2nd gen setup?

[wentz912]

Okay so I have the general idea for the setup I want to use on my 84 SR5 PU come November-ish when i get back from the military again. Anyhow, what I'm pretty much set on is ~3-4" lift, "skinny" 33" tires of a decently aggressive nature, and, most importantly, a locker to toss in the rear. I would like to stay under $2k but will go over a bit if the equipment deems that necessary. I would also like to stick with my 15" wheels simply do to ease of finding replacements and such. Another thing I want to ABSOLUTELY stay away from is blocks in the rear. Other than that, I am pretty open to suggestion in the area of the lift situation, as well as the locker. On a final note, I have already gotten quotes from a couple of places in town for the 33x10.5 BFG MT and they have all been around $190 a tire for just the rubber. Are these guys nuts or am I really gonna have to spend that much?

Let me know what you guys are running and the pros/cons of the set up!

 

[DaveInDenver]

I paid about $185 per tire with the lifetime warranty from Discount Tire. I go to the same store as much as possible and so they are usually pretty good about price matching for me. They beat the Tirerack.com shipped price for 33x10.50 MFG MT KM and I ended up just barely under $1K for all five mounted with the lifetime warranty and tax. If you go with 4 tires (find a used 33x9.50 or 33x10.50 for a spare), you might be around $850 for tires.

So with the tires, if you shop around you might be able to do $2K with a lift and locker. Figure a Lockright is $325. A lift will be $900~$1,000 for an OME, but you might get a Rancho or Skyjacker a little cheaper. But with rear springs (which is definitely the right way!), I doubt a Rancho kit will be a whole lot less. Figure around $650 for a Rancho kit with 4 new spring packs.

Don't forget to budget for misc things. With a lift tall enough for 33" tires, you'll need longer brake lines, for example. Steering might need to be addressed, so don't forget that stuff.

 

[ntsqd]

If fabrication of suspension mounts is within your range of abilities, going to the GM 63" springs yields about 3" of lift in the rear with the 3 longest leaves only used. Might be a little higher w/o a shell, but my truck sits reasonably level either way.

The springs can be free if you can find some take-offs. Mine started out as 3/4 ton springs, but there isn't any difference in the leaves, just more of them (mine started with 5 leaves). BTW, leave those spacers between the leaves in place. They serve an important ride quality function.

I used front hangers, shackles, and shackle pivots from WFO Concepts as I attended college with Trevor. Good guy to work with, and has parts made for exactly this sort of mod.

The front springs on my '84 came on the truck, so I've no idea what they are. I would suggest looking for the springs with the greatest number of thinnest leaves as you can find.

Oh yeah, I run 33-10.50 BFG A/T's on 15x7's. I've had 33-9.50 A/T's and 33-10.50 M/T's. For my use (mostly deserts & lots of highway miles to get there) the 33-10.50 A/T's are by far the better choice. The 9.50's weren't bad by any means, but they're getting harder to find. I carry the best of them as my spare.

 

[wentz912]

I did get a new quote from a good friend of mine that works down at the tire shop here in town, and he told me it'd be right around $720 for a set of four of the 10.5 MTs if I bought them right now and if I stayed after closing with em one night I could get them mounted and balanced for an additional zero dollars. However, he said that at the start of the new fiscal quarter (the first of Oct I think he said) they will be going up another 5% so it'll end up being like $760 something for a set of four mounted and balanced.

Dave, on the idea of a rancho kit, where have you been able to find a kit with four leaf packs? I've tried searching a couple of times and have had zero luck....

Ntsqd, what sort of desert are we talking about with your driving here? high desert with lots of hard pack and rocks and the like or large quantities of sand?

 

[wentz912]

Awesome cool new update!

I managed to scrounge a pair of old scaffolding ladders from work when we were cleaning junk out of an old warehouse. They're about 8 feet long and about 14 inches wide. The two long runners that make up the ladder look to be about 1" pipe, so they're pretty sturdy stuff. My idea is to take some expanded metal (That mesh looking stuff that looks a bit like reverse diamond plate.) and weld a strip of to one side of each of them and VOILA! instant home-made sand ladders. Other than the fact that they are kind of heavy, are there any downsides to using them as such?

 

[wentz912]

so besides the fact that you guys have all been jerks and not answered my last post, i have yet another question to ask.

the situation that i am currently in is that i am about to spend $600 on either a laptop or truck parts. the laptop i would be using for school and music and movies and that sort of thing........or i can get truck parts. with that dollar amount i've already ruled out a set of tires, but what can i realistically do with that dollar amount that i will get the most bang for my buck out of as far as making my truck perform as well as possible?

 

[efuentes]

Niether....blow it on booze and women. (j/k)...and in this day and age...$600 doesn't go very far.

X2 !!!, besides real men wheel on beaters, lockers are overrated, just use the skinny pedal

 

[Bergger]

Ha! I just happen to pour myself a Sailor Jerry and Coke when I sat down to check the forum! By far my favorite Rum.

 

[wentz912]

Alright, so due to a change in my spending its looking like im going to end up with about $2k to spend on lierally whatever I want, so waht do you guys suggest?

My typical conditions will be slick hardpack, packed snow/ice, gravel/shale, and sand/silt beds (thanks a lot Mt st helens!) I'm still trying to figure out what tire I want to run so I am totally open to suggestions on that account.

Also, lately I have been considering running a pair of OME front springs and rear add a leafs of the same height for the rear and probably OMEs shocks on all four corners. Would there be any disastrous side effects to running this set up? what would I have to alter as far as my steering and braking systems go with such a low lift height? And what sort of traction aid would work best as far as competency in normal off road situations balanced out with safety in snowy times?

Much appreciated.