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Okay, here's the situation. I'm brainstorming DIY lift ideas for my '89 W150. I got the old Dodge in trade and it has 33x12.50 Cooper M/T's that are kind of worn out so I bought another set of the same size but have not put them on yet. After driving it for a bit I've noticed if I'm turning and slightly off camber, the front tires will contact the fenders. I don't want to put new tires on before fixing the interference issue so I went to the local salvage yard in search of leaf springs to make my own packs for just a couple inches of lift. The best I could come up with was a set of rear springs from an '89 Chevy C3500(12 springs total). The Dodge and Chevy springs are both 2.5" wide and have a 3/8" hole for the center bolts. Piecing together something for the rear isn't really my concern, the front is where my question lies. If I were to use the overload spring that was on the top of the Chevy pack and add it to my Dodge front pack just underneath the main spring, do you guys think it would lift the front too high? This is the direction I've already started going but I was wondering if anyone had done anything similar. I've already cut them down to 45 inches in length and drilled out the holes for the friction pads at the ends. They have about 4 1/2 inches of arch to them and they're stiff as hell. I'm hoping they'll give me about 2" of lift. Any thoughts?
These are not my actual springs, they are just a reference so you can see the top overload spring I'm talking about.
I would add it between the second and third shortest springs, I would trim it just shorter than the third shortest spring. More than likely you will just have a stiffer spring and not the height you want.
I have a custom bumper on there that weighs about 200 lbs. and I'm going to be adding my winch on there which weighs about another 100 lbs. so the new pack needs to be a little stiffer. The leafs I cut down now have about 4 inches of arch to them, I'm 200 lbs. and when I stand on them and bounce they barely move. I might just have to add more thinner springs.
We did this in an XJ to create lift. Just a couple leafs yielded about 3 inches lift. It rode a little rough and lacked the flex for off road use but wouldn't sag with a trailer. This is with a heavy bumper and spare tire. (springs in the rear only) I am not familiar with your exact set up as my experience is limited. Issues on vehicles I know, are to pay attention to angles of drive shaft and steering components such as u-joints. Could also get outside of range for drive shaft length. Depends on your use how it works for you. Look forward to seeing your results.
I know the paint is ugly, I bought it this way. I have bodywork and paint plans. It was a Forestry Service truck for the state of Georgia so I'm going to go green.
Anyway, I finally decided to upload some photos of the truck before and after my home brew leaf spring upgrade. It now has 8 leaf springs in the rear: four stock ones and four from an '89 K3500. The front has three springs: stock main, a shortened K3500 rear spring, stock shortest spring, and the overload spacer block from the K3500 as a lift block(I know, I know, but it's only about an inch tall)
