38x14.5x16

[Josh]

if you dont have your heart set on 38's or keeping 16's. i went with a set of 37x12.5x17 BFG Mudd Terrains. Granted i didnt put them on a CUCV, but i had them on Civi K5, i went threw a set of boggers and TSLs before i got the MTs. i put about the same milage on the MTs as i did the Boggers + TSLs combined and they still were about 30-40% tread and i went everywere i did the swampers. the best part was i saved approx 140 Per tire switching from a 38 to a 37, i had the KM'1s but ive heard the KM2s are just as good, and i plan on putting this exact tire on my landcruiser when i get the engineswap+ sping over done.

well there is my


PS 17X9 Steel Rims are cheap and easy to come buy, i found a set for my cruiser for less then 125bucks.

 

[4bogginchevys]

gearz

will on this subject now bruching up about gears, is 5:13:1 the lowest ratio avalible for the GM 14 bolts? The reazon I ask is becouse I don't know if it was typo erors but I have read a couple of times, some where else(?) of lower gears avalible for the 14bolts but have not found any listings...

5.13's used to be as low as they went. Might be lower available now. You'd need REALLY big tires or double over drive for them though.

first things first, 5.13 is the tallest recommended gear for the dana 60...because of small pinion/weekness issues, although it's not an issue with the 14 bolt. Any gear vendor has them, although they may not be listed.

Otherwise, to clear 38/14.5/16 toyo m/t's you need more than 8'' of lift with a 10'' wide wheel, mine are MOCK LOCK...simulated bead locks, toyos overall are 37.25/13.75/16, so wheel back spacing with a tire that big is really important.
I have the tires/wheels mentioned and if I articulate in mud they can still rub a little with 10.5 " of lift and some very minor trimming....it makes sense to me that if you dont mind cutting everything to fit tires under it....why lift it at all, just go to town with a sawzall and use some painted sheet metal to fill around the motor, you could rivit it all together(north Idaho special) lol. I knew a guy that ran 44's on a blazer with no lift but he couldn't run inner fenders at all

it is as follows with minor exceptions... 4"=35's 6"=37's 8"=some 38's over 8"=some 39.5's 10"=the 38's and 39.5's that wont clear otherwise 12"= 42-44's and the 44's will still sometimes rub

Toyos run true-ist to size of any that I know of and Interco runs smallest to size with a few exceptions, I dont know about the michelin's

 

[12vctd]

Before suggesting lifts, a few questions need to be asked. What do you plan on using the truck for? Do you plan on towing anything? What type of loads do you plan on the truck carrying? There are more but lets just start with that.

If the truck is going to be driven on road mainly, with little to no offroad use(or even jst playing in the mud) then a spring lift would be a good choice, and 38's can be installed with just a 6 inch lift and a fair amount of trimming.
But if you want the vehicle to excell offroad then I suggest this opinion, lower CG(center of gravity) and the most articulation you can get the better. The CG for obvious reason as the higher you lift your truck the more unstable it is. And articulation so that you can actually keep your tires on the ground. I have installed tons of lifts, from custom 4 links with rockwells all the way to simple leveling kits.

A 4 inch lift can even be used with 38's if the proper spring combination/trimming is done. a simple 52 inch front spring swap will repositon your front axle and elimate alot of needed trimming. A 1 inch zero rate with a offset will also do the same.

The biggest thing you have going for you is there are alot of straight axle gm's out there , and there are tons of mods for this platform. Good places to gather ideas are like mentioned before www.coloradok5.com, www.pirate4x4.com just to name a few.


On my (now gone due to bad accident) m1028 I ran a 5.5 inch suspension, that was composed of a custom 57 inch front pack(built from f150 leafs) with a 1 inch zero rate, 63 inch rear(rear springs off a ifs chevy cant remember the exact year) with a 4 inch shackle flip. I also had some more complicated things on the truck such as full hydro steering. I ran 37's on the street for a very long time with zero rub issues, and 42's offroad with minor rubbing at full stuff. I built this truck for very little (till the cummins swap) and it preformed extremely well, I would drive to local trails to get more wheeling time as my wheeler was trailer only.

 

[spink7124]

As 12vctd stated,
You don't need big lift to clear big tires, just careful trimming and planning. My truck has about 5 inches of lift and clears 39.5's no prob. They measure out at a true 38.5" at 30 psi and are 16.5" wide.

Granted I did trim a fair bit of fender, but I still kept the inner fenders in the front and it doesn't look like a lot of the other hack job trims out there. If I had it to do over again, I actually would have bought 42" tires instead of the 39.5"s. With just a little bit more trimming on the tops of the inner fender lips they would have fit with no problem.

