Leaf springs

[Moe]

I'm looking to do a 4 inch lift on my late 95' in the near future. My van has got the stock steel springs rather than the mono springs and I will probably buy from Overland. My question is rather or not Overland's HD springs provide more lift than my stock springs will. It seems there is a number of options and I'm always up to saving a few bucks and labor whenever possible.

[MountainManJoe]

Hard to say how much more of an arc they have, but they are much stiffer which will result in the van sitting up higher, and providing a more solid ride. Much of the height is achieved via the lengthened hangers.

[photo_van]

Check out these two sites

http://www.truckspring.com/suspension-p ... rings.aspxhttp://www.generalspringkc.com/index.ph ... ent=3&pg=1

Salvage yard: 95-05 Sierra or Sonoma PU or 82=94 s10 Blazer

Should be ~$100/pr

For a '98 Astro. Not sure if '95 is different

[97CargoCrawler]

I have Overlands 4" lift HD leaf springs installed on my van. They are excellent quality and have served me well for about 4 years. For me it was a good purchase.

They are definitely more arched and either there are more leafs or the leafs are thicker. Mine lifted the rear to something more like 6" instead of 4" but over time (1.5-2yrs) they have settled to 4". In fact, now I'm ready to put an AAL (add-a-leaf) in the pack to jack it back up. I liked the van sitting an inch higher than where it is now. I also have Overlands 2" adjustable shackles.

I do recommend a pinion correction shim of 4deg. I don't recommend buying them from Overland as they charge 3X as much for them. You can get those from any 4X4 shop.

The lifted spring packs are custom made for Overland, you probably won't find them anywhere else. If you do they won't be marketed as a "lift" pack but rather a cargo or commercial truck pack. But being that our vans are now almost 7 years out of production it may be very difficult to find someone marketing those pre-made. Overland does charge quite a bit for those spring packs too...and the shipping charge will make your jaw drop. But of course you can build up your own like a few people here have done.

Personally I liked knowing my springs were new and not already stressed and strained from years of service. I think it probably takes more leafs in a used spring pack to get the same lift as with less springs in a new pack. You can have old springs re-arched but in my opinion metal fatigue will prevent them from maintaining that arch for a sufficient amount of time. I have no evidence to back that up other than my studies of metal fatigue. You can call it one mans scientific opinion.

Good luck with your lift!

[doyoulikeithere]

I like to save a few bucks too. I got 4" of lift with just new leafs, but they were not OLV. heres a good read.
viewtopic.php?f=48&t=7588
our vans use the same size springs as an s10, but have less arc than those trucks.
Ask your local truck spring shop to get you some s10 ZR2 springs.
Read up on spring rates and payload/leafpack configurations.
Make an educated decision, rather than just taking peoples word for it.
You can Get shackles from autozone and shims from just about anywheres.
OLV prices are pretty steep, and he has absolutely nothing that cant be sourced more locally for a lot less.

Good luck, share yur pix!

[Moe]

Thanks everyone!
Lots of great ideas & info to help me make a decision. With 157000 miles, I think my van will be getting new springs. I like the fact that Overland has done all the engineering and put together a complete package with instructions, but , it will cost over $1000.00 by the time I buy shocks and pay for shipping. I've got a month before I'll start this project, so I'll look into sourcing some of it out and see how much I can save. ( Money saved can go towards some beefy tires ) Again, Thanks