Topic: Springs & Stuff for my '84 Pickup - Am I on the right track?

[Plainview]

My truck needs suspension but my budget is, well, budget.  I'm not afraid to spend the money where it counts, but don't want to spend on anything that isn't really necessary.

The truck is basically a daily driver that will spend weekends hauling lumber, bark, gravel, etc. for home improvement projects and will also take me camping and backpacking several times a summer plus exploring old logging roads and some of the 4WD roads around here but am not planning on serious crawling.  Eventually I'll be installing a winch up front and brush guard.

I was planning to run 31s for efficiency and no worries about clearance but ran across a deal that was too good to pass up on some 32s, so that's what I have.

After reading quite a few threads here and on other forums, I'm thinking the following parts make the most sense for my needs and I still have some questions:

Front:
OME CS010R - heavy duty springs.  Can remove one leaf to soften them for now 'til I get the winch.
Shackles - ??  Stock type or 5"?
Shocks? - OME shocks are expensive, are they worth it over say Rancho 9000s?

Rear
OME CS020R - Heavy springs for '89 - '94.  Read that the longer spring provides better travel and better ride.
Shackles - 5" to accommodate longer spring.
Shocks? - Same question as above.

Brake Lines - I'm guessing I'll need longer brake hoses with this setup?

Longer sway bar end links.

High Steer?  Do I need to do this now?  I understand it's a better all-around setup, but my budget is tight and I'd like to put this off if I don't have to do it now.

Am I missing anything?  Does this sound like a good plan?

What about greasable shackle kits or anti-inversion kits?

Any thoughts on where the best place in the PNW to buy the OME parts from would also be appreciated.

Thanks for any input.

[81 shortbed]

Have you researched Chevy 63s and ruf's? Can't get much cheaper and it a proven set up.

[toyodaaddict]

sounds like a good setup for what you plan to use the truck for. Id strongly suggest doing the high steer at the same time.  Get marlins break lines, they are very much worth it over the few bucks you'll save with TG. Try running it without the sway bar, it will likely work just fine for you.

[blackdiamond]

I ran the tallest Superlift on my 85 truck with a drop drag link and it ran just fine. No sway at required. You just need to extend the rod between the front axle and frame mount to keep the front axle from moving and messing with your steering.

I wouldn't change anything with the springs for the winch, it isn't that big of a difference. Rancho shocks work great. Adjustability is very user friendly.

32 inch tires are the limit for stock gears in my experience. Get rubber brake lines instead of steel braided. The rubber is more durable. Skip the bling.

[MRHilux87]

Those are great springs, but if you have time, patience, and some skills, chevy 63s and RUF will work every bit as well.  You might have to play with them to get it just how you want, but they will work very well, and for cheap. For what you are doing with it, you certainly don't need OME shocks.  They are kinda overpriced anyways.  I would save money on those and get a high steer kit.  You could run the stock steering setup for awhile if you want to save or look for a used high steer kit.  If you keep some shorter shackles and keep it lower stock steering will work ok short term.   

[Plainview [OP]]

Thanks for the input so far!

Not sure I want to deal with a RUF setup or scrounging around in j-yards trying to piece together spring packs from old wore out springs.  It's my understanding to do a RUF you need to relocate the front spring mount, right?  I don't have a welder or any skills in that area.  I know it can be done on the cheap, but time is money and I'd rather just get stuff that will bolt in without any hassles.

So it sounds like the consensus is:

OME springs
Rancho shocks
Stock length front shackle
Dropped drag link or high steer ASAP
Longer brake hoses (from Marlin)

No one's mentioned anti-inversion kits so I'm going to guess that's not needed.

What about greasable shackles?

that rod from the axle to the frame - what's that called?   I had to track down the bolt that holds it to the frame this last weekend as I discovered it was missing.  I'll have to figure something out for extending that.  Maybe cut a section of it out, have threaded ends welded on and use a threaded sleeve like a big tie-rod?  I could probably find a shop around here that would do that for relatively small $, or would it be better to have the frame mount extended down by the amount of lift?

I haven't seen any discussions around here about that part and what people do about it on lifted rigs...

[OOPS]

When you lift the front with the stock "J" arm steering you not only may have to lengthen the "torque rod" but the mount on the axle needs to be made taller. You want the torque rod to be on a level plane with the ground at ride height. If not you will get "brake steer" which will cause it to pull to the right. Especially under hard braking.

[toyodaaddict]

Just to be clear for the op, the torque rod is not used with crossover steering. It is no longer needed. That is why there is little discussion about the torque bar.
 OME front springs can out flex both stock steering and the front stock driveline in extreme situations. OME is not your typical bolt on junk, I would consider crossover steering a must. 

Greasable shackles are nice but not required.

