add a leaf or full spring???

[scarecrow]

i am finally ordering my lift kit... .my van is a late 95 i am doing 4 inches on it. i just cannot make up my mind if i wanna do the add a leaf or the full spring. the van is a daily driver. i will not be useing it for off road at all i have a truck on 44s for that. i am leaning towards the add a leaf. what yer thoughts???

[1996astro]

I would think if cost is not a major problem go with the spring packs, they are made to be what they are. The add a leaf only adds more arch to your current springs. 4 inches is alot to ask of a single add a leaf in my opinion. I built custom spring relocation mounts to move my stock springs down 4 inches front of spring and rear using stock shackles. I will be adding two leafs from an s10 spring pack removing my middle leaf.

[LiftedAWDAstro]

The AAL adds lift by adding in extra weight capacity. That combined with the extended shackle will net a good 4". Does the new leaf pack require the extended shackle? If it doesn't, I would go the new leaf pack route. If it requires the shackle I would just go with the AAL and plan a 2 - 4 degree shim for the pinion angle.

[1996astro]

I talked to Dan at Overland when I was weighing my options before I chose to make new mounts, he said that the 4 inch HD spring packs are 4 inches by themselves using stock shackles. If you use his shackles you could get 1-2 more inches with them.

The AAL adds lift by adding in extra weight capacity. That combined with the extended shackle will net a good 4". Does the new leaf pack require the extended shackle? If it doesn't, I would go the new leaf pack route. If it requires the shackle I would just go with the AAL and plan a 2 - 4 degree shim for the pinion angle.

As Lifted said, Dan told me the same thing about the AAL and the extended shackles, roughly 4-5 inches depending on the condition of your stock springs. I forgot the extended shackle in my earlier post. I didn't want to use the shackle for the reasons of having to shim the axle.

[BLAZER]

When i did my 95, I did the 3" shackles and 2" lift blocks. The main reason was due to the 3" HD front coil springs (RWD) I got from dan along with the 2" body lift netted me almost 6" of lift in the front . The rear actually sat a little lower due to the condition of the saggy rear springs, I also had major spring wrap due ot he blocks and weak leaves. I then used a leaf spring from the front of an old K5 as an AAL which gave me the extra lift back and more towing capacity on the rear.
I say all that.... in retrospect, I would have gone with Dan's shackles and AAl cause I'm cheap and they work for a DD vs needing a good spring pack for offroad. I had the blocks and leaves so I went that way. If money is not an issue, go with new springs.