alcans (recentering & lowering)

ok, I have a pair of the big offroad 8inch alcan springs and I want to try to lower my jeep a little, I also want to move the axle back 3 inches. My question is: can anyone see a problem with redrilling the springs and moving the centering pin back 3 inches? I was planing on redrilling all the leaves except the bottom short leaf, I will just move that back in the spring pack. Will this cause any weak points in the spring or any other problems? Then I also want to lower it down a bit. Which leaf(s) should I remove to get the best response without ruining the integrity of the spring? I may just have to buy a different spring but seems to me like this would work and I am just wondering which leaves in the pack are most crucial to the spring? thanks
-calvin

If you move the axle back, wouldn't you have to purchase a longer drive shaft? I think it would be cheaper to just sell those springs and buy 5-6 in. ones.

Well... I'm with RTicUL8 on the thought that'd you'd be better of buying another set that better meets your needs...

Redrilling by that much on a ~54" spring will cause issues -- not just with your pinion angle, the weak spot by having a hole right-about the end of the axle's spring perch, but also by destroying the symetry of the load bearing characteristics of the semi eliptical design - you'd be loading the rear of a spring that's designed to carry load more uniformly. You'd also no longer be able to run the wrapped anti-wrap spring (front eye) - 3" would put the center-pin too far to the rear to effectively load the antiwrap feature.

Since the BOR spring is longer than stock to properly accomodate its arch, you're supposed to be running a longer shackle to compensate for compressing that spring - if you were to purchase a height-specific design more in tune with your needs you'd be better able to reduce height (like the BOR 8" with a proper shackle is something approaching 9.25", while a 52" leaf-pack for 7" can run the OEM shackle to get 7" net)...

Setting the pin that far back will most likely require a custom pack (I'm sure yu could get by for a while with a centering hole just in front of your leaf-perch - IMHO, that's not a safe enough wat to run it on a vehicle already known for it's high wrap-load and damage to the front of the leafs...)