Need Advice FOr lIfting 70 Wag(Porkchop!!)

[testuser]

Hey guys,

I'm gonna lift my 70 Wag hopefully this weekend. I've seen all the various kits around, but no one makes them for my 70 Wag. I know there wer changes made in 72 to the suspension, but are they important or can I get a kit for a 72? Any thoughts and suggestions will be welcomed.

Thanks,

[Bob Barry]

'74 was the year they changed the suspension; I believe the biggest change was for the rear, though; I don't know how it compared to the front of the ealier Wags.

[Kenall]

i was in ur same boat. that why i had to go to spring over...see my site for pics. the other route is with rancho add a leafs (AALs)

the short tapered ones. they will stiffen u up some, but give u about 3"..70$/pair i thot.

[porkchop]

The best thing to do is swap out the axles, AAL's, and an SOA. If you don't have the option of swaping the D30 then the AAL's and the SOA will give you about 7 inches of lift (maybe more). This is the route I first went. If you go to my site and look at the before picture you can get a perfect idea of what AAL's and an SOA will give you.

[jeepbob]

on my 65 which would be the same as your 70 I used the full length rancho AAl's and added a couple of leaves from a late model pack including the main leaf, which I cut off the spring eyes on the front. I used a few extra leaves from a 69 in the rear and then added a 3" body lift. I am currently in the middle of a SOA and may even pull the body lift out. With the setup that was in the wag before I started the SOA, I ran 33's without any problems with the exception of minor rubbage at full flex or hard landings.

[testuser]

I was trying to stay away from the AALs, and if possible NOT swap out the axle. I don't really have the time or drive way space for this. is there a reason that the lift for the 74 would not fit onto the wag, with limited modifications?

[Kenall]

using the lift kit from a 74 or later wag might work, but the big prob is that the springs are longer, even the OE springs were longer. also, the bolt that is down the center of ea pack is offset in 74+ spring packs in order to reduce the wheel base to ummm, 108..was it? this in itself wood not be a worry.

but since most lift springs are very arched when u get them, u cood have a go, but even if u do get them to fit, they might still be too long and wood therefore not flatten out giving u a much harsher ride...and this is just about the front springs...

urll notice that the rear springs on ur 70 are attached by very larger pins rivited to the side of frame rail...springs for the later wags use normal, what... 3/4" bolts??? guys..help me out here... these spring ends fit into tubs welded to the frame.

so the rear springs wood be incompatable, that is if u choose the kit with 4 springs..most just use blocks to raise the rear.

but all is not lost...if u bought the later kits, u cood dissasemble the spring packs, and intergrate the nu leaves into ur current spring packs, all the nu leaves cept the main one of corse, but then u cood still use the nu main leaf if u cut off the springs eyes like jeepbob and my self have done.

are u sure u called rancho and super lift and all those places and ea said 'no'??

porkchop...in 70 i think he still running an OE d27 up front...

[GaWd]

Ken, I know for a fact that nobody makes a lift for any wag older than 74.

My 66 has either an older 74-older lift kit from Rancho, or it has another makes' lift kit installed. When I bought my wag, I think it was about 3" taller than stock, with no AAL or blocks.

It now has a 3" body lift on it.




Sam

[porchpiggy]

I,ve never been a big fan of SOA, until my little brother took his 72 Wag to a small town, old, knowlegdeable mech in NE Kansas for a SOA lift that cost him $220. He took it home and measured for shocks (says it was a heckuva drive home) and added a dropped pitman arm. It works absolutley great. Ride is very nice, flex is awesome (about 17inches of travel up front) and he runs 33" Thornbirds with some cutting out on the rear (rusted anyway). He got about 5" of lift, with 4" blocks in back with a Chev 3/4 ton leaf added. I think the trick is to know what your doing, or have somebody that does know do it. There a lot more common now days than they use to be (SOA's) and if you can ask around from some 4wd guys in your area maybe you can find somebody good who'll do it right. BTW the D30 has worried us some, but it's held up so far, and this truck has just amazed me as to what it's capable of on the trail. Brakes are more of a problem than anything.

[porkchop]

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Kenall:

porkchop...in 70 i think he still running an OE d27 up front... <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

I couldn't remeber when they made the change. Was it '71? Thanks for the straighting out.

Like Ken said you might want to give those places a call and see what they have to say. Measure your springs from eye to eye and give that to them also. They may have the springs in the computer just under a different application. It's worth a try.

[testuser]

thanks guys. there's a decent place near me that does good spring work. i may end up with a SOA[grin].

[TPICherokee]

On my buddy's '66 Gladiator we took the springs and converted it to later model Chev springs. It weas fairly easy, we took Surburban springs (just what we had) measured the front spring mount and then the hole in the frame that the shackle attanched to and went to town. We converted the front to a solid shackle and drilled a hole in the frame, welded some tube in it, put some bushings in it and built some shackles and voila, it was done.

This was nice because everyone knows that a Chev leaf spring lift is extremely cheap and everyone makes one.

This gave his truck quite a bit of lift in the front because it moved the spring under the frame (where it is supposed to be). And over the axle like a Chev. In the back we used the stock springs and moved them in-board under the frame.

I don't know if your '70 is set up with the springs on the outside of the frame, but this only took us a weekend.

[miked]

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by GaWd:
Ken, I know for a fact that nobody makes a lift for any wag older than 74.
<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

&lt;sound of buzzer buzzing, along with my best imation of ed mcmahon&gt; you are incorrect sir!

well sort of, at least. rancho makes a 3" lift for the front, the rs24043 - but she's a stiff one. the original spring rate was around 190 for the stock front springs, the rancho springs are over 500 which makes for a bouncy ride but things are starting to loosen up now that we are getting closer to 1000 miles on the setup.

there are no lifts available for the rear tho'. adding an extra leaf or 2 into the pack, along with a rancho AAL (soft) and a 1.5" block from superlift (the unit for 74 and above fits the earlier wag) will get you leveled out. bought all parts from 4 wheel parts wholesalers.

[ August 08, 2001: Message edited by: miked ]