i have done or helped with about 5 spring overs now and i wouldnt hesitate to do one again. there are a few pros and cons to a spring over...
Pros-
- better ride.. at least with any cruiser that i have sprung over... dont waste your money on rearching your springs or any garbage like that.. the more bagged the spring pack the better the articulation and the ride.. i always take mine apart though as well and wire wheel all the rust off, put a little gease between the springs and then re-assemble.
- better approach-departcher angles... obviously.
- is pretty straight forward to do and lots of info on the net..
- its an easy way to gain 5-6 inches
-the back axle is easy. just relocate the axle under the spring pack, aim your pinion at the back of your tcase more or less and weld and bolt everything in place. i always locate my pinion aiming just below the tcase pinion in case you have axle wrap. that way the pinion isnt going to face way above the tcase flange when you have everything under torque.
Cons-
- if not done correctly there will be a chance for some death wobble. dont cheese out and not take the opportunity to replace all the spring bushings, knuckle bearings and what ever else is loose or worn at the time of disassembly. its all cheap stuff to replace so do it while its apart.
-expensive. dont let anyone tell you that a spring over will only cost a few hundred bucks.. be looking at around 1000 bucks to do the job right. this will take care of your bushings, highsteer, powersteering, etc. budget for 1000 bucks and if your under than you can be even happier..
-the front axle can be a little more work... with my last spring over i didnt have to cut and turn my knuckles on the front because my spring were completely flat and i didnt have to worry about drive line issues.. otherwise you will have to think about doing a cut and turn if your springs have some sproing in them still..
-really soft suspension... i have some video kicking around of my buddy and i rocking my truck back and forth with no shocks on and almost being able to get it on two wheels... your center of gravity is quite high with a spring over and most definitelly get yourself the most stiffist shocks you can find.. depending on your tire size choice you may even have to run double shocks up front if you are too tall but still plan on daily drivering your rig.. the double shock thing is kind of rare though. i daily drove a sprung over cruiser for quite a few years so it took a little time to get all the quirks out but in the end it was the most mild mannered, nicest riding 40 series cruiser that i have ridden in to date. i also flipped both my front and rear spring packs around though to give me extra wheelbase which made a huge difference as well. i think my wheelbase was around 108-110.. (my truck is a short wheel base fj45 by the way..)
-axle wrap. you should look at building some sort of track bar.. sprung over cruisers are notorious for big spring wrap and even broken pinions...
anyways, this is all the time i have typing for.. any more questions than keep asking.
