The hi-steer will be the final setup. Tonight I will be switching the bar back up top. But its been a battle getting there. I tried so many different axle positions switching from shackles in the rear, then rotating the offset isuzu springs (4+ inches further forward on the axle position this allowed me to clear the pitman arm with the histeer but caused my wicked death wobble problems), then changing the shackles forward.
Overall lift height as measured against a couple of different stock rodeos is 8-9" total lift over stock. Measured from top of the wheel to the fenders. (15 inch wheels in all cases (just so you dont think I am crazy in my benchmarking. I tried about 3 different stock rodeos I found in various parking lots
).
All in all its a little bumpier with the shackles up front (I did notice this). But its tolerable. As for differences in flex, I have noticed that my front end flexes fine either which way. Surprizingly the front flexes better than the rear right now. The nice part about the shackles up front was that the histeer will now clearance the pitman arm again because the axle moves forward on compression.
I doubt that made any sense to anyone but me. But I said it.
P.S. Just a note, I ended up moving the spring hanger on the chevy springs further back. To make it centered in the wheel wells you need to shoot for about 9.5 inches forward of the stock hanger location. In order to fit bigger tires you will want to move further back so you don't eat your doors. I ended up about 7.5-7 inches forward of the stock location. The single shackle in the rear needs to be about 4"-6" back from the stock location again depending on how far you move the axle back. If I had to do it again I probably would go to something like a 4" shackle (with no connecting bar to help the flex) and as much as a 3-4" block for the chevy springs. This way the springs would be nearly flat at ride height but still yeild some wicked flex. And you do not want under any circumstances to be running a 4wd 63" chevy pack. I pulled mine from a Suburban, and let me tell you those springs were STIFF. Take one leaf out and you have a pretty nice ride that flexes when you want it to.
