Options for rear leaf spring replacement

[chevy72blu]

My truck is a frankenbuild '72 C20, cut down to a short bed.

The 2 piece shaft was converted to a one piece. It looks like in order to accomplish this, someone torched out the lower section of the carrier bearing crossmember. My guess is there was a pinion angle issue at the time and the single piece shaft would have hit the section that was cut out.

This looks fine the when observed while sitting, however it seems that axle wrap from the leaf spring rear is lifting the driveshaft upwards, rubbing the upper edge of the carrier bearing opening. This is cutting a line into the driveshaft, as clean as if it was turned on a lathe. Its around 1/32" now. This is all from stop light to stop light driving... no hard hook ups or burnouts.

The rear suspension has had the overloads and 1, perhaps 2 leafs removed. My guess is this what caused the issue.

What options are out there for replacement leafs or another setup? The truck has 2" lowering springs in front and about 3-4" drop in the rear (from the leaf removal). I've always wanted to convert it to trailing arms but the cut up crossmember (and cost of aftermarket) has made me shy of it. I dont haul anything with it FWIW.

[Gmc.guy]

If you do decide to go trailing arm, make sure frame was shortened under cab in front of crossmember and not behind. If the cut was behind the crossmember, the trailing arms will poke the rearend too far to the rear. But if your crossmember is torched up and you replace it anyway you can bump it forward and it will not be an issue

[chevy72blu]

Thanks. Yeah, the frame was cut near the axle in the rear section. I figure the cross member would need to move forward to compensate? The bolt holes are still present in the cross member (I think they were all drilled regardless of rear suspension type), so I'd just need the trailing arms and assorted gear to make the swap.

Going to trailing arms probably makes the most sense given the state of things.

[chevy72blu]

bump

[Mike C]

I like the leaf spring setup myself. My truck has a DJM flip kit that lowered the rear 7" and I have a set of Cal-Trac bars. My truck has the optional heavy duty rear springs and I removed the overload because it was interfering with the Cal-Tracs, but you could keep it if you just flipped it and didn't use the bars.

But companies like Early Classic Enterprises sell 2 1/4" wide drop leaf springs that should minimize wrap and have a better rate if 4" all the drop you need/want.