Sorry I was a bit brief yesterday ---it was one of those mid week moods.
In any case, the reason that I want to flip the axle and run it under the
spring packs instead of above them is two fold--
FIRST I will gain approx 3" of ride height. This in an effort to match
or slightly exceed the ride height of the front end provided by the
Fabtech lift. Without using the add-a-leaf in the rear spring packs.
SECOND The reason that I'm not satisfied with the add-a-leaf as it is, is
because without any load in the rear the truck rides nearly level- just a
slight dip in the rear. OK cool. I can live w/ that. BUT ........put any
weight back there (75-100lbs or more) and you're goin' down. Down to
nearly where it would ride stock. This doesn't work for me because as a
fabricator (and those pesky dirt bikes) I routinely have 500 lbs dancin'
around in back. Translating into, once again, dragged trailer hitch out
of driveways and an uncomfortable vehicle attitude.
BTW the whole reason that this occurs is that the add-a-leaf takes the
factory springs out of theire ....rate range, for lack of better words,
the factory springs or any springs, don't provide enough resistancet to
support the vehicle until they are sprung to ....say X height. The
addtl leaf doesn't provide any where near the same force as the stock
spring pack at the lifted height ---hence when loaded, the rear drops to
the point where the stock sprngs start to "work", or provide enough rate
to support the vehicle.
Don't mean to clog everyones mail - just wanted to explain my reasoning a
little better. I thought about lenghtening the shackles, but I'll run
into trouble w/ my Gibson swept side (thanks again to SmokinDakota!)
Keep in mind also that although I'd like a little more beef like a 9.25,
I did recently spring for 4.10 in my 8.25. That and the fact that my
truck doesn't get drag race shock loads and is a "worker" I just don't
want or really need to shell out for a whole "new" rearend.
Thanks for your time --any input is appreciated.
Ken H
Simi Valley,CA
"The shortest distance between two points is a straight line"
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Fri Jun 20 2003 - 11:58:42 EDT