[Snowtoy]

Since you don't need or want much lift, just extra carrying capacity, I would just add an additional main leaf spring to each set of leaves, shouldn't cost you more than $100 for both sets of springs, and a couple of hours of your time.  The second main leaf will increase your load capacity about 500lbs per set, wont stiffen the ride, and usually yield about 1-2" of lift.

[Plainview [OP]]

Great information, thanks! 

So a question about high-steer:  All the kits I see say 3" lift minimum.  The OME springs (or adding a leaf) will only raise ride height 2-2.5" max.

The only dropped drag links I can find also specify 3" minimum.

Am I going to be in a situation where sticking with stock steering is going to suck AND converting to high steer or using a dropped drag link is going to be problematic?  I assume the high steer situation requires more clearance between axle and frame/engine for everything to fit above the springs...?

I found an adjustable drag link on Summitracing.com for $89 that seems like the best deal but it also specifies 3" minimum lift.

Any suggestions for particular high steer systems also appreciated.

I do want a little extra clearance for the 32s and better off-road capability.  I haven't driven the truck with the 32s on it yet, but it looks pretty tight right now with the 31 yo 230K mile stock springs...

If I have a good suspension under the truck, I'm sure I'll end up using it... 

Somewhere down the road I do plan to change the gearing.  From what I can tell, stock tire diameter was right about 29".  32s are a 10% increase in diameter so to maintain the same overall gear ratios I'd need to go to 4.56s.  Even 31s are a noticeable increase and 4.56s ought to work very well with them if I go down to that size once these tires wear out.  Lockers or true tracs would be a nice upgrade when the gearing is changed, but that's a subject for a different post.

[Snowtoy]

Stock tires were 28", so you would be closer to 13% with the 32's, you will still be a little undergeard with the 4.56's, and a little over geared with 4.88's.  If it were me, I would go with 4.88's, the over gearing wont be detrimental to anything, and would give you the option for going with 33's in the future.

[blackdiamond]

Stock tires were 28", so you would be closer to 13% with the 32's, you will still be a little undergeard with the 4.56's, and a little over geared with 4.88's.  If it were me, I would go with 4.88's, the over gearing wont be detrimental to anything, and would give you the option for going with 33's in the future.

Agree with 4.88 gears. I had them with 33s and now 35s so you will have room to grow.

Call OME and ask what they recommend for steering. They should know.

[Plainview [OP]]

More shock ??

Rancho 9000s were recommended above but in other threads in this forum people are poo-pooing the Ranchos...  ??

What about Bilstiens? The B6 HD is considerably cheaper than the Ranchos, are they as good?

[Plainview [OP]]

I ordered everything for the truck over the last two days.  Spoke to a tech at Marlin who also has an '84 and got my questions about high-steer and the torque rod cleared up.  He removed his torque rod and hasn't had any problems.  The OME springs even with 5" shackles won't give enough clearance for a high steer setup.  If I wheel it hard I may end up breaking some of the stock steering pieces, but I'm kind of stuck in that regard and heavy duty wheeling isn't really in the cards for this truck anyway.  Even so, I'll carry spare parts, just in case.

Ordered OME heavy duty springs for front & rear as well as U-bolt kits and Rancho 9000s for 3" lift applications and a Rancho 5000 steering stabilizer from Low Range Offroad.  I plan to remove the extra leaf for now which should give the softer ride and lower height of the Medium OME springs.

Ordered 5" shackle kits and all required bushings as well as extended brake hoses and taller bump stops from Marlin.

Ordered a Pro-comp adjustable drag link from Summit Racing.

I tried to get longer brake hoses from NAPA but they've changed their cataloging system and we weren't able to cross-reference longer hoses with the same fittings.  The guy there said they used to be able to easily do that, but their database has changed and made it extremely hard to do so I spent the extra for the Marlin parts.  Might as well support our host!

[Yopar]

I'm sure you will be happy with the OME springs. Hopefully you got the '89 up rears since they are longer... the 009/010 rears are too short on a pickup unless you move the shackle forward. FYI you can run hi steer with OME lift, it's enough space I've done it. Flat pitman arm w/ box moved forward and I'm currently using 2 x 008FA springs on both sides since that arch is slightly higher. 5" shackle. Plenty of room

[Plainview [OP]]

I ordered the '79 - '88 springs.  I saw the recommendation on the later springs but looking into it, it looked like it would push the rear axle back at least 1."  I just want to keep things simple and I've already over-complicated it enough by ordering the heavy duty springs and having to figure out which leaf to remove.

I measured the distance in a straight line from the front spring eye to the spring center bolt on both my stock springs and the OME springs and it looks like the OME springs already have more distance here which will put the axle back a little bit.  I'll be able to make a better comparison once I get the stock springs off.  If I have to have the rear shackle mount moved, so be it.

I'll post up the results in my build thread once I get the springs installed, which should have happened this last weekend but due to not getting the right parts from one supplier and not being able to remove the spring eye bolt at the front of the rear springs is still a work in progress.  Going out to tackle those spring eye bolts now.

