Chevy 63 & 64 Inch Leaf Spring Clarifications....

[PlumCrazy]

This is the 10th time the same question has been asked on this thread alone....

Sent from my XT907 using Tapatalk

 

[RangahDanga]

If you flip it (-2" lift) add the 63s (+4" lift) and remove your factory block (-2" lift) you should be where you are currently with a better ride.

If you leave your stock factory blocks you'll end up ~2" higher than stock (more or less depending on the condition of the springs.

There will be no interference with inverted stock shackles...

If you re-use the STOCK shackles and hangars and rotate them 180 degrees and re-use the existing bolt holes there is no crazy measuring.

what do you do on the front to level it out?

It would help to know what you could do with the front if we knew anything about your Ranger. Year? std or Xcab? etc. TTB suspension has more options than the 98+ IFS and is also easier to swap a solid axle into. The 98+ you're pretty much limited to something like the Dixon Bros kit if you want to retain IFS and requires minimal welding from what i understand. But at that price i'll buy a welder and do SAS myself... See appropriate link for your truck if 98+ http://www.dixonbrosracing.com/content/blogsection/2/6/

 

[project ranger]

the ranger is a 1995 ext. cab 4.0 with ttb in front

 

[4x4junkie]

Not to add even more confusion to this thread...

...but I figured I would add my findings here as well.

I just bought a set of Pro-Comp Chevy springs to go under my BII (pt# 13211, 3.5" lift).
These things are a whopping 66" long eye-to-eye (measured as flat along the leaf length).
That's a full 8" longer than my Skyjacker FR34 4" RBV lift leafs measured the same way

7" of that length is ahead of the axle (everything I've read says they are 6"), leaving the last inch on the shackle side. The center pin is also NOT centered front-to-rear, it's offset right about ¾", so apparently they do have a front and a back (I read at least a few posts saying they were the same front & back, they are not).

Normally none of this would be an issue, however in dealing with the cramped space next to the BII's middle body mount bracket, it all became apparent when things weren't ending up where I was expecting them to.

Not sure if this is unique to Pro-Comp springs or not, but anyway that's what I found.

Lift with the Pro-Comps came in about 2" above what the Skyjackers provided (or about 5" lift).

On a Ranger, that additional inch of length ahead of the axle might actually be a good thing (would keep the axle centered in the wheelwell better) since I've noticed a lot of RBV lift leafs tend to pull the axle a bit forward of center.


.

 

[Dugan]

If it was me id drill a hole where the old bolt was to go and put a bolt there for security. Theres a lot of flex twist stress at this point. Welds alone would make me wonder

 

[4x4junkie]

The shackle?

There's a large brace like this right through the middle.

 

[Dugan]

The shackle?

There's a large brace like this right through the middle.

Ah, yep thatll do hahah

 

[6.2]

For what its worth, I recently did the 64" Chevy spring swap. Got an inch of lift.

Springs were not re arched, I used stock shackle and not flipped. Removed factory block.

 

[86indy]

Hey guys so I've read on this swap a good amount, but I just want to cross check my understanding of this info. "63 spring, 6400 shackle, and inverting your rear hanger, you do not gain any height, but you gain articulation"- RangerSVT
So I want to gain the most travel (to match my eventual SAS) and to achieve a better ride if possibe.
My thoughts for my truck: JY or new (depending on price) 64" chevy leafs, invert front OEM spring hanger and reinforce it, rear hanger I want to use Karteks drops hanger ( http://www.kartek.com/Product/1209/Drop-Shackle-Mounts.aspx ), and use a shackle with an offset, because to my understanding they give better articulation and droop? Camburg makes a set as well as Blitzkrieg ( http://www.kartek.com/Product/1206/Blitzkrieg-Shackles.aspx )

The reason I want to use the drop hanger is to ensure I wont hit anything with the longer shackle (my 3" body lift should help a lot). These offset type shackles lower the the ride height and the drop hanger compensates for this.

New shocks will be necessary to utilize the gained suspension travel, but how bigger shock can I really squeeze in the stock location without bottoming it out after 3"? That would be key hahah



Is my understanding of this information correct?

 

[alwaysFlOoReD]

For more articulation;
move front spring hanger forward 6" but don't invert.
You may have to move the rear hanger back an inch or two but DO invert. A longer shackle will drop ride height but give more articulation. 2" longer shackle lowers ride height ~1". Take a look at your shackles now, they point down to the spring eye. Imagine them reversed and you can "see" how they can droop more.

Richard

 

[86indy]

For more articulation;
move front spring hanger forward 6" but don't invert.
You may have to move the rear hanger back an inch or two but DO invert. A longer shackle will drop ride height but give more articulation. 2" longer shackle lowers ride height ~1". Take a look at your shackles now, they point down to the spring eye. Imagine them reversed and you can "see" how they can droop more.

Richard

Move the front hanger into the old holes that are furthest forward? And I totally missed not inverting the front hanger, my goof. I guess I was really focused on the rear hanger. I wish I had my truck to look at, but it is six hours away up north (im in college). Can you give me a rough estimate how long stock ranger shackles are?

Thanks for the help so far!

 

[86indy]

I received a $50 amazon gift card for my birthday a couple days ago, and its seems that Belltech 6400 are only 49.71 shipped to my door..I'm going with Belltech shackles to say the least

 

[6.2]

Good choice haha.

Just gonna.toss this in here.

When I did my chevy leafs, I removed the stock block, did not flip the shackle, and did not re-arch the leafs. They had 50k miles on them when I got them.

I gained close to one inch of lift doing it this way.

Might help someone.

 

[bronson99xlt]

I've seen several discussions in the forums about the Chevy 63-inch and 64-inch leaf spring swaps on the rear of Ranger's. We even have (2) articles in the tech library on the issue.

There seems to be some confusion, or lack of a clear answer on how much lift you get from these springs. Especially since many have done them using the Belltech 6400 shackle.

There seems to be an understanding that the Chevy 64-inch leaf along with a Belltech 6400 shackle is providing 3-inches of lift. It's also been said that the Belltech itself offers 1.5-inches of lift. That would lead me to believe that the 64-inch Chevy leaf itself is adding 1.5-inches. With this being said, it would seem that a 64-Inch Chevy leaf, Belltech 6400 shackle and the factory block should offer about 5-inches of lift.

We have the article on the 64-inch Chevy leaf with a shackle flip, but the springs were re-arched 12-inches and the stock shackle was replaced with a 7-inch one. What about a shackle flip using the stock shackle and a 64-inch Chevy lift spring? How many inches of lift to get a Ranger to sit (4) and (6) inches higher in the rear with this set up and a shackle lift? If the stock shackle flip caused you to lose 2-inches and a stock 64-Inch leaf itself gave you an increase of 1.5-inches, could you uses a 64-inch leaf for a 6-inch Chevy lift along with a shackle lift and gain 5.5-inches of rear lift??

I'm hoping that some of you who have used the Chevy leafs will post up some facts and measurements so we can try to clarify this.

Thanks.

THERES NO SUCH THING AS A 63" CHEVY LEAF SPRING

 

[Darren99bora]

Good choice haha.

Just gonna.toss this in here.

When I did my chevy leafs, I removed the stock block, did not flip the shackle, and did not re-arch the leafs. They had 50k miles on them when I got them.

I gained close to one inch of lift doing it this way.

Might help someone.

Did you use stock shackles?