Front 2-3" Springs

[89GMCJimmy]

I'm a few hours away from hunting and OHV areas, I liked the ride of the 2"-3" TC "softride" springs with bilstein 5125's w 360/80 valving. They handled pretty good on the freeway and on mild/intermediate OHV and hunting trails. Unfortunately I bent the front pack and need a replacement. I'm trying to get the best quality of these off the shelf springs. ORD offers Zone,BDS,Skyjacker around 2-3" Stephen at ORD said the spring rate table going around from past forums is probably far from accurate these days it was a comparison on a 4" lift. Does anyone have an updated spring rate or first hand experience with Tuff Country vs one of these other brands?
I have read that the Alcan springs are very soft and offer more travel but that's not what I want for this Jimmy. I have seen strong opinions about all of these springs and I understand each individual has their preference in ride quality. From what I have concluded
Rough Country,Super lift, Rancho on the "stiff" side and TC Custom Alcans and BDS are on the "softer" ride
Has anyone ordered Alcans with a stiffer ride as opposed to their soft flexy longer travel springs?
Thanks for any positive feedback sorry if I missed a recent post on this

 

[77 K20]

If you don't want a bunch of travel just keep your sway bar bolted on. That will limit that and also make the front ride more "harsh" if you are not wanting a soft ride. If the ride is too harsh then you can get a sway bar disconnect kit. This will allow the axle to take some bumps that typically try to compress the sway bar (the sway bar is level at factory height- as you lift it the sway bar wants to bind up a bit). And with a sway bar it won't allow you to have much travel. The sway bar will fight it.
I went from 3" Tough Country HD springs to Offroad Designs custom springs (Alcan). Some people have went with Deaver springs who offer about the same ride quality of Alcan.
I have Offroad Designs front springs. 4" and a zero rate block below them. No sway bar. I bought longer 56" stock springs in the back with a 2.5" shackle flip.
I have some lean in the front if I'm cornering fast. So cornering is "soft". But as far as just going down the highway or regular paved roads it isn't too soft- as the springs still have to hold up the weight of the truck. I feel it is less bouncy on pavement.
Now the big thing is when you hit a large bump/pothole/expansion joint on a bridge. I'd see a large unexpected pothole and immediatly cringle and wait for the large impact and everything in the cab bouncing all over the place. Nope- just soaks it up. I do have some nice 4.5" urethane bump stops and I bought some Bilstein 25-187748 shocks with ORDs extended shock mounts. These shocks have remote reservoirs. At first I was just running the typical Bilstein 5125s shocks but on rough dirt roads I kept thinking I had a flat tire. I didn't. Took a few months to figure it out. I touched the front shock and burned my fingers. With the springs having more travel it is easy for the axle to go up and down to soak up bumps. Shocks try to limit that until they get so hot the oil thins out and fades. With the remote reservoirs now they stay cool and keep the axle dampened down.

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[89GMCJimmy]

Apreciate your help

 

[77 K20]

How did your front springs get bent anyway? Did you lower the bumpstops to prevent them from over compressing?

 

[Redfish]

@89GMCJimmy I am sorry I missed the original posting for this thread.

I have the Skyjacker 2.5 inch Softride on the front of my '87. There is no point in saying that it rides well, but it does ride a LOT better than the OE springs. The truck rode slightly nose up and I hate that look so I disassembled the spring stack and removed the bottom "overload" on each side. Now the truck is pretty close to what I wanted and the ride is about as good as I ever expect a solid front axle/leaf spring set up to get.

I would also add that Skyjacker's customer service/tech support was wonderful. They answered my questions and had plenty of patience with me.

If you do go with Skyjacker I suggest you go ahead and buy their bushing kit as well. They are NOT the same size as the original spring bushings.

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[89GMCJimmy]

@89GMCJimmy I am sorry I missed the original posting for this thread.

I have the Skyjacker 2.5 inch Softride on the front of my '87. There is no point in saying that it rides well, but it does ride a LOT better than the OE springs. The truck rode slightly nose up and I hate that look so I disassembled the spring stack and removed the bottom "overload" on each side. Now the truck is pretty close to what I wanted and the ride is about as good as I ever expect a solid front axle/leaf spring set up to get.

