lil_Blue_Ford
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So I had a plan, now I’m questioning the plan…
Original plan was to take the Explorer leafs off my donor and split it apart then break down another set of Explorer leafs I had and cut the main down so I would have main, cut main, long leaf, short leaf, overload. So that’s what I started to do until I lined the cut mains up and found they don’t have the same arch. I also discovered that the short leaf from the old packs I broke down is shorter than the long leaf from my donor but longer than the short leaf from the donor. So now I have basically three options.
The reasons for wanting to add a leaf or two is that I’m leaving this as a spring under and I also want to make sure I have some decent load capacity since my trucks work for a living even if they are playtoys. Hopefully some of y’all have some opinions/insight on this, I’ve built leaf packs before with somewhat mixed results, so this isn’t completely uncharted territory. But I’ve never done a spring under and am not sure how it all translates.
I know the longer the leafs, the more springy the pack stays and the shorter, the stiffer. More leafs or thicker = more carrying capacity. My first Ranger I did a Ranger pack with a cut down main and an extra leaf worked in. It would take being loaded down but because I kept all leafs as long as possible, it was still not a hard ride. My choptop I did about the same, but Explorer leafs all around and as light as that thing is, the leafs are too hard in my opinion, but it’s tolerable. My F-150 I did an F-250 pack (well, two of them), cut down a main, added a couple other longer leafs and flipped the overloads. It’s a bit on the hard side for a ride, very tolerable though, but it takes weight extremely well which is exactly what I wanted.
So… options…
A) original plan, add the cut down mains to the packs and call it a day (I’ll drill out the ends for spring pads and refresh all the pads and stuff for whichever I go with). Right side of both pics.
B) add the cut down main AND the medium length leaf from the old Explorer packs. Left side of first pic.
C) add the cut down main and the medium length leaf AND delete the short leaf. Left side of second pic,
D) add just the medium length leaf from the old to the donor packs (not really a big fan of this one, but it is an option).
Original plan was to take the Explorer leafs off my donor and split it apart then break down another set of Explorer leafs I had and cut the main down so I would have main, cut main, long leaf, short leaf, overload. So that’s what I started to do until I lined the cut mains up and found they don’t have the same arch. I also discovered that the short leaf from the old packs I broke down is shorter than the long leaf from my donor but longer than the short leaf from the donor. So now I have basically three options.
The reasons for wanting to add a leaf or two is that I’m leaving this as a spring under and I also want to make sure I have some decent load capacity since my trucks work for a living even if they are playtoys. Hopefully some of y’all have some opinions/insight on this, I’ve built leaf packs before with somewhat mixed results, so this isn’t completely uncharted territory. But I’ve never done a spring under and am not sure how it all translates.
I know the longer the leafs, the more springy the pack stays and the shorter, the stiffer. More leafs or thicker = more carrying capacity. My first Ranger I did a Ranger pack with a cut down main and an extra leaf worked in. It would take being loaded down but because I kept all leafs as long as possible, it was still not a hard ride. My choptop I did about the same, but Explorer leafs all around and as light as that thing is, the leafs are too hard in my opinion, but it’s tolerable. My F-150 I did an F-250 pack (well, two of them), cut down a main, added a couple other longer leafs and flipped the overloads. It’s a bit on the hard side for a ride, very tolerable though, but it takes weight extremely well which is exactly what I wanted.
So… options…
A) original plan, add the cut down mains to the packs and call it a day (I’ll drill out the ends for spring pads and refresh all the pads and stuff for whichever I go with). Right side of both pics.
B) add the cut down main AND the medium length leaf from the old Explorer packs. Left side of first pic.
C) add the cut down main and the medium length leaf AND delete the short leaf. Left side of second pic,
D) add just the medium length leaf from the old to the donor packs (not really a big fan of this one, but it is an option).