Rear spring install

Not sure if this should be in stock or modified. But I finally got my rear leaf springs installed. I've had them for quite some time, but never got around to getting them on.

I got the idea sort of myself and then had it clarified by a site that I can't find anymore. I left the main leaf from the original spring pack in (167,xxx miles) and the first leaf under it. Then put a low mileage pack in without the main leaf (8,000 miles if memory serves). This basically added a leaf without really upping the spring rate too much. The goal was to level things out a bit as I put newish coils in the front with a 3/4" spacer in place of the stock isolator and that lifted the front a bit.

Well it went a little past level. I haven't measured things up, but it looks like a good inch and a half of lift, probably 2 inches over what it was sitting at.

I didn't put the spring wraps on all the way yet, just one on each spring so far (re-used from low mileage pack at this point, will look to see what Napa wants for new ones).

The big bonus was that I didn't have to take the big bolts out of the main leaf that tend to be the real problem bolts. The only bolt that broke was the one for the center of the pass. side spring, all the others came out pretty easily (should've used impact to speed it up, but needed the sore arms).

Anyway, pretty excited about getting this all done in about 4.5-5 hours with minimal hassle and thought I'd share. For those looking for a cheap boost, this would definitely be a way to go, I think I've got almost $25 in the rear lift and closer to $40 in the front because of the spacer.

The bonus ? My wife said it should sit level, that means gotta lift the front again ... this could be a long process

wish

The springs will settle some after a week or so, but you should still see a nice increase. I would wait a week before taking mesurements and buying a lift for the front. BTW I am going to pick up the Dakota leaf springs for $60 tomarow for my 4.5" lift. You do the same thing, except you use Dakota springs.

The lift you achieved in the rear with that method doesn't surprise me one bit. An extra stock leaf will often give about another inch or so of lift. The fact that they were newish leafs just made up for how much your old ones had sagged. A simple way to level it out somewhat would be to replace the stock coil pads and then put in the 3/4" spacer in the front. The stock rubber isolators are 3/4" as well, so replacing them with a spacer in effect didn't lift it at all. The two together will lift your front 3/4" over stock, and that should give you a bit more towards leveling it. A really cheap way to lift it a bit further is to cut your own isolators out of a thick piece of poly, (like a plastic cutting board), and stack em up. That way you can do it incrementally and get it just right. You could also stack stock spring isolators to get the little lift that you need. Just a few cents for consideration.
B.