How to: Chevy 63" Leaf Spring Swap

And up travel I'm a little more than 1" before my leaves are flat. I'll get the link for you in a little bit.

I'm just using the rubber bumpers on the shocks as my bumps currently I really need to get hydros and set them up

 

I bought the Billies as a set of placeholder shocks while I played with stuff: they've been awesome for that but no comparison to Kings... particularly in whoops.
I'm low/moderate speed, but my truck's fat (~7k lbs) and needs more dampening, hence my planned move to the double Foxes (hard to beat the price). The Billies work with the BAMF towers, I need to weld up hoops before installing the bypasses to get the travel I want. If you put in the design work ahead of time, I'd buy once cry once: if not worst case scenario you have a cheap set to throw in when rebuilding your high quality shocks.

Links are in a whole different ballpark, both in terms of capability and complexity.

 

Get properly tuned shocks doesn't matter bypasses or not that'll be worlds of difference. How is your truck 7k lbs.??? My truck might weigh 6k to a little over 6 and I got a lot more steel on it than you and other junk. Even loaded to the hilt for a weekend with me and the kiddo we haven't gotten to 7k. Downside to bypasses is they are noisy like you'll hear them if you are doing a lot of hwy and paved roads and not as much actual off the pavement stuff I'd stick with just a good tuned RR shock, maybe with a adjuster knob. You'll never tune those bypasses to the point that you may think you will. Even with RR if you get an adjuster knob you can do some fine tuning there and with the gas charge. Bypasses just add that much more complexity and if you are not a shock guy the benefits may not get what you are wanting to get out of them.

 

Agreed that tuning is far, far more important than bypasses and moving to a 2.5" shock tuned for the truck will make much more of a difference than the bypasses. Right now I'm oversprung and underdamped: either shock would be a good step towards fixing that.

Last weight I have was 3150 front/3750 rear. Granted, that was on a cross-country run with a lot of cargo in the bed, but also lacking a rear bumper. Water, gas, toilet, wood drawer system, dual 31 AGMs, armor, solar, RTT, rack with doors, 2 people and a pig... it adds up. I'll reweigh when the dust settles and hope to end up closer to 6500, but she's heavy.

Original plan was for shorty 14" 2.5 Kings, got the double bypass Foxes used for less and went for it. Paying full price I'd be no bypasses or clickers.

Primary goal is to run lighter effective dampening through road articulation while using the compression bypass zone to dampen hard bottoms. To me moderate speed is <60 mph on Mineral Bottom/Lockhart Basin .etc type areas and not intentionally jumping the truck.

I fully expect to have the shocks off and on the truck a dozen times before I'm happy... understanding the systems and learning how to tweak them is a big part of the enjoyment of working on the truck. We already have the nitrogen setup from other projects, so the additional expenses in doing my own tear-downs and rebuilds are minimal.

Valid point on the road noise, but I'll trade that for the dirt ride if all goes to plan. Worst case I learn a lot in the process.

 

I don't blame you for that killer deal and sounds like you did your HW before just jumping on the bypass bandwagon.

Contact someone that tunes them and see if they'll give you a base for the shim packs to start and then go from there. I was just saying about the nitrogen you can play with the pressures a little to really dial in that last little bit but that's really taking it to an extreme. If you got COs up front I'd mess with the valving on them too see if you can't get them a little better.

Yeah I'd do the tuning based on avg normal weight not this big trip ya'll are taking. I'd also look at trying to reduce some of that weight too even for the big trips really look at what you got and try and slim down some. It'll help a lot.

 

No worries, I try to do my homework but I'm certainly not immune to the lure of shiny things. Good advice from experienced folks is the best part of TW.

The shim set starter pack is a great idea, thanks! I'll give Filthy a call once I have weights with the bumper and a more normal load.

Yup; received on the N2 pressure for tweaks; I was meaning that it's one of the larger expense barriers to rebuilds. Plus the project we got the tank for (different reg) is a home nitro cold brew coffee set-up, so win-win. Kings up front: right now they're not the weak link in the suspension, but I guarantee they'll get tweaked once the rears are on and I start taping passes.

