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Need Leaf Spring Advice

AllenIV

By AllenIV
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AllenIV New Member

AllenIV

Posted
Posted

I need some input on leaf springs and shocks. I have done a lot of upgrades to my ‘14 Silverado z71. Piece by piece as budget allows. I’m at ~86,000 miles. Rear leafs and shocks are original. For awhile I added in a couple extra leafs off gramps old Cummins 250 1st gen to carry more weight and raise the rear to match the new front height as a free solution, but they eventually started making driver side sit an inch higher than passenger side (opposite of Chevy lean) so I took them out. The rear is lower than front by 1 inch and sitting on 2” supreme suspension lift blocks. Should I get whole new leaf spring packs or try the supreme add a leaf (which supposedly adds 1.5-2”) and put the stock blocks back in. The rear end still sometimes doesn’t sit even across even on very minor slopes. There’s also not much gap between the bottom overload bar and the springs. 

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swathdiver Senior Enthusiast

swathdiver

Posted
Posted

Well, you could have them re-arched or just get some new NHT spring packs from Dayton.  You'll have to determine which is better cost wise.  The springs packs are about $350+ each now.

 

On our 6.5" lifted NHT, the spring packs have an extra leaf added so the rear is still higher than the front even with the lift, making it 4 leafs plus one now.

Grumpy Bear Senior Enthusiast

Grumpy Bear

Posted
Posted
14 hours ago, AllenIV said:

For a while I added in a couple extra leaves off gramps old Cummins 250 1st gen to carry more weight and raise the rear to match the new front height as a free solution, but they eventually started making driver side sit an inch higher than passenger side (opposite of Chevy lean) so I took them out.

 

Does this truck have Nitrogen filled shocks? Has one lost charge? Are all the hanger and shock bushings in good repair? A broken leaf? Springs don't normally lose their set for much longer that this took to fail, and an inch is huge.  

 

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AllenIV New Member

AllenIV

Posted
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Posted

@Grumpy Bear thanks for the tips these original rancho shocks are gas shocks I’m pretty sure and the housings are rusted. I decided to just order a pair of bilsteins 5100’s for 0-2” lifts and see how it sits. Much easier than taking out the leaf springs. 

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