Just bought some marlin 4 inch springs from a friend who had them on his first gen, they've never been on the trail.

My front springs on my 83 are stock, and so, so raped. the previous owner also thought it would be a good idea to put blocks up front. so these springs are WAY overdue.

My question is, what do i need to do/buy to get these springs on the front of my rig. any cutting? welding? do i NEED new shackles or can i run stock? will it move my axle forward? will i need an ifs steering box? a different driveline with a longer slip?

any and all help is really, really appreciated. I have ZERO suspension knowledge..

 

Well i just got done a week ago putting a 3in lift on my 79 and found that my bolts were rusted and not in the greatest shape but put the stock ones back in for lack of time to order new stock ones anyway and havent had any issue with it at all. all that i did is drop the old springs and put new ones in

 

The Marlin springs are not inteded to be a "bolt-on" spring. You're going to need a new front hanger which will need to be positioned 1" forward. You'll also need a HySteer kit of some sort because these springs will move the axle forward.

While you dont HAVE to get new shackles, it's my understanding these springs were developed for a 5.5" shackle. I'd also highly suggest getting a different shock hoop and 12" shock (5125's are good) to go along with those springs to get the most out of them.

 

Awesome, just the answers i was looking for. any recommendations as to where i should get those bilstiens/shackles and whatever else? i know ill probably just get my highsteer from marlin. but what about the ifs steering box? will i need that? and what about my stock drive line? any idea on if it has enough slip? or will i need a new one?

 

Marlin springs = a search of their website IMO.

 

Agreed w/ ocdropzone!

You really need to give this a read:

http://www.marlincrawler.com/tech/guide/solid-axle-swap

 

Trail-gear.com has a lot of good stuff too. Get an IFS box from a junk yard. My buddy just put chevy springs and an ifs box on his 85. His driveline is stock and has not slipped out yet but that doesnt mean that those marlin springs are gonna have the same flex that the chevy springs do, in fact they will probably have more.

 

Searched the site before I posted this up actually. That whole write up is about a SAS. I've got a first gen, and as i mentioned before, 'i have ZERO suspension knowledge' so going through that article, i had no idea what parts of that article held true to my pre existing, from the factory suspension..

 

No problem there '83Toy. Gotta learn somehow, and you did the right thing by asking questions once you did your initial research.

When going to a suspension setup such as the Marlin, All-Pro, Trail-Gear, ect it's really not a whole lot different than doing a SAS on another vehicle. The IFS vehicles have the steering box, while the factory solid axle vehicles already have the rear shackle plates burned into the frame.

Read the SAS guide and it'll give you an idea of what needs to be done. In research for my project, I've read the instructions from all the major players in the "SAS" market and read their instructions to combine all the tips/tricks each manufacture has, so I can employ them in my build.

 

oh ok, awesome. will do. thanks a lot.