Solid Axle Swap Thread
- Thread starter RickLzonai
- Start date
I see now what you mean, that big truck doesnt have shocks. I drove mine around the pasture without shocks to measure for them and man, suckers bounce like mad without them.
If you do a good leaf design, they will work and ride just as good as coils for WAY less money. I did the SAS on my truck since 85% of the components in the front end were broken or needing replaced. It was actually cheaper for my to SAS the truck then it was to rebuild and replace the IFS and lift it with the trailmaster kit i had. Thing rode awesome after the SAS, drove better and got better mileage. I was averaging 22 mpg on the highway with that goofy ass truck.
The biggest issue with front leaf springs using a rear shackle is the inherent geometry issue running big travel numbers and the wrap that comes from the flexibility of the locating members. Keeping drive shafts alive and vibration free is a pain and expensive.
For moderate travel they work fine, but are hard to tune. It just depends on what you want from it. A blanket statement about leaf springs being tantamount to 'cheaping out' is kind of silly. That's like giving a framing contractor crap for not springing for Festool. If you don't need it, then not buying it isn't being cheap, it's being practical. Of course if you don't know what you need and you go leafs, you may find yourself buying twice...ask me how I know.
Mine is just holding down the dirt at the house while I work on other priorities.
For moderate travel they work fine, but are hard to tune. It just depends on what you want from it. A blanket statement about leaf springs being tantamount to 'cheaping out' is kind of silly. That's like giving a framing contractor crap for not springing for Festool. If you don't need it, then not buying it isn't being cheap, it's being practical. Of course if you don't know what you need and you go leafs, you may find yourself buying twice...ask me how I know.
Mine is just holding down the dirt at the house while I work on other priorities.
I don't need the sas now , maybe I just want to make my truck 4wd and bigger without huge fggt drop bracket lift and my personal opinion on linking it is I don't need that gnarly of suspension nor do I want to spend that much money on coils for a truck I'm not gonna be crawling or even heavy off-roading in,
Plus I don't like the look of link arms underneath a truck
Actually yes need sas now. Need moar lift
Good to see you over here bggrnchvy. :shake: Thanks for bringing the tech & firsthand knowledge.
Thoughts on an 05-Up SD60 radius arm setup? I see them pop up for fairly cheap, seem to take a beating, already 35spl, some are loaded with 4.11's, and bracketry would be fairly easy.
Thoughts on an 05-Up SD60 radius arm setup? I see them pop up for fairly cheap, seem to take a beating, already 35spl, some are loaded with 4.11's, and bracketry would be fairly easy.
I'd post my SAS's but they are leaf sprung, and thus too cheap to be worth posting. Maybe one day I can get some coilovers so i can powdercoat chrome the shit out of the truck... meet a BRO, enter a BROmance, have a gay marriage, and have BRObies.
Lol. I plan on sas a obs over the next few years for a weekend toy. And a father daughter project when she's old enough. It will be leaf sprung also
They're a good axle, just have to run adapters or a SD rear end too and buy new wheels. Radius arms work for moderate travel without any serious caster change, especially with the reasonable length arms they come with. Carli has longer plate units out for more. I saw Jason at PacFab was working on a set as well.
Sorry I missed you at KOH, that was a busy week swapping parts.
Mine has one, but the cheap leaves ruin it.
Besides the springs...Hows she drive with the hydro assist, swaybar, and good looking drag link/ track bar angles?
Looks good :shake:
The truck handled great for something that size. Less body roll than my ifs lifted half ton had. It was like driving a Super Duty without the bump steer.
I mean it's just fggt leaf springs but might as well throw my progress in here , gosh dang fggt leaf springs really can't believe they were ever invented. 
