Easiest way to tell front lift?

[Serge627]

Hey guys,

I picked up a 85 K10 last week, new to GM trucks, but not to older trucks in general. Anyhow, I am going over the truck, trying to figure out exactly what is on it and get a basis for a good starting point on fixing and making it my own.

The truck has 3" lift blocks in the back with Rancho shocks. However the shocks that are on the front appear stock and I am wondering what the best way to tell if there is a lift on the front, how much it is. The truck does sit level, so I will assume there is some form of lift on the front. How many leaf springs make up the stock front suspension and is there anything else I should be looking for?

Thanks!

 

[8T6K5]

The Rancho shocks may indicate a Rancho lift, although I wasn't aware of a 3" lift. Usually are 2-4-6-8. I know Rancho springs have pn's painted on the top. Red bushings could be a clue as well. May be just an add-a-leave too.

What size tires?

 

[89Suburban]

I have a half ton and I believe I have 2 leafs. If your front springs don't have any negative arch there is some kind of add a leaf or different springs installed.

 

[crazy4offroad]

Post a pic!

 

[Serge627]

Thanks for the quick replies guys!

As for some of the questions:

The tires are 33x12.5 on 15s
No red bushings, and I have not looked close enough at the top of the leaf springs to see a name.
I believe there are four leaves up front. There is definetly no neg arch on the fronts, they sit about parallel to the ground, or level.
I dont have any pics of the suspension yet, however below is a pic as she sits.
Also I too have seen mostly even number lifts, but I measured the lift block and it is spot on 3"

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[bucket]

A pic of a spring would tell a lot, but it looks like it's a 2 or 2.5 lift.

 

[Serge627]

I will grab a photo of the springs in the daylight and post it tomorrow. Thanks again guys!

 

[crazy4offroad]

My truck on 33s and 4" lift...

 

[Serge627]

Ok guys, I took a few pics this morning.
The first one shows how it sits from the side (Looks like its sagging a bit in the back, though I do have an old seat and some other heavy crap parts in the back right now)
The second is of the front suspension showing the leaf springs
The third is of the rear shocks, they are Skyjacker, I was mistaken.

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[crazy4offroad]

That is either a sagging 4" lift or a cobbled together spring pack from other springs yielding nearly 4" of lift. It's a little too flat to be like the 4" springs I've seen they usually have a little bit of arch to them. Here's the only pic I can find of mine...

You can see they have a couple inches of positive arch instead of couple inches of negative arch like stockers. I guess yours could be 2" but it sure fits 33s well.

 

[bucket]

I can say for sure they are 2" above stock. It looks like stock springs with the two lower leaves added in, they do not look like lift springs. A pic of the front spring eye would tell for sure if they are lift or modded stock. Either way, they are 2" above stock. Does it ride much stiffer than a stock truck?

 

[guitarfreak235]

id say 3 inches maybe more, my lift is 2 inch and the front springs are zero arch

 

[bucket]

id say 3 inches maybe more, my lift is 2 inch and the front springs are zero arch

The springs in the picture have absolutely no arch in them.

 

[guitarfreak235]

The springs in the picture have absolutely no arch in them.

whoops ur right, mine still are a bit lower than that though and his spring pack is thicker. 2.5-3 then. besides if it has 3 inch blocks in the back it'd make sense to have a 3 inch front to be even like it is.

 

[bucket]

I'd still really like to see a pic of a front spring eye. That will show if it's a modded stock spring or not.