Offroad Design Custom Spring Lift Kit for 1973-1991 GM/Chevy Trucks

Offroad Design has been quietly producing our own line of custom leaf springs for the fullsize GMs since 1998 and with better performing suspensions becoming more and more popular we’ve decided to make a little noise about what we do in this area.

In a nutshell, we maximize the performance of the leaf spring suspension with more vertical wheel travel, more articulation ability, and a much softer ride. Our custom springs typically provide 10-11" of vertical wheel travel (about 50% more than lift kit type springs), articulation to rival link and coil systems (they'll use all of a 14" travel shock in articulation) and ride quality that lets you travel over rough terrain smooth and easy.

• It's not all about wheel travel, many of our customers use our custom springs simply to make their old truck ride nice. They are a night-and-day difference compared to "lift kit" springs.
• The springs are built specifically for your truck based on our experience and your needs.
• We maximize wheel travel by increasing the number of leaves in the spring which sounds counter intuitive, but we’ll get to that in a minute. A typical ORD front spring will use 10 very thin leaves with a length built around an optimum shackle length and angle while still fitting into the stock mounts. A typical "lift kit" type spring is usually 3-5 thick leaves.
• The key to long travel in a leaf spring is the leaf thickness. Think about how far you can flex a piece of thin gauge sheet metal and have it spring back to its initial flat position. Now think about doing that with a thick steel plate. The plate bends and stays while the thin steel sheet flexes and springs back. This is why we use multiple thin leaves in our springs. Each leaf can flex farther before taking a permanent set giving you more overall spring travel without damaging the spring.
• We set the rate of the springs specifically for each customer’s vehicle and anticipated use to provide a soft ride yet still give reasonable control and load carrying. Each spring is manufactured with the best construction details to ensure the best fit and long life. Military wrap main eyes are built by wrapping the 2nd leaf around the main eye of the spring for an extra layer of strength and security in a critical location. Tip pads minimize friction in the spring to let it move freely and decrease wear. US made steel and construction here in Colorado let us control the quality of material, heat treat and craftsmanship to provide you with a spring you can count on.
• The springs also appear to have more arch than you're used to, that is intentional. Because the springs are softer, they'll compress more under the weight of your vehicle.
• We build our spring with a military wrapped main eye, this is a safety feature that most leaf manufacturers skip.
• An ORD custom leaf suspension system is as close as you can get to link and coil performance and still bolt them on your truck quickly, easily and affordably. The bang for the buck is very high with these systems.
• Our custom front springs are good for 10-11" of vertical travel without hurting the spring. This doesn't have anything to do with articulation, vertical travel is simply how far the spring can travel in a straight bump (like hitting a speed bump). The weight of the truck generally takes up about half of the vertical travel, so 5-6" of compression travel from ride height is typical.
• With these springs, it's easy to use up all of a 14" travel shock in articulation. That's as much as many coilover suspensions!
• Ride quality is significantly better than any off-the-shelf, lift kit type spring.
• Our custom springs can bolt into your stock spring hangers.
• Because we build the springs for you, we can offset the center pin to move the axle forward or back if you want.

Applications

We have springs nailed down for the '69-91 GM trucks/K5s/subs/crewcabs. We can do front springs from 2" up to 7" (the springs are built for you, so we can spec out any height in that range) in the stock mount points or the common extended length front mounts. In fact, our custom springs are the best way to put a proper spring in the extended mount systems giving much better results than trying to adapt a rear spring to the front.

We also specialize in springs for heavier diesel swap trucks. Because of the extra weight of some diesel engines (Cummins, etc.), off the shelf springs won't work because they'll ride lower than advertised and, because they're being overloaded, they'll sag and bend. We can build springs for those trucks.

We can also do our custom springs for 1988-2010 Chevy's with our solid axle conversion kit!

What about longer springs?

In addition to leaf thickness, a longer leaf can also be flexed more before the steel permanently bends. This appears to be an advantage for using longer rear springs on the front of your truck, but it isn't that easy. It isn't all about being soft and flexible. The key is to have a spring that is soft enough but can also survive the travel you're asking from it. For example, if you wanted 4" of lift, you could start with an 8" lift spring and take all but the top leaf or two out. The springs will settle much more than intended (maybe giving you the 4" you wanted) and they would be very soft and flexible, but even at ride height the spring is being destroyed because it's being bent too far. This same effect can happen when using rear springs on the front, they are a bit longer but they are still made of thick leaves that can only be pushed so far before they permanently bend.

However, if you're looking for lots of travel, long springs can be great if they're made for the job they have to do. We can do our custom springs in longer lengths as well if that's your goal.