will leaf springs "re-arch" themselves when unloaded??

i took th elift out of the old trail rig last weekend, but i didnt measure the lift height before i did that. it's an RE 4.5" S/F.. 3.5" leafs and 1.25" shackle.. it sat at 5.5" (with a bit of a load in it) i am transfering some of the lift parts over to the new rig and i expected the rear leafs to give me about 4.5" of lift.. i got the rear done last night and it is WAAAAAAY higher than i expected.. i swapped in an 8.25" where the D35 was, and with the larger axle tubes and a slightly taller spring perch i guess the axle swap alone gave it 3/4" or so.. but the 3.5" leaf packs and the stock shackle have me at 6"!!!! when i first installed the lift last year it was almost 7" immediately but it settled a bit to the 5.5".... all the spring eye bolts are still untorqued, and there is no binding in the shackles..

could these leafs have "re-arched themselves being unloaded for a week?? i expected them to be a lil high but then to settle a bit... but i cant see how my math was that far off....... i really want no more than 3.5" - 4" lift on the daily driver.. if this doesnt come down a little i will probably pul l out a leaf and see what it does... and these springs are 1 year old and got some good abuse in that time..

:repair:

Thats wierd, I would expect the same as you did, about 4-4.5" because of bigger axle and spring perch. I would not think the springs would rearch that much, they do some but that is alot. My friend bent the main leaf on his ranger fx4 level 2 and we put it on a hoist for a couple of hours and the springs did rearch more than I expected though. Throw some weight (sand bags or something heavy) in the back an drive it around for a couple of days and see if it comes down some.

stil sitting at 5"........... had to use the old 4.5" coils again and now it sits nearly level.

Maybe your trail rig was heavier? Maybe add some weight in the back of the new one and see if they stettle down :dunno:

Did you drive it? Usualy after you set a new lift down on the ground for the first time it sits way higher then normal. After you drive it around a bit it will settle right in. Also...I know this might sound stupid but if you were doing the lift you didn't have jack stands sitting under the frame in the front did you? We did this once....Couldn't figure out why the jeep sit so high in the back but most of the weight was transfered forward so the springs were really unloaded in the rear.

Starboard M said:

Maybe your trail rig was heavier? Maybe add some weight in the back of the new one and see if they stettle down :dunno:

Click to expand...

funny you should mention that.. i was carrying about 300# of stuff in the rear of the trail rig last year.. (shafts, tools, CO2 tank, chainsaw, and anything else i could strap down) my old trail rig picked up the name "yard sale" because of an incident on a steep hill climb when the entire contents of the rear cargo area dumped right in front of the guy behind me.. lucky for me he chose not to drive over it to keep his monentum..


here is what it looks like now.. 3.5" leafs with stock shackles and 4.5" coils sitting at about 5" on 30s.. 31s will be going on it soon... i may drop it lower after Moab.. i dont want a daily driver to be this high..