Leaf spring customizing....

I was thinking of customizing my rear leaf pack. I run an alcan 8" pack in the rear. I have been researching different packs and their center pin distances from the front eye and their total length. I have found that the F150 that some on here have used in bastard packs is about 2" longer and the center pin is 2" further back. I have gotten a hold of a free set of F150 springs and was thinking about swapping the main leaf with mine. SO basically I'd loose the main leaf and replace it with the F150 main. In theory it will move my axle back about 2" and give me a better shackle angle. Question is will the new leaf pack have the same lift? If I had the money I'd just call aclan and give them the dimensions on a new pack and order one. But this is cheap and easy way to see if it will do what I want it to do. Give a better shackle angle since the main leaf is longer and move the axle back a couple inches.

I replaced my RE 5.5 leaf pack with an F-150 pack and it came out like this...



The shackle was hitting the rear bumper (I cut up the shackle mounts, as the old setup was bottoming out in the rear of the mount). So I went with shackle relocation brackets...


I ended up moving things around a little to level it out.

Other than the springs and shackles hanging out back there, I'm pretty happy with it.

So that was a full F150 pack? Did it lift more then the 5.5 pack? If so any idea how much?

I think the amount of lift was very close to 5.5, but because of the longer spring making the shackle hit the bumper, I don't know what it would have been if allowed to settle. With the shackle relocation brackets, I'd say it's a bit taller. That's with a longer shackle though too.


That's a picture of when I just put the springs in, with 35 inch tires to compare with the other pictures which are 39 inch tires.

Ok so spent Saturday messing with springs and results are less then stellar. I think I may need to move the rear shackle box back. I added the HD shackle relocation bracket too. I believe I need to add some springs to it. I used the 2wd F150 main with all my alcan springs except the military wrap and the main leaf. Besides Alcan who else build custom springs?

how close does the rear axle housing come to the fuel tank when setting the rear back two inches? or does the amount of lift remedy that allready?

2stix said:

how close does the rear axle housing come to the fuel tank when setting the rear back two inches? or does the amount of lift remedy that allready?

Click to expand...

I should have tried a full 2wd F150 spring pack first. It clears the tank fine. In my research MJ leafs move the axle back 2" too. Risty's is the only MJ lift pack I can find. I have 2 more leafs out of the ford pack I will be adding some time this week or Saturday as time permits.