Leaf Springs for my 72 4x4 C20 Suburban

[DieselFJ]

Where can I buy new leaf springs for my Suburban, and what brand has the best ride. I am looking for a 2" that rides nice.

Thanks in advanced

[DieselFJ]

Anyone?

I have considered Tuff Country, Rough Country, Skyjacker, Superlift, and possibly Deaver(if they make springs for my application). Anyway, looking for anyone with ride experience on any of these brands of springs, and opinions on what would be the best spring for my application.

Thanks
Scott

[dougo]

I've heard good things about the softride from Skyjacker. I have not used them though...

[DieselFJ]

Thanks for the reply, I had the Skyjacker soft rides on one of my FJ40's and the seemed to break down very fast, they were a nice ride, but I am affraid the longevity may be a problem.

I just got of the phone with a company back east and they seemed to be pretty sold on the Tuff Country, they said the ride is great, and are a good quality product. The only problem is if a person was going to tow a lot they are not built for that type of application, and in the end will affect the longevity. A fix for that would be a set of air bags in the rear.

I also was told the Rough Country and the Superlift were very rough rides, but would hold up to the stress of towing etc... better than the skyjacker and the Tuff Country. Since I hate rough riding springs I am definitly staying away from these two options.

I also called Deaver Spring Inc.. They seem to be the Cadilac of leaf springs. They have a progressive design (like the Old Man Emu springs) where the spring pack is made up of a bundle of lighter weight springs. This allows for a soft ride when not loaded, and once a load is placed on the vehicle it is distributed down through the pack which still provides a good ride and allows the spring to hold up under that type of condition. The down side to Deaver is the cost, but I do think it is a good quality product.

Anyway, just hoping for some real world Suburban experience to back my research.

Thanks
Scott

[jbclassix]

You may want to look into having custom springs made. I had them made for my 96 with 8 inches of lift for the same price as my Skyjackers with 4 inches... I liked the custom ones a whole lot better. The company that made them was out of NorCal (cant remember who they were) With the Burbs, seems like no one has a spring that fits right. With the custom springs you can get the rear at the height you want it to sit

Here are the springs that were supposed to fit my 70, and DON'T!!


Here are the custom springs I had made for the Chevy

[DieselFJ]

I noticed all of the off the shelf springs seem to have a broad range of applications, which makes me believe they could potentially have spring rate issues. I believe the rear would be affected most by the use of a generic spring, that is why I would add the air bags to compensate for the extra weight of the Suburban. That being said, I am doing a Cummins diesel swap, so the fronts will have extra weight as well, so now I would be looking at 4 leafs and 4 bags to compensate for the extra weight.

That brings me back to the Deaver springs. Custom made, application specific, great ride, but man, it's hard to justify the price, but again I don't want to do this again.

Also, Tuff Country is just down the street, so maybe I will give them a call and see what they have to say.

Thanks for the pictures and comments, I will put one mark for custom.

Scott

[CrewCab59]

I run Skyjacker because of the soft ride. If your doing a CTD than stay away from the soft and go to the HD or have springs made.

On my CC tow rig I use Superlift HD. The rear springs you have 52" and 56" and the pics above look like 56" that needs to have 52"

Thanks

[rockc]

I have had a set of 2" high tough county on mine for years and have had a good ride.

[DieselFJ]

Originally Posted by rockc

I have had a set of 2" high tough county on mine for years and have had a good ride.

Do you have pictures of your setup? What size of tires are you running?

Thanks
Scott

[DieselFJ]

Originally Posted by CrewCab59

I run Skyjacker because of the soft ride. If your doing a CTD than stay away from the soft and go to the HD or have springs made.

On my CC tow rig I use Superlift HD. The rear springs you have 52" and 56" and the pics above look like 56" that needs to have 52"

Thanks

Thanks for the info, just a couple of questions, what is a CTD? And, what is a CC tow rig? I will check to see the length of my springs, I didn't know there was a difference.

Thanks
Scott

[CrewCab59]

Originally Posted by DieselFJ

Thanks for the info, just a couple of questions, what is a CTD? And, what is a CC tow rig? I will check to see the length of my springs, I didn't know there was a difference.

