What front lift springs are you running?

Im looking for some lift, and Im thinking about running a shackle flip in the rear, and 4-6" springs in the front. I know you walk a fine line with the front driveshaft running 6" springs, so Im leaning towards a 4" one. What Im wondering though, is the weight of the 6.2, combined with a 9ft plow in the winter going to be to much for 4" springs? The blade only goes on when its snowing, it doesnt stay on all winter.

Let me know what you think!

I have Tough Country HDs. I would think they would work fine.

i have the 4 inch hd,s also. they feel pretty good for the limited driving i have done. plows are pretty heavy. would be cool if you could get some airbags under the front to use when the plow is on. i think if you make the adjustments for the plow you wont like it when the plow is off.

My , I do not have a cucv, but I do have a GMC 1989 V3500 1 ton crew cab 454, same 80’s body style truck as your cucv, I went through reading tons of info and looked at all the companies leafs the number of leafs and spring rates for carrying capacity, flex and ride, my end result was a complete 4” 1 ton lift by Skyjacker with an extra fitted leaf that you put in the front pack yourself, it’s a main leaf with the ends cut off, so I have 6 leafs up front. I wanted to retain rear carrying capacity also so a shackle flip was out since it takes the leafs out of compression, plus my factory overloads wouldn’t work, but most have had good luck with the shackle flip, I have a block in the rear, and haven’t noticed any axle wrap yet but haven’t drove it a ton of miles since it needs tires. I also got the kit with hydro shocks, skyjacker dual stabilizer kit which I haven’t installed yet due to waiting to paint the underside of the truck, and drop pitman arm, I still need to do the longer brake lines, sway bar disconnects, and steering box brace, tires and more. , my opinion is it rides much better now, oh the skyjacker leafs have wear pads to, but when you add the fitted leaf it does not have any and is not drilled for them, also if you do have upper overloads they send you rear u blots not long enough but they have some long enough that they use with their 6” rear block lifts and you call them they will swap them for you, also on my rear dana 70hd I need to redo the shock mounts so they dont hit the axle tube with the shock body, thats why I dont have my pass new shock on the rear, I just havent got back to this truck to finish it. You can find a leaf spring rate table for 4” lift at ck5 just Google it. Hope this helps if you’re interested I will dig out my order sheet from 4 wheel online and get you the part numbers I ordered as that was a pain to figure out too.

4 inch ranchos with a zero rate.

A set of 6 or 8" springs by I haven't a clue LOL. Rides good though.

4" Tuff Country HDs and a zero rate. My truck rides like a dream. Rode great with the 6.2 and even better with the Cummins. They haven't sagged much at all either, even with the extra weight.

52" 1/2ton rear truck springs Front and rear on my M1009.. using spring relocation buckets from ORD... gives about a 4" lift, but SUPER flexy,with LOTS of articulation... Not reocmmended if you plan on towing anything heavy....

4" Tuff Country HD with ORD rear shackle and frame mount. Bilstein 5100's and it rides nice. 37" MT/R's

4" Rough Country HD springs with 1" zero rates and the front axle moved forward 1". No problems with stock length front shaft.

Also just a thing to point out. I am not sure how high you have to go but a friend of mine had a 6" lift and 35" inch tires for the winter with a plow on. It was an 85 civy Chevy. At that height and full angle on the plow with it down on the ground it would lift one end of the blade off the ground. the plow frame is limited to compensate for a higher truck mounting height.

Forgot to mention, I moved my front axle 1.5" forward also. Crossover steering and hydro assist point it where I need to go. Stock front driveshaft even with the Cummins/NV4500/NP205 setup.

Kid, way back when I was looking for a wood hauler and thought about looking into a surplus Chevy, I found an old photo on the net of your truck in it's early stages with the XZL's on it and I was hooked. (see below) Sold my 2500HD and headed up north to pick up my 1008 and then joined this forum. My truck is definitely an old wood hauler but nobody says you can't have fun with them too! I still need to get the zero rates on the back and move the axle back 1 1/2".

That was the day I lifted it! Hadn't done crossover or the zero rates yet. Later on, I swapped to XLs, but two weeks ago I got the XZLs back from my buddy. They're way better than the XLs.

I searched forever for a set of those tires before changing my plan and going with the MT's.

I got a 8" super lift stock shafts with rear blocks, Not a bad setup for a 1008 on 38's.. I didnt want to " trim " my fenders... Overall i'm very pleased.

Moved to the CUCV Mod forum.

Streetlegal said:

I got a 8" super lift stock shafts with rear blocks, Not a bad setup for a 1008 on 38's.. I didnt want to " trim " my fenders... Overall i'm very pleased.

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That's where I was coming from as well. A certain member here flogged me about it in my build thread. But I actually wanted a lifted chevy without cut fenders, as I've had a slew of them in the past.

Blendmaster2002 said:

I wanted to retain rear carrying capacity also so a shackle flip was out since it takes the leafs out of compression, plus my factory overloads wouldn’t work

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Not sure I understand how the springs no longer being in compression could happen . . .
the overload is the short thick one at the bottom of the pack, and why couldn't the striker brackets for the helper spring just be relocated?

Also - is that a sway bar disconnected in one of the pics? The bar I am looking at adding mounts to the front of the tube with risers to the frame (and a bend that goes over the pinion area)

I don't understand what you mean by no longer being in compression either. I get what you mean about the frame brackets no longer contacting the top overload though. CUCVs don't use that setup but I wouldn't use a shackle flip either with those. Having to do a bunch of modifications just to use the flip is silly. Personally I wish I would have gone with lift springs instead of the flip because the look of the rear wheels no longer being centered bugs me. Moving the axle back 1 1/2" with another set of zero rates is my next project but the cost of the shackle flip kit, HD shackles, bushing kits and zero rates would have more than paid for a nice new set of lift springs. Not a big fan of blocks. As far as load carrying goes, my truck operates as original. The shackle flip brackets are very stout.