Need a better ride...Help!

[dentmaster]

I have a 1972 chevy blazer, it has a 6in. new softride leaf springs, new shocks. I am looking for a better ride. I have heard of a coil spring setup, but dont know much about it. Any other suggestions where to get one, or any other setup would be better?.....any help would be appreciated .....thanks

[85burb]

How new is the lift? May get better over time.

[Stocker]

What tires are you running (including load rating), and what are they inflated to?

[lukefalls]

On my '71 LWB, I removed the smallest spring on my Skykacker Soft Ride front springs and it made a noticable difference. I wheeled on those for years without any problems.

That being said, its very east to swap to 52" front springs. It will provide a much softer ride, but you'll need shocks valved more aggresively. You can read tons about it on Colorado K5 and on Pirate 4x4. I did that swap and liked it very much.

Now I am swapping to coil-overs, but its a lengthy and expensive process. It requires lots of planning and very much depends on driving style and vehicle use.

Good Luck

[71blksuper4x4]

You can go through a leaf spring maker and get leafs made that ride better than the generic lift kits. Like Deaver and there is another. I have heard nothing but good things from these companies. It's worth a look before modifying your spring perches. My 2 cents. Trevor

[jltait]

I am not an engineer so apply with caution, I had the skyjacker 6" leaves that had 5 leaves each spring for the front. I have also previously had tuffcountry springs that have 3 leaves per side(which I feel are the best softrides) . I too like a suspension softer than the skyjackers offer and I removed the bottom (2) leaves so they had 3 per side like toffcountry's and added a zero rate spring (from Offroad Design) to offset the height lost. This made a dramatic improvement in the ride, but this truck was more of a mall crawler than rock crawler so I have no Idea how well they would hold up. It was set up this way for a long time though and did occasionally load the truck somewhat heavy, it also had a cast iron head big block, I never had any handling issues this way. A GREAT BIG improvement can also be made by adding a shackle (pivot) point for the attachment of the sway bar to the spring plate. Lifted leaves get longer as they compress and the way the sway bar attaches to the spring plates binds the ability for the springs to grow in length as they compress. Stock flat or negative arch springs do not need to grow as they compress and actually shrink in length as they do so with stock springs the sway bar attachment point is a moot issue. I always make my own from old front leaf shackles that I replace with ORD heavy duty shackle, but if you are not a fabricator then ORD makes a sway bar disconnect kit that does the same thing.
Disclaimer If you are going to use the truck for road use the replace the skyjacker springs with the softer Tuffcountry springs....the removal of (2) leaves from the skyjacker pack is for offroad only trucksl

..Jason

[vk_chevy]

Originally Posted by lukefalls

That being said, its very east to swap to 52" front springs. It will provide a much softer ride, but you'll need shocks valved more aggresively. You can read tons about it on Colorado K5 and on Pirate 4x4. I did that swap and liked it very much.
Good Luck

did you do cross-over steering? seems like there are mixed opinions if cross-over steering is required if 52's are used upfront ...