 

[11Echo]

As 12vctd stated,
You don't need big lift to clear big tires, just careful trimming and planning. My truck has about 5 inches of lift and clears 39.5's no prob. They measure out at a true 38.5" at 30 psi and are 16.5" wide.

Granted I did trim a fair bit of fender, but I still kept the inner fenders in the front and it doesn't look like a lot of the other hack job trims out there. If I had it to do over again, I actually would have bought 42" tires instead of the 39.5"s. With just a little bit more trimming on the tops of the inner fender lips they would have fit with no problem.

Nice job on the truck. Nice pics! Excellent job on the fender triming.

 

[chevy79k5]

m1009 4in front springORD rear shackel flip 37x14x15 lil fender trim to be safe drop steering arm and all good going on about 40xxxmils now

 

[4bogginchevys]

how much lift?

As 12vctd stated,
You don't need big lift to clear big tires, just careful trimming and planning. My truck has about 5 inches of lift and clears 39.5's no prob. They measure out at a true 38.5" at 30 psi and are 16.5" wide.

Granted I did trim a fair bit of fender, but I still kept the inner fenders in the front and it doesn't look like a lot of the other hack job trims out there. If I had it to do over again, I actually would have bought 42" tires instead of the 39.5"s. With just a little bit more trimming on the tops of the inner fender lips they would have fit with no problem.

Dont get me wrong, truck looks awesome........it has a 5" lift like I got a 16" @##%!lol

 

[Croatan_Kid]

You don't think that truck only has 5" of lift? I certainly do.

I run 11.00R-16 s on my truck with 5" of lift on the front and 3" on the rear. They're on a 16x8 with 4.5" backspacing and measure out to 39" @ 40PSI. The best thing I ever did to make them fit was putting a zero rate up front and moving the axle 1.5" forward to get it away from the rear of the fender.

My truck is nowhere near that flexible though, that thing is freakin sick!



CUCVDONK: The lift is a 4" Tuff Country HD spring up front with a 1" zero rate and the axle moved 1.5" forward of the stock location. The rear is a 3" solid cast iron block. Anything higher and I would have done a shackle flip. The tires are 11.00R-16 Michelin XZLs (39ishx11-16) and the wheels are ProComp Rock Crawlers in the 16x8, 4.5" backspacing flavor.

 

[cucvdonk]

Before suggesting lifts, a few questions need to be asked. What do you plan on using the truck for? Do you plan on towing anything? What type of loads do you plan on the truck carrying? There are more but lets just start with that.

If the truck is going to be driven on road mainly, with little to no offroad use(or even jst playing in the mud) then a spring lift would be a good choice, and 38's can be installed with just a 6 inch lift and a fair amount of trimming.
But if you want the vehicle to excell offroad then I suggest this opinion, lower CG(center of gravity) and the most articulation you can get the better. The CG for obvious reason as the higher you lift your truck the more unstable it is. And articulation so that you can actually keep your tires on the ground. I have installed tons of lifts, from custom 4 links with rockwells all the way to simple leveling kits.

A 4 inch lift can even be used with 38's if the proper spring combination/trimming is done. a simple 52 inch front spring swap will repositon your front axle and elimate alot of needed trimming. A 1 inch zero rate with a offset will also do the same.

The biggest thing you have going for you is there are alot of straight axle gm's out there , and there are tons of mods for this platform. Good places to gather ideas are like mentioned before www.coloradok5.com, www.pirate4x4.com just to name a few.


On my (now gone due to bad accident) m1028 I ran a 5.5 inch suspension, that was composed of a custom 57 inch front pack(built from f150 leafs) with a 1 inch zero rate, 63 inch rear(rear springs off a ifs chevy cant remember the exact year) with a 4 inch shackle flip. I also had some more complicated things on the truck such as full hydro steering. I ran 37's on the street for a very long time with zero rub issues, and 42's offroad with minor rubbing at full stuff. I built this truck for very little (till the cummins swap) and it preformed extremely well, I would drive to local trails to get more wheeling time as my wheeler was trailer only.

What year f150 springs did you use to do your lift?

 

[cucvdonk]

You don't think that truck only has 5" of lift? I certainly do.

I run 11.00R-16 s on my truck with 5" of lift on the front and 3" on the rear. They're on a 16x8 with 4.5" backspacing and measure out to 39" @ 40PSI. The best thing I ever did to make them fit was putting a zero rate up front and moving the axle 1.5" forward to get it away from the rear of the fender.

My truck is nowhere near that flexible though, that thing is freakin sick!



CUCVDONK: The lift is a 4" Tuff Country HD spring up front with a 1" zero rate and the axle moved 1.5" forward of the stock location. The rear is a 3" solid cast iron block. Anything higher and I would have done a shackle flip. The tires are 11.00R-16 Michelin XZLs (39ishx11-16) and the wheels are ProComp Rock Crawlers in the 16x8, 4.5" backspacing flavor.

