Flip kit ended up too low. How do I gain some height back?

[Retoxtony]

I finally got around to doing the rear flip kit on my 79 yesterday and the end result is way more drop than I anticipated. By my measurement, my Belltech 4/6 kit gave me a little over 7 inches in the rear and almost 3.5 in the front. So now I have a reverse rake that does not look good. I assume this is because of my HD leaf pack.

So what are my options here? Any way to easily raise the back end up an inch or even two? I would prefer raising the rear rather than lowering the front more.

Any suggestions?

[71gmcC15]

Take a leaf or 2 out. Should rase it up a bit.

[44boggers]

Originally Posted by Retoxtony

I finally got around to doing the rear flip kit on my 79 yesterday and the end result is way more drop than I anticipated. By my measurement, my Belltech 4/6 kit gave me a little over 7 inches in the rear and almost 3.5 in the front. So now I have a reverse rake that does not look good. I assume this is because of my HD leaf pack.

So what are my options here? Any way to easily raise the back end up an inch or even two? I would prefer raising the rear rather than lowering the front more.

Any suggestions?

Did you put longer shackles in? If so, then put the originals back in.

[Retoxtony]

Originally Posted by 44boggers

Did you put longer shackles in? If so, then put the originals back in.

Original shackles. All I did was the flip kit.

[Retoxtony]

Originally Posted by 71gmcC15

Take a leaf or 2 out. Should rase it up a bit.

Taking a leaf out now will make no difference. The axle is sitting on top of the top leaf. If anything it might make the truck lower because taking a leaf out will make the whole leaf pack flex more.

[Retoxtony]

From the reading I’ve done it seems I ended up with so much drop because I have the 56” HD leaf pack with 9 leafs in it. It’s also most likely worn out to some extent as it’s a pretty high mileage truck (175,000 miles) so the leafs are probably sagged a bit.

So I was thinking if I were to swap to a new set of 52” springs with the 4 leaf pack it should get me back to where I want to be? Should also make the truck ride better. My thinking is that by changing to the shorter new leafs my stock height would be higher so I’d get less drop from the flip.

Or I can pull the flip kit out, go to shackles and hangers instead and pull the overloads and maybe one more leaf out of my HD leaf pack. This would likely be more work as the front hangers are harder to move than the rears.

Am I on the right path here or way off base?

[Richard]

Maybe think about adding a pair of helper bags. On my 94 I had my stock leaves de-arched 2" and installed a flip kit. Added the helper bags so I could still haul stuff. They would raise the back almost 3" with the bed unloaded. Everyday driving I ran about 15-20 psi. Nice thing is the bags provide dampening and smooth out the jitters a leaf truck has on the highway.

[Retoxtony]

Originally Posted by Richard

Maybe think about adding a pair of helper bags. On my 94 I had my stock leaves de-arched 2" and installed a flip kit. Added the helper bags so I could still haul stuff. They would raise the back almost 3" with the bed unloaded. Everyday driving I ran about 15-20 psi. Nice thing is the bags provide dampening and smooth out the jitters a leaf truck has on the highway.

I briefly considered this route but I’m not really sure where to start. I assume I’d need to fab up some type of mounts or perches for the bags. I’ve had helper bags in other trucks so I’m somewhat familiar with them and they’d maybe work but putting it together might end up a bigger job than starting from scratch.

[Just call me Sean]

Cheap and easy use some lift shackles.

[Willowrun]

What I did is in this thread. I put 4x4 hangers out back. It’s a K5 but same concept.
https://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/...d.php?t=645053

[dagnabbitt]

Originally Posted by Willowrun

What I did is in this thread. I put 4x4 hangers out back. It’s a K5 but same concept.
https://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/...d.php?t=645053

Probably your best option to raise the rear a little, and not too much work.

How about some pics, we would love to see them.

Some personal experience from me: if you if also did the front recently, you might want to give it time for those springs to seat and settle, the front might still go down as much as a full inch or so. That'll level out your ride and you may find you like it.

[Richard]

Originally Posted by Just call me Sean

Cheap and easy use some lift shackles.

Lift shackles are not an option. The truck uses a tension shackle. When moving one end of spring result is half. To raise an inch it would have to be shortened by two inches. Raising two inches would require a 4" shorter shackle. Stock shackle is only 4". Shackle would be a custom 2" long or no shackle. Results in both scenarios would not be desirable.

[smupser]

Originally Posted by Retoxtony

I briefly considered this route but I’m not really sure where to start. I assume I’d need to fab up some type of mounts or perches for the bags. I’ve had helper bags in other trucks so I’m somewhat familiar with them and they’d maybe work but putting it together might end up a bigger job than starting from scratch.

I think this is your best bet if your just looking for a couple of inches. I know air ride technologies has brackets and perches that should bolt right up.

[Richard]

Originally Posted by Willowrun

What I did is in this thread. I put 4x4 hangers out back. It’s a K5 but same concept.
https://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/...d.php?t=645053

What I see in that link will raise the rear about an inch. As said in another post moving one end of spring will raise or lower half as much.
The aftermarket hangers from Blitzkrieg Motorsports I used on my truck are 2" lower than stock 4x4 and would provide 2" lift over stock 2wd hanger with a stock shackle. Not really designed for the 67-72 trucks. Correct offset off of frame. My situation is totally custom and required a lot of measurements.
For you would require identifying original spring eye point and re-drilling mount. Mounting points would be farther forward as it is designed to move shackle 2" farther back.

