How to check lift amount without any weight

[Skidd]

I'm well underway with my rebuild. Stripped down to the point of nearly ready to pull the tub off the frame. It's my BrotherInLaws truck who I'm doing the work for. He's not a gear-head. A lot of my questions about previous work have resulted in many a shoulder shrug.

I assumed it still has stock suspension. And I think it does. But I want to be certain before I calculate the BL and SL configuration I want to go with .

Is there a way to determine if, and how much, suspension lift might be there with a nearly empty truck? No motor (302), trans, interior, cab, dash... Etc. (I should have checked before disassembly)

Currently the top of the axle tubes , to frame measures 8" rear, 9.5" front. Again, with all the heavy weight removed. No rear axle blocks.

Here is what it looked like when I started, with new 30" tires.

so.. does this truck already have a small lift? Or stock?

 

[Skidd]

PS. Plenty of surface rust on the springs. They don't look new.

 

[DirtDonk]

There’s really little to no chance of determining lift with springs installed and all the weight gone.
Unless that is, someone with known stock springs can measure the wire diameter and the free height of the coils so you can compare.
Which is not too far fetched, I suppose, as long as somebody has a set of stock springs laying around that are still good.
We can guess, but it would only be just that. I guess…

Pictures of the springs might help anyway. Do the rear leaf packs have four main leaves and a separate overload, or five main leaves and an overload?

 

[Broncobowsher]

Short answer, no.
Then we can start going into theory, and we can get close.
or put the weight back in (the correct location) then measure. Doesn't have to be bolted in with everything connected, just sitting in there.

But since you have rusty springs that need replacing anyway, get new springs that are what you want and not worry about it.

 

[Skidd]

Thanks guys. That's what I was afraid of.
The only reason I was hoping to figure out what it already has, was to help me calculate what it should be.
Make sure my plan to add a 1" BL and 2.5" SL, would add to it what I envisioned.

 

[Broncobowsher]

You don't need to know the old suspension to figure that out. Set the axle to frame gap to what you want the lift to be and look at that. You can cheat the body lift with a little extra suspension lift, the only thing that will be different is the bumper height. I forget what the stock gap is supposed to be (one of those mornings) but just add to that number.