Being able to run high-steer would be a good thing!  It's not a priority at the moment though, got other things to deal with first so the stock steering will stay for a little while.

[onecool1929]

What were the end results of your installation. Are you happy with everything you have done?

[helipilot77]

I'm running OME's with high steer. No problems and it's been through the the rubicon.

[Plainview [OP]]

What were the end results of your installation. Are you happy with everything you have done?

Sorry for the delay in getting back to you, it's been awhile since I've logged in here.  Been busy the last few months.

Anyway, so far I'm happy except that the ride is rougher than I expected.  I suppose that's probably because of the Rancho shocks which everyone warned me about.  I have them set on the softest setting and the ride is still pretty danged stiff.  I found airing the tires down to 26 psi really helped with small impacts like the ride on gravel roads and over pavement seams but overall the suspension is pretty stiff and doesn't like to compress.

The springs really haven't settled at all.  I've put a couple thousand miles on this rig since my last posts and driven it off-road a bit (went up to Gallaher Head Lake in October) and it's still sitting right where it was when everything was first installed.

So, lots more to do but I blew my knee back at the end of December and had to have surgery and I haven't worked in two months now.   I'm going back to work next week but two months of lost income and a stack of hospital bills means not much leftover for the truck.  The carb and intake need some work and I can get that done for 0$.   I have a bunch of car stereo equipment laying around so I can put some tunes in it, I bought a nice tube bumper with receiver for the rear last summer so I can put that on, and there's a Warn M8000 winch on Craigslist for cheap that's tempting me right now...

[blackdiamond]

I would have a hard time blaming a harsh ride on Rancho 9000 (white) shocks.  I ran them on my 85 extended cab with stock length Alcan rear springs and the ride was reasonable though I rarely had them a off of the lowest setting.  I currentmy am running Rancho 9000 RSX (silver) shocks on my 89 4Runner with 6 inch over stock Alcan springs and I run them maxed out all the time. I would actually turn them up more if I could.

The Bilsteins did ride nice on the street on my 4Runner, but didn't have enough control in Moab. I constantly bottomed them out when slowly dropping down ledges.

[Plainview [OP]]

blackdiamond - you've mentioned your bottoming problems before but honestly, I don't use my truck like that.  I have the silver rancho 9000s, BTW.

Trails around here are generally rooty and rocky and maybe a bit muddy but big ledges and things like that really aren't on the menu for me.  The one real 4x4 trail I've taken it on points out that this suspension just doesn't seem to want to articulate or compress much.  Since the springs felt pretty soft and it was easy to compress them before I installed the shocks, I have to point the finger at the shocks.  I'm not planning to wheel this thing hard, just want to have a capable rig for camping, occasional trail duty, and hauling stuff for landscaping/home improvement.  I think I'm going to try some Bilsteins and see how it feels.

Cheers!

[blackdiamond]

blackdiamond - you've mentioned your bottoming problems before but honestly, I don't use my truck like that.  I have the silver rancho 9000s, BTW.

Trails around here are generally rooty and rocky and maybe a bit muddy but big ledges and things like that really aren't on the menu for me.  The one real 4x4 trail I've taken it on points out that this suspension just doesn't seem to want to articulate or compress much.  Since the springs felt pretty soft and it was easy to compress them before I installed the shocks, I have to point the finger at the shocks.  I'm not planning to wheel this thing hard, just want to have a capable rig for camping, occasional trail duty, and hauling stuff for landscaping/home improvement.  I think I'm going to try some Bilsteins and see how it feels.

Cheers!

You may enjoy the Bilstein ride, I liked them better on the street.

You could take the shocks off and do some light wheeling and see how the springs. Even set to max you truck should have enough weight to compress the springs and shocks when moving slowly. Not wanting to articulate or compress almost sounds more like a spring rate issue. I bet you can compress the 9000s by hand but can't come close to lifting the back of your truck. Going fast the 9000s could prevent the suspension from reacting fast enough to be useful so it depends on how fast you are going to really evaluate.

A lot of people love the Bilsteins.

Have you loaded it up for camping yet?  I like the ride of the Bilsteins on my 4Runner on the road, but they didn't have enough control when I loaded up with weight.

Everyone likes a different feel and every truck/spring combo is different so just sharing my experience.

[Plainview [OP]]

^^Understood, and its appreciated!

I took the truck on several trips over the summer including the big 4-day trip I do every year at the beginning of June.  There's a big group of us that go up every year and put on an extravaganza with everything including the kitchen sink and a bar - the truck gets loaded to the gills for this kind of thing.  All that beer is heavy!

I will say that the truck doesn't seem to care how much weight i put in it - it handles it just fine but more weight does smooth out the ride.  I just need more power now...

[jimbo74]

I have a torque rod and some alcan and stock springs for sale