[Retoxtony]

Originally Posted by dagnabbitt

Probably your best option to raise the rear a little, and not too much work.

How about some pics, we would love to see them.

Some personal experience from me: if you if also did the front recently, you might want to give it time for those springs to seat and settle, the front might still go down as much as a full inch or so. That'll level out your ride and you may find you like it.

I did the front In the winter, then I got sidetracked with other projects. I do expect the front to settle a little, but not much. The front is actually at a good height so I’d be happy if it stayed the same or close.

I’ll try to get some pics tomorrow.

[Retoxtony]

Originally Posted by smupser

I think this is your best bet if your just looking for a couple of inches. I know air ride technologies has brackets and perches that should bolt right up.

I’m going to look more into this. I thought I’d have to fab something up myself but they have a system that looks like it might work.

[Retoxtony]

Here's a couple pics. As you can see its quite a bit lower in the rear. The drivers side is also a little lower than the pass side in the pic. As it sits now i have 1 1/2 inches on side and 1 inch on the other between the frame and axle. I did plan on doing the C notch anyway but i was hoping to put that off for a while and drive it without.

I'm going to do some digging on the air bag thing but I'm still thinking it might make the most sense to get a new set of 52" springs and swap them in. It looks like a really straightforward swap and pretty easy. The truck should ride better with the lighter springs and i should get less drop. It would also straighten out my lean to one side like so many of these trucks have.

Thoughts?

[evan]

If a leaf spring that is designed to accomodate thousands of pounds of payload has some of it's overload leaves removed spring flex will not effect your unloaded ride height. Removing them will increase your ride height by half the height you remove. So if you're able to remove 1" from the spring pack thickness you'll gain 1/2" ride height

You could gain another approx 1/2" by using a Belltech 6404 short shackle.

Here's a picture of my '79 with a Western Chassis 210420 flip kit and Belltech 6404 installed and the spring.

[Retoxtony]

Originally Posted by evan

If a leaf spring that is designed to accomodate thousands of pounds of payload has some of it's overload leaves removed spring flex will not effect your unloaded ride height. Removing them will increase your ride height by half the height you remove. So if you're able to remove 1" from the spring pack thickness you'll gain 1/2" ride height

You could gain another approx 1/2" by using a Belltech 6404 short shackle.

Here's a picture of my '79 with a Western Chassis 210420 flip kit and Belltech 6404 installed and the spring.

The axle is sitting on the top of the leaf pack. So pulling leafs from the bottom (or middle) won’t raise the truck. If anything it might actually lower the truck more but if I just pulled the overloads it should stay exactly the same height.

[SCOTI]

Flip kits on HD leaf packs (~8 leafs) = more drop vs. flip-kits w/lighter duty set-ups (4/5/6 leafs).

I know it's not a square but the lift shackle works to raise the rear slightly. I have Western Chassis 'lift' shackles under my OBS since the flip kit yielded ~8" of drop & my target was 7.

1st image is stock height for reference.

2nd is w/the flip kit. The rear end was bottomed on the bump-stops in the c-notches & the tires were tucked up into/past the arch so I knew it was going to need to come up once the front was in place & I could measure.

3rd = no other changes except the addition of the lift shackles. Yes, they're short. But, they worked for my set-up.

The lift shackles weren't year model specific & I know of more than one C30 guy lowering his dually has used them.

[Retoxtony]

I talked to a few places that sell air bags and found a good price on a set of helper bags that will work. It’ll end up being the least expensive option and easiest install. It should take a week or two till I have the stuff but I’ll update this thread as to how it all works out.

Thanks for the help.

[SCOTI]

Originally Posted by Retoxtony

I talked to a few places that sell air bags and found a good price on a set of helper bags that will work. It’ll end up being the least expensive option and easiest install. It should take a week or two till I have the stuff but I’ll update this thread as to how it all works out.

Thanks for the help.

Yeah.... If you can do helper bags for <$100 I'd go that way as well.

[Retoxtony]

Originally Posted by SCOTI

Yeah.... If you can do helper bags for <$100 I'd go that way as well.

It’s a lot more than $100 for the kit I ordered, but it’ll end up being much cheaper than a new set of leafs like I was thinking of trying. New leafs were surprisingly expensive, at least in Canada. They were cheap from the US but shipping was a killer.

Trying a shackle would have been cheap, but I don’t think it would have got me high enough.

[SCOTI]

Originally Posted by Retoxtony

It’s a lot more than $100 for the kit I ordered, but it’ll end up being much cheaper than a new set of leafs like I was thinking of trying. New leafs were surprisingly expensive, at least in Canada. They were cheap from the US but shipping was a killer.

Trying a shackle would have been cheap, but I don’t think it would have got me high enough.

I didn't think it would on mine either....

[Ad Cam]

I guess I got lucky with my F44 when I did the flip. It only dropped 5.5 inches and I have 3 inches between the axle and the bed frame. Can you post pictures when you get the helper bags installed? I'd like to see how they set them up.