Agreed: some will come off from engineering (metal drawer frames instead of wood, lithium house battery bank instead of AGM), but everything weighs something and weight breaks things.

Sidebar - when you boxed your rear, did you do your own plates or get them pre-cut?

 

I made my own plates it took some work and I used 1/4" plate because that's what the metal place had. DMZ probably has the best kit out there.

 

what you guys done to make 63s handle better in go fast stuff besides add bypasses? Bypasses are already on my list of things to get but wanted to see if anyone swapped some leafs around from different things to make them handle better or even ordered a custom pack

 

I use mine for go fast stuff whenever I can. They ride well, their only problem is the uptravel. You can't get any up travel out of them without either having the back of the truck super high, or doing some sort of custom shackle setup with the shackle either inverter, or mounted at the top of the frame somewhere instead of the bottom.

 

@Speedytech7 @Blackdawg @drr @Digiratus

Hello fine sirs, I've been searching up Chevy 63 swaps and have seen you all discussing them at various points in the last few years. I'm hoping you can chime in

From what I can gather there are some pros:

• lots of droop
• cheap-ish
• smooth ride

and some cons

• reduced uptravel? (I think I saw you all talking about this)
• new hangers and shackle mounts need to be burned in

My situation:

I sport my 95.5 with nitrochargers and 883's and dakar CS019R springs. Rocking a front and rear steel bumper with front skid and steel cable winch. The truck rides terribly on the street but is fun on the trails. Problem is the rear end just doesn't flex well with my empty bed (maybe bad valving on the nitrochargers?). Essentially I think I need softer springs or weight in the bed. I'm not planning on adding anything to weigh the bed down, so I am trying to figure out what my best option is. Some folks have posted about the chevy springs also being stiff for a light rear end.

Honestly I'm trying to do this as cheap as possible. I know that will have its limitations, but it is what it is. I suppose I am wondering your opinion on building a bastard pack from my original 95.5 springs and the dakar pack vs. throwing in some chevy 63s.

 

I believe the Dakar springs for our year of trucks are quite stiff. If I recall correctly Zane had these on this truck and pulled 1 or 2 leafs and got much much better results.

That is what I would try first as it is free to do and pretty easy as well.

 

gah, I should have mentioned that I'm have some extended travel Icon's that I picked up from CL and am going to rebuild. So I'm trying to figure out how to update the rear as well.

I have tried removing two different leafs out of the pack since I've owned them and they have always felt stiff... I think the truck is just light in the bed...

 

Don't really "lose" up travel. Just don't gain any over stock. I know a lot of guys in first gens and pickups running the 63s and love them for the simplicity, cost and ride. I like mine in my second gen, other than the lack of up travel, but that only bugs me when I am going really fast. For crawling type stuff it is awesome. You will need to relocate shocks to get the most out of it. Most first gen guys I know run them inboard.

 

given that my my back end doesn’t want to flex I am drooling over the droop that the 63s offer. Just want something softer than what I have now that will go along with the extended travel coilovers that will be going in the front

 

well are you driving around with anything on the rear or just empty? cause those leaf packs aren't designed to be run empty to begin with.

 

The 63’s are nice, and a fairly cheap option, but like Monte said just adding or subtracting some leaves from the existing pack is free, and might be worth trying.

You can gain uptravel with the 63’s, you’ll need to french the front hangers into the frame - if you go this route it’s definitely worth doing. If you can do the fabrication and welding yourself, it’s not too bad of a job.

 

Yeah my bed is generally empty. I remember Zane saying that they flexed great with 300lb in the bed.

It sounds like I should play around with building a pack from my old OEM springs and the Dakar’s before jumping into the 63s.

yes I would do the fab work myself so that is also a draw to the 63s.

 

On the other hand, 14” of wheel travel with SOA and a 5” shackle is nice...

 

do you have any weight in your bed?

 

Yeah quite a bit actually, I'm upwards of 6000 lbs fully loaded. That's why I have the 3/4 ton chevy pack, but you can go down to a 3 leaf setup for a light truck. @IDtrucks has a lightweight rig on 63's, I think only has 3 of the leaves in.