block, 4spd, winch/heavy bumper, ect Run a soft spring with all that heavy stuff and it will sag. If you are running a small block, stock bumper, no winch then the higher spring rate springs are going to ride harsher than lower rate springs. Each truck is different, shocks differ and everyone has a different opinion. Take each with that in mind.

It's possible that Benoit's truck had stock springs so far sagged that it was hitting the bumpstop more than flexing the springs so the ride would have been horribly bad and new springs of any type would have made a difference. Still I agree with him that RC's springs might be getting better. You get what you pay for is very true on lift kits. More Money, softer ride...

[benoit454]

Yep my kit was based on price, but after reading all this and crap and realizing tuff country was another company and had right there listed ez ride, I would have went that way.

It's true things are different for each person, I had to buy sway bar drop brackets, and alot of other people say they didn't not for a 4 inch lift. I sure did, my sway bar wouldn't come down to the u-bolts w/o taking it off the frame, then it was a PITA to line up the bolts for the sway bar to the drop bracket, they were still too far back, which made no sense what so ever.

Also i got a light front end, all stock only added push bar, and 350 instead of 305. My old ones might have been gone, I know the shocks sucked. I think my front springs were like 3 or 4 leafs maybe 5. I'd have to go outside and check, I kept them in case it goes back stock LOl.