Thanks
Scott

Cummins turbo diesel , CrewCab. You'll have 52"

Thanks

[DieselFJ]

Originally Posted by CrewCab59

Cummins turbo diesel , CrewCab. You'll have 52"

Thanks

Thanks, wasn't sure and I wanted to make sure I understood what your were saying. I checked Tuff Country and they make an option for either small block or big block front springs, I am not sure what the exact weight difference between a big block and a CTD are, but I believe this setup may work. I am also really considering air bags with leafs, seems to be a good option for the best possible ride.

Anyway, thanks for all the input
Scott

[vectorit]

I had mine made at a big rig suspension shop.

They have been great for the 10+ years I have had them on my burb, with a nice ride that is not jarring but then a Suburban isn't exactly light weight.

In my case, 67/68 4x4 suspensions are not (last I looked) being made by any of the big name suspension companies. Though in your case you should have better luck with a 1972 vintage truck.

Shock absorbers designed for our old trucks with a modified leaf spring arch, are slim pickins to so be prepared for a short list of choices.

In the beginning I ran Rancho RS5000's, and today I am using Procomp branded shocks. They are nothing special, just heavy duty with the proper amount of travel in them.

EDIT: I just browsed around at some of the makers you listed, and Skyjacker makes a spring kit for a 68 K20 burb. Though, the kit is only front springs and rear blocks. IMO... Blocks suck. So, I'd have to have the rears set up by a spring shop. Which makes me think about just going back to a custom shop to have all four spring packs made to order, with out using any blocks.

[DieselFJ]

Another check for custom, I may have to do some further research on local spring manufacturing companies, but from my experience the local companies around SLC don't do the best work, that is why I am looking to go with a big name company.

I have notice that the spring manufactures that I have looked at have kits that span from 69 and later, I didn't realize there was a difference in the 67-68, do you know what the difference it?

I was hoping to run a Bilstein shock, I have always like the ride of a Bilstein, so if I have to modify the shock mounts to make them work I probably will.

Yea, I will stay far away from blocks, I never liked the idea. I feel the negitave's really outweight the positives.

[dougo]

Mine are custom - not sure who did them, it was a previous owner. I will need to get new springs...on the list for the next couple years. I'd most likely go custom myself - so I can get the right height, fit, ride.

I'll be curious to know how it goes for you... keep us posted.

[DieselFJ]

I will definitely keep you guys posted as to what I will do. I believe I will start a build thread for my Suburban when I get going on it, should be in the next couple of months. Right now I have a friend with a 68 3/4 ton long bed that he is looking at installing suspension on, I am not sure of all the difference between the Suburban and the trucks, but I will let you know how that goes as well.

Thanks
Scott

[Mt Man Chad]

Older post, but I'm on the hunt for a little lift for my 68 1/2 ton 4x4 to fit 33 BFG's.
Shop in Portland say they can make anything - http://www.spring-man.com/

[DieselFJ]

Sorry, never updated the post. We ended up purchasing a custom spring set made by Alcan Spring out of Grand Junction Co. The springs were exactly to spec and ride incredible. We ran the rears a little on the soft side then used air bags to copensate for any extra weight including towing. I like the ride of the springs so much that I purchased a set for my 72 Burban from the same company. I haven't put them on the Suburban yet, but I will update my build thread once I have installed them. Thanks for the reply.

Thanks
Scott

[RUSHNBOBO]

Originally Posted by jbclassix

Here are the springs that were supposed to fit my 70, and DON'T!!

I actually have had a couple of 69-72 4x4's ....from your pic I think they sent you HD 56" springs which are for some 73-87's....but I believe that all 69-72 4x4 trucks.... C/10-20's had 52" inch x 2.5" width, with a centered through bolt.

measure from eye to eye with the frame jacked up slightly and I bet there 56"

[Mt Man Chad]

How much did the leafs cost for the pair?
67-68's rear springs are 3" longer center to center than 69-72.

[DieselFJ]

The price was about the same for the 68 as it was the 72. The total to my door for 4 springs was just over $1100. This included a hardware kit which included bushing and bolts. I have run a lot of different springs and can't believe how good the ride quality of the Alcan's is.

[Mt Man Chad]

Thanks for the info!!!!!!