On moving the axle forward do you have to get a new driveshaft or will the factory one work? And what exactly is 1" zero rate havent ever heard that used before on a lift does it have something to do with the shims and pinion angle?

 

[cucvdonk]

As 12vctd stated,
You don't need big lift to clear big tires, just careful trimming and planning. My truck has about 5 inches of lift and clears 39.5's no prob. They measure out at a true 38.5" at 30 psi and are 16.5" wide.

Granted I did trim a fair bit of fender, but I still kept the inner fenders in the front and it doesn't look like a lot of the other hack job trims out there. If I had it to do over again, I actually would have bought 42" tires instead of the 39.5"s. With just a little bit more trimming on the tops of the inner fender lips they would have fit with no problem.

What rear springs did you use? I would like to keep the stock ones and use drop hangers but I wonder about the flexiablity. Any suggestions?

 

[srodocker]

the flex on that truck is just nuts...

 

[spink7124]

In the front I used 52" rear springs for a 1/2 ton chevy truck; I bought new ones from 1973 - 1987 Chevy / GMC 1/2 Ton Rear Leaf Springs. I used hangers and shackles from DIY4X. I cut down the overloads so they would give me lift without any additional stiffness and I also ended up adding an extra leaf to the pack to make it a little firmer. All of this is also combined with a 1" lift block that bolts to the spring pack and allows you to fine tune the position of the axle in terms of wheelbase (also called a "zero rate")

For the rear I also used a shackle flip kit from DIY4X with the stock rear springs. I took the overloads out and removed one more leaf from the bottom of the pack, this is the extra leaf that I added to the front. I also had to use a zero rate in the rear to recenter the axle in the wheel well from the shackle flip as well as give me another inch of lift.

Overall the springs on my truck are fairly stiff for as much flex as I have, but I wanted to still be able to carry heavy loads in the bed if I so desired. It rides much like a stock 1008 it's just a bit more supple.

I could actually get more flex out of the truck as my shackle angles are not ideal, and that if where most of the flex comes from. I kept the rear at about 20 degrees so I can still put heavy stuff in the bed, while the front is also at about 20 degrees. My transfer case is clocked flat so if the front drooped any more I would start having driveline problems, I'm pretty much maxed out on my custom 1410 shaft as it is; anything more than a couple of inches of lift and the stock drive shaft is gonna bind bad unless you grind out the double cardon for more clearence. If the axle is moved forward any the stock shaft probably won't work.

 

[cucvdonk]

In the front I used 52" rear springs for a 1/2 ton chevy truck; I bought new ones from 1973 - 1987 Chevy / GMC 1/2 Ton Rear Leaf Springs. I used hangers and shackles from DIY4X. I cut down the overloads so they would give me lift without any additional stiffness and I also ended up adding an extra leaf to the pack to make it a little firmer. All of this is also combined with a 1" lift block that bolts to the spring pack and allows you to fine tune the position of the axle in terms of wheelbase (also called a "zero rate")

For the rear I also used a shackle flip kit from DIY4X with the stock rear springs. I took the overloads out and removed one more leaf from the bottom of the pack, this is the extra leaf that I added to the front. I also had to use a zero rate in the rear to recenter the axle in the wheel well from the shackle flip as well as give me another inch of lift.

Overall the springs on my truck are fairly stiff for as much flex as I have, but I wanted to still be able to carry heavy loads in the bed if I so desired. It rides much like a stock 1008 it's just a bit more supple.

I could actually get more flex out of the truck as my shackle angles are not ideal, and that if where most of the flex comes from. I kept the rear at about 20 degrees so I can still put heavy stuff in the bed, while the front is also at about 20 degrees. My transfer case is clocked flat so if the front drooped any more I would start having driveline problems, I'm pretty much maxed out on my custom 1410 shaft as it is; anything more than a couple of inches of lift and the stock drive shaft is gonna bind bad unless you grind out the double cardon for more clearence. If the axle is moved forward any the stock shaft probably won't work.

What size shackles did you use for the fron I looked and diy4x has several sizes

 

[kennyw]

The B-52 kit from Diy4x is what you want for the 52" spring install if you want quick/easy and don't mind spending money... but there is a cheap way to do it too by just moving your factory mounts. Grind out the rivets on the front spring mount and swap them from side to side while moving them from the rear of the body mount to the front of the body mount. Then bolt them back in place.

7" shackles for the rear of the front spring are typical.

 

[spink7124]

I am using the 7.25" shackles in the front and the 6" shackles in the rear. The reason that I used the DIY4X kit was that if you use the stock hangers and move them around it moves the wheels really far forward and in my opinion it makes fender trimming difficult to make look right. The DIY kit also makes it easier to tune your shackle angle without cutting holes everywhere for the rear hanger.

