For those of you that have lifted your trucks, how many of you have used a new multi-leaf pack such as those offered from Deaver springs. Have the packs affected your towing or load carrying capabilities? Have they improved your ride any versus stock? I have had blocked lifts before but am looking to improve the ride and get more rear travel out of the suspension. Also has anyone heard of the possibility of Rock Krawler making a coilover conversion for the front suspension on HD trucks?

Last I heard they were just making one for the 1/2 ton, and they were redesigning it to be taller and stronger... If you get deaver springs you can have them make them however you want, tell them what truck you have and if you want to be able to tow... You could also do a shackle flip in the back and a smaller block.
http://www.offroaddesign.com/catalog/shacklekit.htm

I've had Deaver's on my last two trucks and can say they are great. Much better ride. Your load carrying capacity does go down some though. On my 2500HD I added airbags for heavy towing and then air down for empty. I got the 3/4 ton springs. My buddy with a 2500HD got the 1/2 ton springs and added airbags also, his rides nicer than mine but he doesn't tow a huge trailer like I do. Don't be afraid to call Jeff or one of the guys at Deaver, they are great guys and will walk you through exactly what you need.

As far as the Coil-over conversion, even if Raock Krawler does make one I would stay away from it. I have seen there 1/2 coil-over and was not impressed. The front shock buckets were never designed to carry the weight of the truck. I have done a lot of research on coil over conversion and this is the best one I've seen. A local SoCal shop did the work and it cost the guy $15000 by the time he was done. The truck road *****en but that's a lotta $$$$. Also had to add a cross brace across the engine bay to help support the new shock towers.

Chris



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WhippledHD, do you happen to know the shop that did that coilover conversion. Looks to be a pretty simple swap, lift brackets for the lower A-arm and then new coilovermounts, upper A-arm is after market and can be purchased for a reasonable price. Interested to know why it cost so many $$$$$??

The shop that did the work is now out of business. King Coil-overs can be a little pricey, $1000-$1500 each and it took them awhile to get the spring rates right. The big cost was fab time. Welded and gusseted the lower cast a-arm(a little tricky welding on cast), new upper a-arms w/uniball, clean and gusset frame rails, build new upper shock towers, build removable cross brace from shock tower to shock tower across engine bay(this is a must to handle the weight of the front of the truck). This was the tough part and took a long time. Also the brake lines and a bunch of elec. had to be moved re-routed to make room for the shock towers. Just lots of little stuff. Also on the rear of this truck it's linked with air bags. If you can fab the stuff yourself and have the room and time, it's not that bad. Just lots of little things that are not immediately obvious.

Chris