Lifted Suspension leafs are no longer holding their spring

[SierraTango]

Had installed 6 inch leaf springs on my truck and now they have begun to rest on the chassis.

Any suggestions/thoughts on this?

Any brand of lift kit for the diesel rigs known to hold their form for a long life?

 

[Bob4x4]

Softer spring packs will take a beating when weight is applied on any brand,they can be rebuilt for a reasonable cost

 

[AEdelheit]

I would look for a company that heat treats after arching, some companies use pre heat treated steel and they will not hold up as well.

 

[DVolk]

Rough Country or Superlift , also are you sure you got " Diesel lift Springs " As my guess you probably did not , you also need to check the leaf spring pack count never go less than stock count

 

[SierraTango]

I did get springs for a diesel. Failed to mention last night when I posted that I had them custom made from alcan spring. They've been installed on the truck 7 years now.

 

[GrantP]

I would think Alcan would be better than any of the aftermarket "lift" companies. Have you approached Alcan regarding the issue?

 

[DVolk]

My guess some one screwed up because I talked to two different spring shops and were asking about spring rates so if you don't know that your screwed my guess is you got lite weight rated springs , of call them they should be warrenteed , how much did you pay ,my guess is you over paid

 

[AEdelheit]

Even with a softer spring rate a well made leaf should hold there arc decent, how many leafs also comes into play. A softer leaf pack but with 10 leafs should ride quite well and last a long time.

 

[DVolk]

With 10 leafs that's a bit extreme that's way over the stock count , more like almost double

 

[AEdelheit]

With 10 leafs that's a bit extreme that's way over the stock count , more like almost double

If your going thought the hassle of swapping leafs why not improve the ride quality at the same time? 4 leafs that are .25" will give better ride quality then 1 leaf at 1" thick. Not saying there needs to be 10 but a blanket statement like the leafs are softer then stock to they wont hold up well just is not accurate.

 

[BigPapa]

I was surprised when I worked at a repair shop how many Ford leaf springs we had to replace due to this. They were mainly fronts.

 

[DVolk]

I agree on the the springs my 92 springs on front are wore out more is good if the springs Are good although too much becomes a lumber waggon ride

 

[Simplysmn]

I would Contact Bill at Alcan spring in Colorado .I have a set on the Crewcab Dually I am building and they are Built to hold the Cummin's

 

[CLiberty]

How old are the springs? They will normally settle a little after they are installed and you put some miles on them. I put 2.5 over alcans on the front of my truck to level it out and initially it sat nose high but after a thousand miles or so they settled so the truck now sits level and have not drooped any further. One other thing I noticed with the alcans is thay due to the added arch of the spring, it needs to be a bit longer in overall length than the o.e. spring which in my case caused the 3.5" factory length rear spring shackle to be a little too short. I made some 4.5 inch length shackles which restored the spring/frame clearance issues and it has been great for two years now with about 8k miles on them (I do not drive the truck too much lol).

 

[SierraTango]

The actually age of the springs is roughly 7 years. And I requested them pretty stiff, believe I asked for them each to hold up a couple tons. Wasn't doing any wheeling with the truck, didn't want much flex and the truck rode smooth.

 

[DVolk]

I think there was your issue they just built a spring back to hold a couple of ton ,you need to figure in your weight of truck load capacity and the weight of the engine plus any assecories winch bumper and winch etc , you just got too light of a spring

 

[SierraTango]

I will have to look into that, as I thought that I ordered them well beyond the weight that they would need to hold up with their arc as it is a very stiff ride

 

[DVolk]

There is a lot of wizardry that goes into spring design and vehicle weight plus gross load weight then calculating all of that for the finished product I'd call up one of the lift manufactures and get there specs for there lift springs

 

[SierraTango]

Haha wizardry, that's for sure. I definitely have some digging to do