At this point in time I have removed almost 60 rivets from my truck and there was no way I was gonna bolt the less than beefy hangers back on. Not to mention you would still have to buy longer shackles and bolts to put everything back together, so the kit is really not a bad deal at all.

I've pulled the front wheels of my truck off the ground a couple of times, and I wanted really beefy parts that would handle this kind of abuse without any problems; these parts fit the bill.

 

[Croatan_Kid]

It seems to depend on the truck on the front driveshaft issue. AJMblazer said his front driveshaft wouldn't reach with just moving the axle forward on the stock springs, yet mine has been on the stock setup, then with the addition of 5" of front lift PLUS moving the axle forward 1.5", then a 700R4/NP208 combo, and now my current NV4500/NP205 setup and still with the relocation and lift. I have no problems with cylcing the suspension and I have a good two inches before the shaft comes apart.


From what he listed about his lift, I really like it. Almost all of the suspension flex comes from down travel! It's still heavy enough to haul anything he needs to and doesn't sag, but it'll flex like crazy as yall can see! Bravo my friend


I also reallllllly like DIY4x's stuff. ORD makes some good chit as well. Depends on what I need as to where I get things.

 

[4bogginchevys]

custom lift

As 12vctd stated,
You don't need big lift to clear big tires, just careful trimming and planning. My truck has about 5 inches of lift and clears 39.5's no prob. They measure out at a true 38.5" at 30 psi and are 16.5" wide.

Granted I did trim a fair bit of fender, but I still kept the inner fenders in the front and it doesn't look like a lot of the other hack job trims out there. If I had it to do over again, I actually would have bought 42" tires instead of the 39.5"s. With just a little bit more trimming on the tops of the inner fender lips they would have fit with no problem.

I guess I didn't really read the article correctly! 5" of CUSTOM lift....that changes things a little, as I am still skeptical of how this is even possible.....I can really wrap my head around it with a few numbers......

Distance in inches from top of spring pad in front(underneath springs) to bottom of bump stop bracket.
Distance in inches from spring pad in rear to bottom of frame.

Far be it from me to call anyone a liar, thats not my intention......I have done, and been witness to a lot of lift kits on chevy trucks(73-87) and I am really puzzled at how 5" can result in running a tire that is atleast 7" bigger in diameter, not to mention almost twice as wide....trying to learn something new today!

BTW, what is the difference between 3/4ton/1 ton factory ride height...this may be where i'm dropping the ball! Thanks

 

[Croatan_Kid]

Not sure on the difference in ride height or if there even is one. I've always been amazed at how a seemingly insignificant 4" lift can set these trucks so far up in the air because of the stock, negative arch front springs.

I'm sure the front axle has been moved forward some and along with the right backspacing on the rims...well...you saw the pictures. I'd really like to check it out in person. I though I was doing good with my minimal amount of lift and skinny 39s, but I don't think I could fit a much wider tire at all. I think he did a slick job on fender trimming too, that's where the biggest part of the fitment issues come into play.


We NEED more pictures

 

[12vctd]

I guess I didn't really read the article correctly! 5" of CUSTOM lift....that changes things a little, as I am still skeptical of how this is even possible.....I can really wrap my head around it with a few numbers......

Distance in inches from top of spring pad in front(underneath springs) to bottom of bump stop bracket.
Distance in inches from spring pad in rear to bottom of frame.

Far be it from me to call anyone a liar, thats not my intention......I have done, and been witness to a lot of lift kits on chevy trucks(73-87) and I am really puzzled at how 5" can result in running a tire that is atleast 7" bigger in diameter, not to mention almost twice as wide....trying to learn something new today!

BTW, what is the difference between 3/4ton/1 ton factory ride height...this may be where i'm dropping the ball! Thanks

Ok first and foremost, 5 inches of lift raises the truck above the axle 5 inches, to go from a 32 inch tire to a 42 inch tire you must divide the total difference by two netting a 5inch increase in size above the hub. Secondly, the lifts me and spink are using are for flex and low center of gravity. I personally wheel alot on rocks, and dry creek beds, up near vertical rock ledges and so on. Lower center of gravity is much more important to me that trimming the fenders slightly. Now the width of the tire, would have caused issues with my steering equipment, but I went to fully hydro steering, but crossover steering will also fix these problems.
The hardest obstacle with a low lift and large tires on a chevy is first the back of the front fender(hence why most use a offset zero rate) then the inner fender causes issues but can easily be trimmed and reshaped to clear.

I enjoy trying to make the most flexible suspension (cheaply also) as possible. I have used and built 4 linked, rockwelled,air bag, even 1/4 eliptical setups, but my favorite has to be just a simply 60f and 14bolt rear with a long leaf suspension.

cucvdonk the ford springs I used were off a 97 f150