Coil Spring Swap?

I've been looking at wheels and tire sizes but a little confused about backspace and offset. With a leveling kit I'm thinking 18" rims and 35's. Or 315/75/18 's. Can anyone tell me what would've a goodbackspace and offset to keep them tucked in without rubbing issues?

Dirtclod said:

I just talked with them a couple hours ago. They basically want to sell you a Carli Lift kit with coilovers and the kit has everything you'll need that is mentioned in the post above. Except they send a new cross member for the transmission. And you have to go to a hydraulic shop for a return fitting to the power steering pump. All together 6100$ for the entire kit. Not what I'm looking for at all. I'll just fab my own stuff or buy new buckets,radius brackets,coils and any thing else I might need. Once it's together I might throw on a leveling kit and replace the rear springs with 08-10 springs. This way everything is new and good for many miles to come.

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6100 isn't bad.. Those shocks aren't cheap nor is the rear deaver springs.


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Dirtclod said:

I've been looking at wheels and tire sizes but a little confused about backspace and offset. With a leveling kit I'm thinking 18" rims and 35's. Or 315/75/18 's. Can anyone tell me what would've a goodbackspace and offset to keep them tucked in without rubbing issues?

Click to expand...

I would do 5in back space, 0 offset



I was able to stuff 37s with a 5.5in back spaced rim with 0 offset. But I had CARLI radius arms so it didn't rub.


If you only plan on 35s. The first offset I listed will be perfect.


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Hell yea! That's plenty big enough. Last night I was looking at rough country's 3" lift. Not bad price and I get coils and shocks for 500$. A friend of mine has there kit on his 08 & he likes it. I've got my lil s10 sold so I'm going this weekend and get the the axle assembly and start breaking it down

Just curious here, but if you swap only the front 05+ axle, couldnt you swap the lug studs to the older thread pattern so you could keep the original 10.5 under the rear?

juniort444e said:

Just curious here, but if you swap only the front 05+ axle, couldnt you swap the lug studs to the older thread pattern so you could keep the original 10.5 under the rear?

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the older rear axle is narrower.

What is the difference of width from older front to newer front? And older rear to newer rear?

according to hellbent the rear axle is ok to be left alone. But everyone else I've talked to says you need spacers or wider axle. It would seem a bit weird with a shorter rear axle though.

I'm pretty sure it's 2 1/2" wider front and rear on the 05 up.

If they are both wider then it makes sense to swap out everything. So, I'm guessing since the newer ones are wider, the wheel offsets are much different?

If anyone here has a lead on a donor 05-10 truck for for this swap how bout pm me please! I've found good deals on axle assemblies. And seems Ike lately the 05-07 are are not as plentiful as the 08-10. I'm going to check with a couple places and see if I can get frame Mount brackets and buckets. Maybe I can buy some miscellaneous hardware from a local shop .

Dirtclod said:

If anyone here has a lead on a donor 05-10 truck for for this swap how bout pm me please! I've found good deals on axle assemblies. And seems Ike lately the 05-07 are are not as plentiful as the 08-10. I'm going to check with a couple places and see if I can get frame Mount brackets and buckets. Maybe I can buy some miscellaneous hardware from a local shop .

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Honestly, check out PMF. Other than the axles themselves you can get just about everything you need to retrofit one:

Radius arm brackets
Coil buckets
3 or 4 link arms
Brake lines
Track bar
Coil springs
Shocks

The only thing you'd really need at that point is a track bar bracket. And to hook up your vacuum lines and adapters for your brake lines.

Thanks for the info. Also steering box. That's one thing I don't have issues with. The steering on my truck is tight,always has been since I put new hub bearings in. I'm fixn to have to spend a good bit of cash on leafs and all hardware so might as well just go ahead with it. I found a 2008 front assembly on Craigslist for 450$. Probably needs ujoints,ball joints seals all that. But mine will need that soon I'm sure. Almost 300k on factory joints. Dam seals keep coming out hough. Pia! Friend of mine works at a chevy dealership and he had a 06 and 10 both had seals out. This spring company here in town should have a lot of what I need for the swap. I suppose I'll have to do the rear axle. A good set of spacers is more than an axle assembly. And I'd rather not use spacers. Might have to run some cheap ones and not haul for a while til I can swap it out.

Yes the steering box would be needed from the newer truck. Pitman arm also. I'd swap them instead of reaming out your existing pitman arm, but that's me. Others have done the latter and been fine.

Yea shouldn't be hard finding one.

It will save you a ton if you can find a roller.

scparrish said:

It will save you a ton if you can find a roller.

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I agree. But the time involved in stripping that roller for the parts needed, then buying hardware to remount it... it may be more cost effective in the long run just getting axles and buying all the rest!

I speak from experience on this. I did the swap on an obs, then just recently on an leaf sprung SD. For the time and frustration it took getting the rivets out of the donor parts, plus buying all the hardware, I would have been better off in the long run just buying the parts that already come with the hardware!

Regardless, the swap has been well worth it on both trucks.

It will save time no doubt. I've been thinking about doing coil overs, but mostly I see them on 6"'s of lift and that's a little more than I want. 3" is all the lift I want. Some 18" moto metal rims x9" and 35's gives these trucks a good stance. Add ladder bars with 2 piece radius arms it'll be ready for whatever. Plus blasting. The frame and paint with a few coats of clear and all new hardware,it'll really look sharp

Meh it wasn't that difficult to strip the parts off the frame. Buy a bunch of half inch grade 8 hardware and get to drilling. Drilling all the holes took more time than anything. Nothing worse than laying on the fresh metal shavings every where. The swap was worth it though.

So is anyone having steering issues using a 2005+ box in a 1999-2003 7.3? Truck doesn't return to center. Thinking the 7.3 power steering pump can't keep up with the bigger box?


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