Hey guys. Had this idea after hearing so many people bad-mouth the use of the mini-spring packs on ebay. But there's not much to these, and if some of them aren't even made of spring steel (if someone could explain the difference to me, I'd really appreciate it), what's stopping me from throwing some plates together drilling a hole through them, and slapping them under my spring? So I'm looking for reasons and answers to the following questions.

Is there any support added to the existing leafs by going with some official DR pack as opposed to an ebay spring pack? Do the ebay types (plate steel from what I've heard) have any arch to them at all? If not, and I could fab some up on my own, what thickness steel do they utilize? Thanks in advance. And to please all the professionals out there, the $100 saved from building them myself would be put towards an adjustable track bar. Looking forward to the info in the professionally done VS. home made spring pack debate that is to come.

 

Using physics:

If the mini-spring pack has more arch than stock spring, it WILL reform the stock spring, inducing more lift than just the thickness of the pack, and it WILL increase the spring rate of the suspension.

As long as your home made have less arch than stock leaf, they will not add spring rate or change ride quality until there is enough spring wrap or suspension compression that they contact the stock leaf, at which point they will add spring rate. They will act just like a simple lift block, lifting exactly the thickness of the pack. The only difference from a simple lift block is they will reduce the risk of the block "tipping over", and if/when the block contacts the stock leaf, reduce spring wrap and increase spring rate.

 

its all about leverage.. the farther up and away from the axle pad your spring pack is the greater the forces exerted onto the Ubolts..

making it more and more possible for parts to come apart at the worst possible time..

i've said it before and i'll say it again.. NO front blocks or stacking leafs beyond what the spring pack was designed around...

its not just your life your risking but other road users aswell if you should lose control and crash

 

My buddy used some rear spring packs and cut them before the arch. Then he used 3 leafs per side and it gave him around 2.5" lift. After putting a 1" block in the rear, it sits just about perfect and looks great. It still rides the same and looks nice.