Summit Racing: 3x3 body spacers

[Moe]

1Gary, your correct regarding parts made in China. Here's an informative read for those interested. http://www.smartmoney.com/spend/autos/a ... arts-safe/ . Will I install Dorman torsion bars if and when mine fail? Probably will as I'm never flush with money. I figure they can't be any worse than the original 41 inch's installed by the factory.
Life is full of risk and I doubt I'll be driving the van more the a thousand miles per year.
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Moe

[1Gary]

After attempting to get in Peter's ZZ who has a 5 1/4 pipe lift,I decided that I couldn't handle that on a daily basis.Now,my legs have gotten even worst.Moe I decided to pipe lift my project van only,yep you guessed it,3".

[Moe]

I know what you mean Gary. I'm 65 and it can be a pain in the arse climbing into the van at stock height, especially if I forget to leave the steering column in the up position. Nevertheless, my inner child says go for the lift. I'll probably put a small step up on each side when project is completed.

I'm sure a pipe lift is really the right way to do a lift on these vans, i just don't have a welder or knowledge to use one. I just want a 4 " lift in the rear and 3' in the front. I don't mind a slight rake and I think just S-10 springs in the rear and pucks in the front will do the job. I'll stay with 2" pucks and tweak the orig. torsion bars about an inch.

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Moe

[H2OJoe]

I recently installed the 2" pucks from OV and some 3/1 leaf springs from SDTrucksprings. After tweeking the torsion bars a little I could easily run 31" tires but am currently running LT235/75R-15s until I can afford 4.10 gears. It looks and runs great. Definitely not a soccer mom's ride.
Thanks to Marktanium and other members of this forum for doing all the research. I used his info about the leaf springs and they cost me about $225 delivered.
I don't know why the OV pucks are so expensive and if i had it to do over again I would buy from Performancelifts.com. They're way cheaper and they responded to my email within 24 hours. All the parts I've purchased from OV have been good quality but they don't respond to inquiries in a timely manner, if at all.

Good luck and welcome to Astro world.

Joe

[Moe]

Hi Joe



Your right, the members on this forum have been a tremendous help and I don't think I would attempt the lift without there knowledge. I can pick up used S-10 3/1 spring pack from local wreckers for $45.00 each and lift spacers from Summit Racing. I have a Fastenal store right across the street from me and will get bolts from them. No blocks or shackles in the rear. Should go pretty smooth and hope to get started when our weather cools down a bit.

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Moe

[1Gary]

Moe,
One thing we haven't talked about is how the 33's are going to effect your gas mileage.The gear change I think is more to get the 4.3 into it's power curve to help the 4.3 handle the 33's,but it is working hard and I would expect a loss of 2 miles per gallon to be a good estimate.The history behind why Peter swapped in the 502 was the 4.3 couldn't handle the tire size and got stuck alot while these guys where out wheeling.
On my project with a 383,Ford 9" with 3.70's in the rear end and 29's I am trying to find a mid range mod to minimize the effects on front end parts wear and mpg.

If Lockdoc ever posts on this topic,he is direct to the point and honest about the wear effects of larger tires on these vans.It is one of things I most respect him for aside he has pretty much done it all/seen it all.

Edit:you plan for 4.10's isn't a bad one because you do need to spin the 4.3 higher to get into the power curve over what I need for a 383.

All I wanted to tell you is about the gas mile loss.

[Moe]

Hey Gary

Hadn't really thought about tire size yet, but I don't think I'll go over 30 " A/Ts. As it is, I only get about 13mpg around town and expect a slight loss when I change tire size. I've considered different gearing in the rear end, but for as little as I plan on driving it, I don't think it would be worth the money or effort.

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Moe

[1Gary]

Moe-I suggest you almost have to do the gear change because of the loss of the power curve given the increase tire size.What I was saying about a decease in mileage was with both a increase in tire size and a gear change to compensate.Without the gear change it would tank mpg.These 4.3's are a pretty stout engine,but are sensitive to the power curve and the awd's are known for not getting as good gas mileage as the rwd's.Remember,you wanted to lift the van for some minor off road camping.Right??. So you need those gears changes for to handle the tires for that as well.

[MountainManJoe]

What are your current gears, Moe?

[1Gary]

Best guess is the 70% case of 3.42's. :-k

[LiftedAWDAstro]

Gary, not sure what you are babbling about in this thread but much of what you have said is not 100% true.

First off doing a 2" spacer lift compared to a welded pipe lift is not going to make the subframe fall out from under the van! I actually drove and wheeled the SPB for years with the 2" spacer lift. It never failed once! That will be different if the person welding the pipe spacer on uses a cheap flux core welder or fails to get proper penetration on their welds. You have a much higher chance of failure with the welded pipe lift than with the spacer lift. Also the spacer lift will not affect alignment. Cranking the torsion bars will affect alignment.

Secondly, the mileage thing going to a 29" or 30" tall tire is not as you said...it will NOT tank to nothing just because of the tire size. These vans suck for mileage to begin with. A drop of 2 or 3 mpg is easy to do just by driving one of these hard with stock tires and gearing. Yes, it'll be out of the power band slightly but by dropping the shifter into 3rd you make up for that easily and still get about the same mileage. You will lose a lot of mileage if you start towing heavy loads with a taller tire and stock gearing. Again, I have actually driven a van just this way so I have experience.

Thirdly, Moe never mentioned 33's and as far as I remember, I am one of the only ones to run 33's and it required a solid axle swap up front.

Fourth, Peter only swapped the 502 to say he did it and he could afford to do it. He only wheeled with us 1 time and yes he did get stuck. We busted on him continuously for his van being "all show, no go"!

Fifth, let Moe answer as to what his gear ratio is since you are only 70% sure!

[MountainManJoe]

I actually drove and wheeled ... for years with the 2" spacer lift. It never failed once!

So did I. So did T.Low... and likely many other members. In fact I've never heard of 2" spacer failure.

[LiftedAWDAstro]

The only one posted here was the guy traveling Mexico and his didn't fail...1 bolt fell out and found the pieces and re-installed them.

[Moe]

Thanks for the codes timelessbeing. I wasn't able to find anything in the glove box denoting if it was a Eaton Gov-Loc, but it is stamped GT 4 (3.73) The currant tire size is 215/75/R15s. I wouldn't think going to a 30 inch tire would change the mileage enough to warrant a gear change. I seem to remember someone on this forum saying the cost of having a shop do the work can cost about $1000.00. That's a lot of gas money considering I'm not going to be putting that many miles on the van.

The van is a 95" with 158,000 miles and although it runs great, who knows, the engine could go tomorrow. I think I'll do the lift, and tire change and go from there with regards to the differential.

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Moe

[MountainManJoe]

You will be fine with your 3.73s. 30" are the biggest tires I would recommend. Sometimes I wonder how much torque I'm losing with mine. I wish I could throw OEM size back on just to test and compare.