I am going to put a 4" lift on my '74, Downey and Manafre have sets for under $400 for 4 springs, any preferences out there?

SPRING OVER

what about TPI, There was a TPI install in my latest 4x4 mag that used pro-comp 35" mt's. It looked great.

not everybody can do (or afford) a spring over.

spring over can be cheaper than a purchased lift and it can be more expensive. Just depends on how much you do yourself.

Spring over is the go. It is simple as anything.

No need to go and buy expensive high steer arms. just get one original right hand arm with cones, 4 longer studs for the knuckles.
Bolt the bottom(of the top) down to pre load the bearing then slip the extra one on upside down and bolt her up. Run the relay rod to the top arm, and the tie rod to the original bottom arms.
I got some 2inch by 3inch by (4mm wall, sorry from OZ dont know that in imperial) and cut them out for the spring mounts. I didnt pull the diffs apart when I welded the mounts on and had no problems.
Flipped the original u-bolts. On the rear take the left hand bolt plate and put it on the right and the right on the left. You can use original shocks that way. On the front I made a mount for the front shocks that came off the u-bolt plates so I could use the original front shocks.
When I first did mine I didnt cut and reweld the knuckles. It didnt steer the best, it liked to follow grooves in the road, but after a couple of days driving it was fine. You just get used to it.

All up it took me, by myself, about a day and a half and cost me about $100 Australian, about $50 US. I think I paid $45 for the steering arm and the rest on steel and the studs. I actually had trouble getting studs so I got 4 bolts that were threaded full length and cut them into studs.

Then when you get the cash get the knuckles rotated and some longer shocks all round.

It really is the best way to go and not expensive at all.

When modifying there are usually two ways, the expensive way and the TIGHT ASS way.

I prefer the tight ass route!!

Generic 4" kits....I prefer the Skyjacker setup.

If you want a 4 inch lift for cheep they will all be stiff. However if you want to go that rought I do have a set of 4, 4 inch lift springs that were on my truck when i bought it that i will sell you for $250 plus shiping. im not sure what brand they are because i didnt buy them and there were no stickers on them but they are 4 inch springs all the same.

Thanks to all for the input......many ways to consider.

Frank

i too have 74' 40, and i have to agree with Nolen. same price and they flex great (mine are about 4-5 yrs old now. :D what kind of wheelin' do you do? :question: :beer: :beer: :beer:

Just my 2 cents worth. I am running 4" Alcan springs on my 74-40. I love the damn things. They flex real well and are by no means still. It seems that every time I take them out they get flexier. Of course they will cost more than those out of the box types. But what is a extra 100 bucks when we are talking about good flex. I had them move my centering pin for the rear set back about a inch so that the wheel is centered in the wheel well. One of the advantages of a company that makes your springs for you and not one size fits all types.
Again just my 2 cents worth, for what ever it is worth.:usa:

Tellurid, I like the Alcan idea and I tried to e-mail you but it got rejected.........is there a space between the first 2 words?
E-mail me at, crzr74@hotmail.com

Frank

I will be going spring over when I go but the one thing I see as a huge cost increase for spring over is you need a minimum of 35 IMHO to make it look and function decently.

I did one on a cj5 and it was simple. It is especially simple the way we did it because we didn't go very fancy. we just took out the axles, welded the front perches parallel and the rear we pointed as close to the t-case as possible and bolted it back up. I will do the rear a little different next time but oh well.

It stears and rides way better then before.

Nice part about 5's is the dinky axle tubes so you only get about 4.5 inches of lift

For my cruiser I will be doing something similar to what we did on the 5 i.e. no shackle reversal no cut and turn. I am waiting on money for custom springs or maybe a decent spring alternative so the lift isn't so much.

If you have a welder Id do the spring over.

arndog

I have 5 inch Alcans on my 71, 40 and i love them. They aren't cheep but in my opinion they are some of the best springs you can buy. If you do get alcans and plan on doing any significant wheeling with your rig have them reposition the spring pin back a few inches. They are great springs and Alcan has wonderful customer service so if you do decide to spend the extra cash Alcan is the way to go if you want to stay spring under.