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Picked up a 74 J10 a little while back and I’m in the process of tearing it down so that I can build it back up. No crazy plans for it. It will be my DD when I get done so very minimal off-roading. It will be getting a 5.3 and I like the look of these trucks with about a 4” lift.
I am planning on converting the front end over to coil springs. What I need help with is what springs I should be looking for.
What spring rate do I need? Are there any rigs out there that I could snag a set of springs from at the junk yard.
I have a guy who will setup the suspension and build it, I just want to get everything together for him before hand.
I really want to try scrounge as many parts as possible to try and keep the cost down.
What other parts should I be looking for.

Thanks


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I also have thought of this in the past. I think the easiest way would be to find a dodge ram front axle and suspension. Build it stock height to work out any bugs, then lift it later with long arms. To me, that seems like the easiest route. If you could find a ram with a straight front end setup you could snag control arms, trackbar, sway bar, front axle already setup for coils, the springs, frame mount coil buckets, etc. I have no personal experience with this conversion other than alot of mental notes and observations. Geometry is important, and since some highly paid designer at chrysler did the math already, it should make the conversion easier. Personally if I went the route you are trying to go i would find a 2500 and take the matching rear axle as well. Take a sawzall to the boneyard and cut the entire front frame off, that should give you all the parts needed to swap over. If you decide to go the dodge route let me know how it works out!

Bronco's had coils from the factory and would be the place I would start

Your going to have a completly custom set up there so its hard to say what coils. Do you know what kind of link suspension your builder is planning on?
I would start out with something easy to find like TJ,XJ,ZJ,WJ springs. Try to look for springs from something with a similar weight like a V8 grand cherokee and go from there.
The bronco suggestion is a good one. A whole radius arm setup from a bronco could probably be grafted on pretty easily.

Are we talking a radius arm setup (ala ford bronco) or a 4 link or the like?

The cheapest springs to find would be those from a JK. As they are everywhere, and their weight is very similar to an FSJ. I would suggest the springs from a Rubicon with the tow package. As they have the highest spring rates.

But, that really comes down to spring length. Stock JK springs may be too tall, or not tall enough.

No reason why you can't re-use your D44 front. The vaunted '78-'79 Ford D60 was leaf sprung. We converted one to radius arm and didn't even have to cut off the spring perches. Just welded brackets to the tube that accepted the mount for the extended radius arms. We used CAGE arms (long out of business), but the ones from Duff are pretty much identical. They sell c brackets for the D44 and D60. Run a loop off of your frame for the top of the coils, and you can either run a coilover shock, or potentially even reuse your front shock mount.

https://www.dufftuff.com/Long_Travel_Ra ... p/5351.htm

I have a 1979 Wagoneer with Dana 44's front and rear, I am looking to do a 4 link with coil overs in the rear and a 3 link w/ coil overs in the front. I am curious if anyone knows if I could get a kit out there that is already set up (weld in and on to be done). I am not to concerned with cost, and any information will help thanks.

Coop

ajcopper wrote: ↑Thu Nov 14, 2019 9:44 pm I have a 1979 Wagoneer with Dana 44's front and rear, I am looking to do a 4 link with coil overs in the rear and a 3 link w/ coil overs in the front. I am curious if anyone knows if I could get a kit out there that is already set up (weld in and on to be done). I am not to concerned with cost, and any information will help thanks.

Coop

Unfortunately, no kits exist for our rigs. But if you are not concerned with cost, there are plenty of off-road fab shops that could do the conversion for you.

I will continue to look for a Fab Shop around the area of Fort Walton Beach, FL, but I haven't found one as of late. I don't mind sending the frame out to have work done, do you have any recommendations on a fab shop?

Coop

Best to look at the 74-79 Ford F100s with the radius arms or the Dodge systems. Get the spring buckets and brackets with the axles. These setup also have a lot of after market support to allow you to purchase the correct springs for the height you need.

If your really not concerned with cost, call up the Roaster Shop. They are making their RS4 chassis for Wagoneers now too... https://roadstershop.com

This is my 72 wagoneer, I put a dana 60 with coils in it using the rear factory coil springs off of a 2012 Dodge 1500 pickup and the spring rate seems to be pretty good.