Need a little lift...need some advice!

[BB73Challenger]

OK - I did a search on this first as well as digging through old posts, only to become more confused.

Long story short - had big tires that would never clear without air shocks.
Went down in size, ditched the air shocks and went with Gabiels standard shock only to find that not only does the car sit just a little low but on large bumps the tires still just rub oh so little.

I'm thinking just a little more lift and I should be home free....right.

No way are air shocks going back on - we all know, rides poor and the whole shock mounts breaking thought keeps me up at night.
Now I did read mention of someone saying a good adjustable shock like Koni would pick the car a little, but then isn't the shock still supporting the weight and that's a bad thing. Or is it so minimal that it's not too stressful on the car.

As everyone else is, I'm trying to do this right AND cheap lol - I also feel like adding a helper spring to the leaf is bad as well as those clamp on coil spring helpers for the shocks.

Summit has new stock leafs for just over $100 each, and I love a reason to drive out there.

Any help and advice is greatly appreciated!!

[MEK-Dangerfield]

Jeff,

  Air-shocks stink, as you know. They also can blow out the top of the shock tower if you hit a bump hard enough. I have a feeling the Koni's might ride stiff too, but I really don't know enough about them. Any of the Mopar replacement springs you find, are probably made in Mexico, and will sag in six months. I went with a spring with an over stock height of 2" from Espo. http://www.springsnthings.com/ I bought new shackles and the big front bolts too from them. I know this isn't the cheap method, but others have been happy with Espo as well.


   Mike

[GoodysGotaCuda]

Add-a-leaf pair is about $50, it gives 1.5" of lift i know for a fact to a ford ranger, dont see why they wouldn't do that much or close. The ride will be rough (which will actually help keep the 1/4 off the tire too), but they come with new leaf center bolts. basically undo the u-bolts, c-clamp the springs, insert the add-a-leaf, new center bolt, reinstall u-bolts.

That would be the cheapest, good for the long-term....in my opinion. Get the spring width and find them on summit.

[Chryco Psycho]

helper springs or just adding one extra main leaf to the pack will fix the problem & is the correct way to do it , or just replace the whole spring

[autoxcuda]

I think the tire fitmant situation you are dealing with will help get a good answer to your problems.

Meaning, for your rear tires what is your:

rim diameter and width?

rim backspace?

tire size?

And do you want a raked back end look or are you shooting for a level front to rear look?

[Carlwalski]

Get the stock springs re-tensioned. Easy to do. I did and am very happy.
They settled within a week and I sit at 26" from ground to center lip in the rear.

[BB73Challenger]

Thanks guys, it looks like I will be placing some calls on Monday.

Autoxcuda - well it's not so much a funny story as a sad story a couple of years ago I wanted the new Torq-thrust IIs and figured lets shove the biggest possible tires without exotic mods as possible.
The rear wheel is 15" dia by 8" wide with the killer being, and I'm doing this from memory, I believe I needed a 4-1/2" backspacing.I gave this info to a friend, only for him to show up with EVERYTHING MOUNTED with 1/4" less backspacing than what I requested.
With 275-60 tires, I had a no clearance to the 1/4 panel.
Long story short I decided to run with air shocks as a temporary fix, not aware of the possible damage I could do to the shock mounts, not to mention if God forbid for some reason they leaked down the lip of the 1/4 would actually rest on the tire.
Now beyond just needing a little clearance with my new 255-60 tires, the rear, and maybe because of the bigger tires up front now, actually seems to sit a little lower than the front, and I wouldn't mind a little rake on the rear.
I did like the look of the rear to be a little higher, but not too crazy.

All right then - thanks very much, you guys are the best!