I would also add that Skyjacker's customer service/tech support was wonderful. They answered my questions and had plenty of patience with me.

If you do go with Skyjacker I suggest you go ahead and buy their bushing kit as well. They are NOT the same size as the original spring bushings.

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I found that out (bushings) thought I could use the TC bushings since they were still in good shape.
I bought the skyjacker fronts I like them better than the TC I replaced. same hight but TC 3 leafs Skyjackers 5 leafs

How did your front springs get bent anyway? Did you lower the bumpstops to prevent them from over compressing?

I was doing some wheeling down a steep my buddy was spotting next thing i was up on front right wheel.
only time i've had three wheels off the ground. just stoked i didnt flip it

 

[hirschdalechevy]

I just posted on your shock thread, and just wanted to say I have the skyjacker soft ride 8's with a zero rate 1" block's for 9" total with the bilstein 5165's , 255/70 shocks. My k-5 does really well on and off road with this combo,

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[89GMCJimmy]

Could be the rear 270/55 don’t like the TC springs?
I bought what was suggested to me at that price level from ORD
And I’m not saying they are not right it’s just it’s not right for me When I swapped in the 360/80 shocks it drove much more controlled for the front end. And better over the whoops. I swapped out the fronts to the rear but I had to be careful so I didn’t max amount and snap them but just in the parking lot test over the bumps. It did much better Bill Steen doesn’t have an 11 inch 360/80 only 10” for the 5125

 

[89GMCJimmy]

I just posted on your shock thread, and just wanted to say I have the skyjacker soft ride 8's with a zero rate 1" block's for 9" total with the bilstein 5165's , 255/70 shocks. My k-5 does really well on and off road with this combo,

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Did you build custom shock tabs to fit those
Your K5 Looks epic

 

[77 K20]

Could be the rear 270/55 don’t like the TC springs?
I bought what was suggested to me at that price level from ORD
And I’m not saying they are not right it’s just it’s not right for me When I swapped in the 360/80 shocks it drove much more controlled for the front end. And better over the whoops. I swapped out the fronts to the rear but I had to be careful so I didn’t max amount and snap them but just in the parking lot test over the bumps. It did much better Bill Steen doesn’t have an 11 inch 360/80 only 10” for the 5125

After going over some rough terrain did you ever get out and put your hand on the shocks? For many years I didn't think things felt very "controlled" and then one summer while in the local ORV park I got out and put my hand on my front shocks- and promptly burned my fingers.

So I bought some remote reservoir shocks but the same valving. 255/70 MUCH MUCH better. Before it almost felt like I had flat tires on the front. I moved my front shocks to the rear- and since the rear springs are stock they don't move as much and don't overheat.

 

[hirschdalechevy]

Could be the rear 270/55 don’t like the TC springs?
I bought what was suggested to me at that price level from ORD
And I’m not saying they are not right it’s just it’s not right for me When I swapped in the 360/80 shocks it drove much more controlled for the front end. And better over the whoops. I swapped out the fronts to the rear but I had to be careful so I didn’t max amount and snap them but just in the parking lot test over the bumps. It did much better Bill Steen doesn’t have an 11 inch 360/80 only 10” for the 5125

For me the 270's work very good with the skyjacker springs in the rear but so did the white body shocks for low speed, as for hauling ass through the dessert the 270's were way better,(more control , less bouncy). Maybe run dual 170/60's bilstein's , I thought about that but kind of costly. I really like the fox 2.0 on my new truck.

 

[hirschdalechevy]

Did you build custom shock tabs to fit those
Your K5 Looks epic

nope , stock

 

[hirschdalechevy]

After going over some rough terrain did you ever get out and put your hand on the shocks? For many years I didn't think things felt very "controlled" and then one summer while in the local ORV park I got out and put my hand on my front shocks- and promptly burned my fingers.

So I bought some remote reservoir shocks but the same valving. 255/70 MUCH MUCH better. Before it almost felt like I had flat tires on the front. I moved my front shocks to the rear- and since the rear springs are stock they don't move as much and don't overheat.

For me the bilstein's rode stiffer on the hwy. but not by much, then off road they were way better for higher speeds, for crawling I could not tell the difference really