Leaf springs for 4-6 inches of lift.

[thoughtcriminal]

I am soon going to a u pull it junkyard looking for a headlight to replace my broken one. I figure while I am there I might pick up some leaf springs for my rear.

My plan is to remove the 2 inch blocks and flip the shackles. this is gonna lower me about 4-4.5 inches from my math (thanks to copycat for all his info on flipping the shackles)

I want to remain at least at stock height. I don't want to go higher than 2-3 inches higher than stock because I plan on swapping out these axles and don't want to have to have a cut-and-turn done twice.

This kinda rules out my plans of chevy 1/2 ton leaves, as they only give about 3 inches of lift. I've heard (again from copykat) that durango leaves give about 4 inches. thats my minimum.

Even if I have to do some dismantling of heavier packs, thats fine.
anyone who can shed some light on the subject?

(and to those who have told me before that using used springs isnt ideal, I remember. these springs will only be for about 1.5 years at the max, at which time I should have my proper axles under it and will be getting custom springs made)

 

[metalmacguyver]

It will be hard to find leaves with enough arch to reach that amount of lift when drooped, never mind when the weight of the truck is on them. You may need custom springs.

 

[Yellowsplash]

Has anyone ever tried s10 zr2/highrider leafs? I have a set sitting out behind the house from my buddies truck. They are spring under axle design with major arch, much like the durangos. I measured 50.5" from eyehole to eyehole, whereas the explorer springs I have measure 55.5". This is the only issue I see, but this should be able to be fabbed upon. If you used them as a spring over axle design, you should be able to get decent lift out of them. Theyre a 4-leaf pack too, soo load capacity shouldnt be an issue, just a stiffer ride...

 

[CopyKat]

Chevy uses a centered pin, where the ford springs are offset towards the front.

I don't remember much about the durango springs, but they are also a spring under and have lots of arch. I don't know the eye to eye measurement or how centered the pin is.

If your doing a shackle flip then the length isn't much of a consern, as you will have to move the shackle bracket back or forward to get a good shackle angle.

Take some measurements and let us know how they measure up.

 

[CopyKat]

I picked up a set of V8 Durango leaf springs for my truck. I also found out this info from a guy that runs a Durango main and B2 leaves under his ranger.

The durango leaf mounts right up its about 1.5" longer its more arched though and has a shorter front eye to center length but 1 inch making it easier to setup though at ride you loose 0.5" of wheelbase, negligible.

I swapped these because my springs were wasted and they happened to be cheap and available. i already had a bronco II (BII) pack which is a five leaf pack and wove together the main leaves flipping some of the BII and cutting here and there to get the lengths of the front of the leaves to make a progressive arc. I set up the rears so that they arch out and have anti friction pads, I made these lengths differ more so that they had more room to slide since there will be more movement behind the axle. This i felt gave a better spring to shock ratio with my shocks at around 8deg leaned foreward.

I was msotly just messing around making these springs but using the durango leaf which is thinner and the much thinner BII leaves without an overload made for a better riding pack. As best as I can measure it its at around 12-13" of travel. The main limiting factor travelwise in leaf springs is the length of the main leaf and id like to think that if longer deaver springs are getting 14-15" max then my 12" is pretty good with main leaves just a tad longer than stockers.

 

[Sunk]

Did he happen to say how much lift he got out of the Durango springs?... I may look into those instead of the Chevy 63s.

 

[CopyKat]

From another source. This guy used the full Durango pack

The combination of durango leaf springs and belltech lowering shackles(used for lowering GM trucks) gave roughly 4" of lift. I don't think the angles were perfect though.

The biggest advantage I noticed out of the durango leaves were they seemed to be a lot softer than ranger springs. I remember having an issue with the shackle angle not where it should be but I can't remember which direction it went.

 

[Sunk]

Ok cool thanks. I've already got that much with Explorer/Ranger leaves interwoven and the 6400s. Looks like I'll be going with the 63s.