Help with lifting truck

[snappchevy]

I have a 77 K20 and an 86 K10. I plan on putting a rough country 6 inch lift kit on the 86, since it’s just going to be a beat around truck. My question is what all am I going to need to do? Do I need to lengthen my driveshafts? Will I need to drop my transfer case? I should mention that it is a short bed. I’ve never put a 6 inch on one so any info would be great, thanks

 

[dvdswan]

I would lengthen the rear driveline. I had a 6" lift on a 76 Blazer, had to do a hard stop and the driveline separated at the slip joint.

Be sure to get a 4" steering arm.

 

[snappchevy]

I would lengthen the rear driveline. I had a 6" lift on a 76 Blazer, had to do a hard stop and the driveline separated at the slip joint.

Be sure to get a 4" steering arm.

What about my front driveshaft? I’ve also heard that if I use a transfer case drop kit, it might mess with the linkage

 

[hirschdalechevy]

Rough country springs are really stiff, I would look at tuff country or skyjacker soft ride springs if it was me. You will have a 208 t-case (if stock) so most drop the t-case 1 inch to solve vibration issue's. Next you will need extended brake line's and a extended steering arm. Then you will have to mess with your emergency brake cable's. Next either pitch your sway bar to the dirt or you should extend it as well. Then get your drive shafts in there and see where you are at. You may have to extend those as well but you might get away with stock. However I always extend mine because I like to twist my junk up off road.

 

[Craig 85]

I agree with everything in the prior post. I can only add if you're going to keep the sway bar, use ORD's disconnect kit. It lets the sway bar work in a separate arc than the axle. I tried a drop down bracket on my K5 years ago and it just put the sway bar in a bind. In addition to the steering arm, you may need a dropped pitman arm. Don't use the "S" type drag link, they are a pain in the ass.

 

[snappchevy]

Rough country springs are really stiff, I would look at tuff country or skyjacker soft ride springs if it was me. You will have a 208 t-case (if stock) so most drop the t-case 1 inch to solve vibration issue's. Next you will need extended brake line's and a extended steering arm. Then you will have to mess with your emergency brake cable's. Next either pitch your sway bar to the dirt or you should extend it as well. Then get your drive shafts in there and see where you are at. You may have to extend those as well but you might get away with stock. However I always extend mine because I like to twist my junk up off road.

Thanks for the info, I’m just 19 years old and I’m trying to learn all I can about these trucks, how long did it take you all to install everything? I know it’s gonna be longer for me because I’m a first timer, my dad is really familiar with these trucks so I’ll have some good help

 

[idahovette]

Thanks for the info, I’m just 19 years old and I’m trying to learn all I can about these trucks, how long did it take you all to install everything? I know it’s gonna be longer for me because I’m a first timer, my dad is really familiar with these trucks so I’ll have some good help

That's a GREAT thing to hear, your Dad and you are working together!! Would like to see more Father/son projects like this!!!.....Or Grandfather/Grandson, whatever it takes to get the younger generations interested in our "hobby"!!!!!

 

[Craig 85]

I was 50 when I did my K30 4 years ago and after hand surgery. It took about 2 days by myself, but I had to take breaks. I also have air tools.

Back in the 90's I did a 6" full spring on my K5 in a day with a mechanic friend.

 

[RecklessWOT]

Rough Country is a great bang for the buck, being young I think it's your best option. Yes the springs are a little stiffer than some of the expensive kits and people love to focus on that, but at the end of the day it's a 35 year old truck with leaf spring suspension (a lifted one at that), so it's not like a cushy ride should be the first thing on your mind anyways. I have no issues with the fact that after putting Rough Country springs under my truck it rides like, well, a truck...

For a 6" lift you don't have to drop the t-case but it wouldn't hurt to go down a little. As stated above the brake lines and steering arm will need to be extended as well as the driveshaft, rear at least. Yeah you could probably get away with stock shafts but at 6" you're pushing it. If you drop the t-case down more the need for extended shafts goes away, but I would personally choose to get an extended shaft over dropping the case. I wouldn't recommend ditching the sway bar all together like a lot of guys do, the truck is tippy enough in stock form, raising the center of gravity AND removing the sway bar is a horrible combination if you ever go around corners at more than a slow crawl. Even just going up 2" in my truck I started looking around how to add a sway bar in the rear as well. You can use a combination of drop brackets for the sway bar mounts and use some extended end links.

