So I have been looking into upgrades for my truck as you may have seen. My truck is currently 2wd and sags a lot on the front end. I was hoping there would be a way to level it out but on the old 86 performance parts are hard to come by. I saw something called an airlift 1000? is it any good? does anyone have any suggestions to help me out? Thanks!!

 

Is the front really sagging? Are the front wheels like this /--\?

If not, then it's fine, these 2wd trucks sit very low at the front, top of tire just a few inchs from the fender with stock tires.


If it is sagging, new springs will fix your problem.

 

I guess sagging was a bad term to use. No the wheels are nice and straight I was just hoping to level it out to give a little more clearance on the front end. As you said a few inches, I have rubbed the fender skirts more than I would like to. So clearance plus a better looks is what I am searching for. Can you get longer coils? Would that fix it?

 

You can put spacers for the springs, but that will mess up your alignment. You'll need a new alinement, and the camber adjustment on the upper ball joints has it's limits.

It's alot more work lifting an independent front axle than a solid one.


You can try a smaller tire size, say 215/85R16, or even 225/75R16 but I find those abit to small personally.

 

I don't have ball joints. The suspension is a Twin I beam with king pins. Where would I find spacers?

 

Oh yea, your an 86, so King pins. Even worst, those can't be adjusted. You have to go to a heavy truck repair place, and have them heat, and bend the whole axle to adjust the camber. That is, if they still have the equipment to do it.

But at least, they might be able to bend it enough for you to clear an extra inch or so from the top of tire to fender.


I have no links for spacers, but when I got my van, it had these things in the front coils.

 

Huh interesting thanks anyway!

 

still on original coils up front? if so some new coils and shocks should bring it up back to factory without going with spacer or anything like that.

 

Daystar makes a leveling kit for OBS 2WD trucks, I looked into doing it to my truck at one time. I was told it would fit my 86 with a neew alignment as stated above

 

The Air Lift 1000 you speak of is our coil spring leveling kit. These bags fit inside your coil and you can adjust to meet your needs. If you are interested, here's the kit for your application: 80590 AIR LIFT 1000; COIL SPRING LEVELING KIT

Let me know if you have any additional questions. Thanks!

 

^ No offense to the Air Lift product but i ordered that kit and took my front end all apart and inserted the bags into the springs then put them on the truck and realized they where waayyy to short. Nothing against the product but the application i ordered for MY truck did not work at all. I bought new springs and ordered the spacers from summit i think 1.5'' or maybe just 1'' spacers and they work perfect. Need a minor adjustment to my alignment and itd be perfect.

 

I wonder if it was the exact kit for your truck. Was this recently? Did you contact our customer support team?

New springs versus an air leveling kit would be perfect for people that do not want adjustability. All about what you're looking for.

 

I looked up the part numbers on many different sites before i ordered and it was the same for my truck. I didn't call anyone because i was in a hurry to get my truck back on the road.