hey all, i wanted to take apart my rear leafs to lower the back some. there is a 6 in. gap from the top of the tire to the fender lip. i noticed that there is what looks to be a 1/2 thick heavy duty spring on the bottom. i also wanted to take out the bottom spring on the leaf pack too but, i noticed there was some kind of metal wrap on the front of the leaf spring that looks to be holding it together and can i take that wrap off to remove the bottom leaf and leave it off or does it need to be put back on and can i reuse or modify the wrap to fit since there is 1 less leaf on there or do i need to buy a new 1 and from where do i buy it from. i was going to buy cal-tracs but got these lakewood traction bars that fit my year truck for dirt cheap ($30) and these look longer than your average bars for the cars. i was told that these bars from lakewood were made for trucks. i have already stripped (glass beaded) the trac-bars of paint and bought new lrg snubbers for the bars. i will probaly have too trim the top of the snubber to fit for what i want it to do after i tighten it down. i wanted too pre-load the rear for better traction. what do you think of the lakewood bars. anybody do this kind of work before and what did it take to get it done. is doing spring work hard or can the avg. back yard mechanic do it at home. should i buy new u-bolts since i'm taking off the old 1's from the rear end and what is the size for it too fit around the axle tubes. thanks in advance for the help.....

 

You should always buy new U-bolts as yours are prolly rusted to the core.

Yes you should be able to do leaf springs no problem. Just jack the truck up so teh weight is off of them and you'll be on easy street. That wrap can come off, easily. Its just there to help keep the springs in order.

That super thick bottom spring is your overload. You may just try taking that out and seeing how the truck sits.

On an obvious note, if you remove some of the springs you will greatly lower the load carrying capacity of your truck. As for the traction bars, I have no real experience with them on our trucks, but I have heard Lakewood is a good brand.

 

You can do it , it will lower the back , make sure you put on the traction bars on at the same time , otherwise you can bend the leaf springs from axle wrap....Lew

 

thanks edge & lew for the feed back. i will get on it this weekend!!

 

Is you goal to level the truck or to lower the front as well? Why not just use the 1-2 inch drop shackles to level it? Is your suspension stock right now? I mean at stock ride height.

 

texas....i have a bell tech 4' hanger shackle drop on the back. the front is stock with 245-60-15. the smaller tires on the front have lowered the truck down to where i want it to be with out losing the comfort. the rear is still slightly higher and i wanted to bring it down a little more. so 1st is to take out the overload spring and see where it goes from there. if need be i will take out 1 more leaf but, that is it. i don't want to lose what ever is left for carrying anything in the bed.

 

well guys....today i took out the overload spring and it brought down the back some and it (seems) to be level. i wanted to do a axle over spring conversion to bring it down a little more to but, don't know how much more it would drop the back along with a 4' hanger shackle drop already installed. anyone got ideas of how much more that would be. i was told by several people that would be a little to much of a drop for the back. the traction bars are on also and i cut the polyurethane snubbers to fit tight under the front spring eye. boy i forgot how much better the traction got with the bars on. anyways anybody got info for the axle over conversion. thanks for the response in advance.

 

I think the axle flip kit will be to much , as far as i know it will drop it another five inches.....axle flip 5" hangers 2" shackle 1-2".....Lew

 

hey lew, thanks for that answer. i don't think i will be doing that. it will be way to much of a drop.

 

Next thing you know, you'll be C-notching the frame. Ugg, I did that on a truck...never again..

 

The spring shop told me to always put new ' U ' bolts on. Something about not holding torque.