Spacers or sway bar or coils...

Hey, I've gotta get something done soon, and having started school, there isn't much dough for it.

Loading up all the rafting gear in the Taco and cruising to Utah, the whole thing's swaying SCARY. I put Alcan 5 leafs on in back, giving it about 1-2 inches lift, but still not stiff enough under the load.

What's gonna get me the biggest bang-for-buck factor? Stiffen the fronts with spacers (which will level the lift), work out a sway bar for the rear, an air ride system (much later...$$$), or start workin' on a whole new beefy rear setup?

Thanks for any help...

 

Your alcans are gaining flex while losing load capacity.

if you wheel a good bit, dont get spacers. go with ome 881s coils and 5100s up front. 5100s in the back with your alcans should be a good setup.

 

Whatta ya mean by ...swaying scary?

Did you ever get an allignment done after the rear lift was installed?

I honestly don't think coils up front will help but it's cheap enough to get it done and try it.

After you get everything done - I'd HIGHLY recommend an allignment. That's probably most of your problem.

 

Im replacing my stock front that had spacers on them for a set of coilovers in about a week. if your interested i can send you those for real cheap.

 

Pittim: I don't really wheel at all... It's my daily driver and work truck, just loading anything over 500lbs feels too heavy for it. I'd love to do an OME front end, just not enough cash to do it proper. Got stock bilstiens on the back end with the alcans.

Janster: when on the freeway above 55 with a load, any decent bump causes the chassis to start swinging back and forth, and I gotta correct it by twitching the wheel one way or the other. I did get an alignment done right after I put on the alcans about three years ago. Don't know why it seems to have gotten worse now...

 

Bump Steer eh?

Start inspecting your steering components. I know a lot of guys (including myself when I owned my 96) replaced steering rack bushings because of sloppy steering. If you jack up the front end and grab the wheel by hand and try to move it in & out, back & forth, etc. Even have someone turn the steering wheel. Take note to all components...for looseness, wobbles, etc. If you ever notice the entire steering rack moving....then your rack bushings are probably shot. The rack itself shouldn't move.



You said you have 3" of lift in the rear but no lift in the front? So, does your truck sit nose down (with a pretty good rake)?

 

I'm no expert, but it doesn't feel like a steering issue... Just too soft a ride under a load.

Yeah, the back end is up a little, but nowhere near 3 inches. more like 1.5". I'll try and post a pic soon. Along those lines, I may be able to get my hands on some 3 inch spacers. With my old/soft (stock) coils on the front, would it even it out? I don't wanna be starin at the sky...

 

It could be anything. Steering & allignment often go hand-in-hand. If something is wrong with your steering, then sometimes the allignment can be *out* causing strange problems. Hitting a bump on the road at that speed can setup and occilation affect (hard to explain) to cause the truck to drive funny. That's why I mentioned to check your steering components.

The fact that you had it alligned 3 years ago and you said this condition got worse....makes me believe you have a mechanical issue.

Putting stiffer coils in might help, but that can often hide a mechanical issue.

 

x3.....those leaf springs you have are for lift and rear articulation. For a stiffer set up, I think an AAL (add-a-leaf) would work better.

 

Sorry if the image is big, but I hope this gives you an idea what I'm trying to level off the front end to.

I see your point with the mech issue, I will be checking out the steering stuff. I did get a new rack and pinion a couple years back, that's when the alignment was done. maybe something else went bad under there.

 

I like my 3" coil spacers but i want coilovers