 

[snappchevy]

Rough Country is a great bang for the buck, being young I think it's your best option. Yes the springs are a little stiffer than some of the expensive kits and people love to focus on that, but at the end of the day it's a 35 year old truck with leaf spring suspension (a lifted one at that), so it's not like a cushy ride should be the first thing on your mind anyways. I have no issues with the fact that after putting Rough Country springs under my truck it rides like, well, a truck...

For a 6" lift you don't have to drop the t-case but it wouldn't hurt to go down a little. As stated above the brake lines and steering arm will need to be extended as well as the driveshaft, rear at least. Yeah you could probably get away with stock shafts but at 6" you're pushing it. If you drop the t-case down more the need for extended shafts goes away, but I would personally choose to get an extended shaft over dropping the case. I wouldn't recommend ditching the sway bar all together like a lot of guys do, the truck is tippy enough in stock form, raising the center of gravity AND removing the sway bar is a horrible combination if you ever go around corners at more than a slow crawl. Even just going up 2" in my truck I started looking around how to add a sway bar in the rear as well. You can use a combination of drop brackets for the sway bar mounts and use some extended end links.

Thanks for the reply, I pretty much have my mind set on rough country for this truck, on my k20 I’m going to do a 4 inch shackle flip but that will be a while before I do that one

 

[dvdswan]

Coat all the nuts with penetrant lube on the springs, shocks, steering, etc. a day before and soak them well.

A BFH is really handy and good selection of 1/2" drive sockets and long wrenches helps too.

 

[RecklessWOT]

Coat all the nuts with penetrant lube on the springs, shocks, steering, etc. a day before and soak them well.

A BFH is really handy and good selection of 1/2" drive sockets and long wrenches helps too.

Yes this for sure, forgot to mention that. Being in TN hopefully rust isn't too big of an issue and you don't have to torch the bushings out or anything, though my truck was rust free from out west and I still had to burn one or two of them out. Soak everything down really good a few times before you get started. I would do it a couple days in advance, again the day before, and even one more time the day of right before you get started. Use one that penetrates really well, IME unless you have access to Kroil, PB blaster is the best one for penetrating threads of really old bolts, even rusty stuff. Stuff like WD-40 and liquid wrench works, but they're more as a lubricant and not nearly as good as penetrating and soaking all the way in.

Having a nice breaker bar with a long handle or a pipe on the end is helpful too (anything that will give you a LOT of leverage), don't expect an impact driver to be able to do it all. Those bolts have all been on there for a very long time, I'm sure they'll be quite tight.

And you will definitely have to align the steering afterwards too, don't let that surprise you.

 

[hirschdalechevy]

Just throwing this out here for you.

I wont go into custom springs, (ord, alcan, deaver, etc...), but there is a big difference between off the shelf leaf springs and shock combo's, (I have ran many over the year's), The thing is ,( if you are not hauling loads and such) you want your front and rear suspension to work together as best as possible, so you say you may do a shackle flip in the rear with a stock spring which is a good thing, (keeping the rear semi soft). Then you go to a front spring that is stiff as hell, not a great combo for street or especially off road. When you get your front and rear springs set up to work together everything works like butter, (on or off road). If you go to a custom spring set up , thats when you need to start messing with sway bar's and such.

When you get your truck together, drive it without the sway bar and you will see you really dont need it with off the shelf leaf springs on a 1/2 ton pickup.

Here is some pic's for you, my k5 is all skyjacker soft ride springs, (8inch with a 1 inch 0 rate block) and 38 inch tall tire's with cross over steering and no sway bar. My wife drive's the k5 on the highway all the time at 80mph and it does really good off road. The k5 drive's like a stocker k5 and it is set up right for on and off road driving, (not to soft and not to firm).

The brown shorty is my girls first truck, got it with pro comp 6 inch springs front and rear and it sucked. Changed out all of the suspension for skyjacker soft ride and it was way better and pitched the sway bar. Still needed to be less firm in the rear so we went to a flatter rear leaf spring and a shackle flip in the back and it is all good now. Then went through the whole truck, engine , paint job , interior, etc...

I am not bashing anyone, I just wanted to give you some of the things that I have done with the many square's I have messed with over the year's, Me and my family love the 70's square bodies.

You and your dad have fun.

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[hirschdalechevy]

Her is another pic to get you pumped up, this is my boy's k5 we are working on right now, All skyjacker soft ride springs with 52's up front.

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