Safe to remove 1 leaf from leaf springs???

[truckins10]

Hey guys,
Is it okey to remove the 1 thick leaf at the bottom of the leaf pack to lower the back. The truck will never have any weight in the back. I know u guys are gonna ask y I want to do this so Ill tell you... I have 3 inch blocks back there now and i have 3'' of clearance between the tire and cladding. I want about an 1-1.5'' to match the front. Id rather do this first than go straight to a 4'' block. Thanks Guys

 

[SYO237]

ever consider when you do a hard launch, your back wheels are going to bury themselves into the cladding?

you'd be amazed how much squat you get when you do a nice hard launch... film your truck from the side to see it...


just a thought....

 

[truckins10]

Never actually seen/noticed how far see goes down on launch. How much of a clearance should be there between the cladding and tire??

 

[SYO237]

honestly, i really couldnt tell you how much clearance you need... also depends on how good your shocks are too..


heres one pic of keiths 12 sec truck about 60 yards out from the tree... you can see the front up and its still squating.... you can imagine how close it is when hes actually launching

http://sytyarchives.com/gallery/album29/aaj?full=1


heres ians truck, a low 13/high 12s setup.. hes about 60 yards out also... although, hes having problems with his converter and the truck wasnt coming out hard that day.... but its still huffing air under the front

http://sytyarchives.com/gallery/album29/aam?full=1



i can get hold of some video footage that has a good side shot of me leaving the tree.... it doesnt feel like it, but im coming really close to sitting down on my cladding... though, i have bad shocks, so thats a major factor... my truck has 2" blocks and lowered 1.5" in the front with the torsion bar...

i'll see if i can dig that up and post it up here for you...




also consider the ride your going to have... they already ride like shit....removing a leaf will just make it 10x worse since you will be reducing suspension travel even more.




lemme find that vid for ya.....

 

[bdubb]

yeah right adam.


you can remove the overload spring. it wont effect ride height much. just drop off some weight.

wanna drop it down some more... clamp the leaf spring to the overload.

sounds ghetto, but it works....

 

[Daron]

I wouldnt remove the overload, but would remove the next one up. Better yet though, the Bel Tech's arent much cash and lower the truck.

 

[truckins10]

The belltechs are shit, I took those off last night and installed the stock springs with blocks. I put the drop leafs on and the factory 1'' block and the thing was higher in the back then when i had stock springs and a 2'' block. On top of that I would constanly be hitting my POS Addco sway bar. I think I just gonna try the 4'' blocks. But if you can post that vid, that would be great. Thanks Fern

 

[Daron]

The springs aren't shit, that ADDCO sway bar is known to have issues with lowered leaf springs. Your problems stem from using the wrong sway bar. Why you would put the stock springs back on a truck and go to a 2 inch block is mind boggling...

 

[Bear Dog]

Thanks Daron. The only way our springs would raise a truck is if the factory springs were toast and were sagging well beyond the drop of our springs. All of our springs are load tested at the manufacturing plant and at our machine shop to insure they are correct. Sure, you can pull a leaf out of a spring but you will regret it because the ride will be so bad. If you really want to go low then go with a 3" drop spring (only gives our vehicles about 1.5" drop because of the factory lowering) and a 2" or 3" block.
Eric @ Belltech
92 Ty #2350

 

[truckins10]

Eric, now that your here I have a couple questions about the springs. The two main probelms with the belltech springs I found on my truck was....
1. The rearend was not perfectly straight, putting it on the alignment rack showed 1degree setback on the drivers side. That would tell me that the rearend was not perfectly lined up to the centerline of the truck. I measured from the front of the spring to the center pin to make sure I put both springs in the proper direction. This made the truck very unpredictable on the road. Any ideas why??
2. My addco sway bar was making contact with the leafs because of the different arc.
Maybe there was something wrong with my setup/installion, I dont know, but I had nothing but problems. I now know that the Addco doesnt work with the belltechs. I shouldnt have said they were shit, I just had bad luck with them. I would like any suggestions you may have on the subject. Daron, these are the main reasons I put the stockers back in. Fern Sy#477

 

[Bear Dog]

When installing leaf springs most people just unbolt the old ones and slap the new ones in without aligning the rear end or taking measurements. Your axle can pivot once the ubolts are loosened which would allow you to set the rear axle in proper alignment. (You could even throw out your pinion angle by tilting the pumpkin and then tightening the ubolts causing a vibration problem). I hope that clears it up. As far as the Addco bar goes, I have never seen how their bar mounts (pic anyone?) if it's just an endlink hitting the leaf spring then try shortening the end link or let me know what size you need.
Eric

 

[turbodog]

OK, I know I'll get some flames for this, but...

I was replacing the rear axle assy on my Ty a few weeks ago (it was running hot, making bad noises on some sharp corners, has 105k mi, and I had a low miles spare just sitting there...).

I really hated to put the lowering blocks back on, and remembered this thread. So, I removed the second leaf from the top (center of the 'pack' of 3 that are clamped together).

I figured it would be no big deal to put it back if I didn't like the results.

Results:
rear ride height is 28.5 inches with no air in the rear shocks. Just about exactly what I wanted. I run 25 PSI (HiJackers and stock compressor with modified linkage) and rear height is 29 inches.

With 25 psi, ride is a little softer compared to stock springs with lowering blocks, but not much. About the same care is needed to avoid bottoming out on speed bumps.

When I put in the HiJackers, I added a shraeder (sp?) fitting so at the track I can pull the ELC fuse and pump shocks up to 50 - 75 psi (ending up back at stock ride height). The HiJackers are rated for 200 psi max. It is stiff as hell with 75psi, and shouldn't bottom out too bad. I guess I'll find out at Nats. REGISTER TODAY!

YMMV, FWIW, etc.