I am having a really hard time deciding between a solid axle swap or a rough country 4 inch lift with the 63 chevy swap in the rear. I have a 91 pickup 4x4 ifs. it is mostly going to be a mall crawler but i do occasionally take it off road. i plow with the truck in the winter and just want to make sure im not going to make my truck capable of less then it does already.

any oppinions are welcome as i make this decision.

 

My opinion is SAS and rear lift kit. Not a fan of the bracket lifts or chebbies.

I don't think you are looking at that much of a monetary/labor difference either way.

I also think the ride quality will be superior with the former than the latter.

:wabbit2:

 

I would just do a BJ spacer lift if I was you, but if you want it more capable why not a locker and just some bling wheels for looks. Wabbit of course is going to recommend SAS with a rear lift kit over chevy 63's, if he suggested parts from the junk yard he would go out of buisiness

 

Just putting it out there.

Some folks might not know.

And I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night.

:wabbit2:

 

haha, holiday inn ftw!...........So about the IFS vs SAS, i recently did a sas on my pickup and it wasnt as smooth over bumps as the IFS but it didnt handle bad on the road at all. Labor wise, a SAS is easier. At least to me it was cake to do, but since your not going to wheel it all that much...... id just do a SAS just because they are so darn sexy and people give you thumbs up all the time haha

 

i have done a lot of thinking about it. I am now considering just doing a set of wabbits BJ spacers and add a leafs... keep drivability and support an amazing fabricator

 

Hm well the BJ spacers will make the ride a little more stiff if im not wrong.

 

Not if you don't tighten the torsion bars.

 

Yea mind as well do the SAS because it feels like your riding on air

 

I have contemplated the same thing for a while now and I just left it stock and got a locker.
If your going to do any lift go with sas ONLY if you will wheel, if not leave it alone. My personal opinion on IFS lifts isn't good after my previous vehicle. Just put a lot of thought before you do it. I wasn't thinking on my last vehicle and I spent a lot of money on the IFS and that's about all it was everything but functional. Once again this is just my opinion.

 

SAS rides pretty darn good if you have the right shackle angle

 

Without knowing your goal/motivation for the lift it's hard to give a straight answer. You can slap a 37" tire on these trucks with no lift if you're willing to cut fenders. Bracket lifts are generally very weak, and will not hold up to wheeling, at least not my style of wheeling. SAS is in my opinion the ultimate setup for a full on wheeler, but many people don't like to drive them on the street and/or make it a much more complicated and expensive ordeal than it needs to be. A solid axle truck, with a proper spring/shock combo will ride just as good, if not better than any IFS truck.

 

i agree, i rode in my friends 05 dodge charger and in my opinion i liked the ride of my SAS'd 86 on 36s, its all in where your axle is and your spring and shock setup, the more time you put into SAS the better the ride quailty and durability, not to mention, a soild axle is alot easier to work on and much more durable, in my opinion, youll never replace axle shafts like cv axles, just saying.....

 

Once you lift IFS, things start to wear out because of the increased angles from the truck to the suspention. If your going to be plowing snow in the winter time, your going to need extra weight support on your front end which will stress the IFS components even more. Plow trucks are notorious for going through front ends as well as lifted IFS front ends are notorious for going through components (BJ's, CV's, Torsion bars, etc) Plus your gonna be pushing a more extreme angle with a lift. I would say do the SAS because your springs will probably hold up better to the abuse of the snowplow, and things are much easier to fix when they break (thats why i'm doing my SA swap).

 

I took my SAS'd pickup on the freeway at 80 mph and it drove awesome

 

My 81 with the power steering/histeer conversion drives just as good as my 95 did.

 

You SAS if your going to go wheeling alot, If your not going to wheel it alot. dont SAS it.. You get a better ride out of a IFS.

 

Whats an IFS lift going for now?
If I was going to lift the truck I would go with the SAS.

 

Well a ruff country ifs lift is around 600 bucks. Which equals 4-5 inches of lift depending on if you crank the t bars or not

 

If you're going to wheel on a bracket lift, pro comp II or bust.