1980 Chevy K10 ?

I'm rebuilding a 1980 Chevy K10, First venture into 4wd. Just wanted some advice on a good suspension system, in a 6" or 8' lift.

TIA

Reply to
butterbean2
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"butterbean2" wrote: > I'm rebuilding a 1980 Chevy K10, First venture into 4wd. Just > wanted some > advice on a good suspension system, in a 6" or 8' lift. > > > TIA

If you lift that high I would strongly recomend that you invest in a front driveshaft with a high angle CV joint in it and save yourself some headaches down the road. ALso if it is a stock 80 it should have a NP 205 Tcase in it which is a rock solid unit. ALso since this is a K10 I would lose the rear axle at the start and look for atleast a 14 bolt 9.5" semi floater for rear as it is a lot stronger than the stock 10 bolt (or 12 bolt) that truck should have and the 9.5 has 6 lug hubs too. It is a very stout unit that really gets it due and is often overlooked for the heavier 10.5 14 bolt.

Reply to
SnoMan

I would lift it over 7" to begin with. I run a 4' lift on mine and it's just right with 32's. Dana 44's aka 10 bolt are rated for a maximum tire size of 33" and will fail eventually if stressed beyond that. My friends at CK5 prefer tough country springs with their soft spring rate over the rough Country front springs that i use. Check out my web page, it's about my '79 K10 4x4

Reply to
Mad Dog

correction: i would NOT lift it over 7"

Reply to
Mad Dog

I would say that is a bit conservative but it realy depends on if you use a locker up front. If you run a locker in front in a heavy truck with a 44 or 10 bolt with 33?s you stand a good chance of breaking something but if you run a open diff up front 35?s or so will do okay. Lockers are very hard and front axle and can tear the axle yokes or ujoints out in a heart beat with big rubber and/or in a sharp turn with high traction. Personally I would not recommand a locker up front in a heavy full sized truck unless you have a 60 or a 44 with after market axles and ujoints. Also a little known tip is that if you use a

44 out of a old full sized Jeep truck, they have heavy axle tubes in housing than the big three used in theirs which is a big plus in you play hard in a full sized truck.
Reply to
SnoMan

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