Anyone do a bastard pack or add a main leaf?

[ManNamedJed]

Looking to firm up the ride and add just a touch of lift to my 71 suburban. I have access to some square body suburban springs and was considering removing its main leaves to add a leaf to my springs.

I'd cut the ends off and make them the same length as my main leaves, and add them to the stack just below the main leaf.

I've done this on my Jeep Cherokee and really like how it turned out - added about an inch of suspension lift and firmed the ride just a bit. However I used another set of the exact same springs as donors.

Thoughts?

[sweetk30]

you can but leave the new 2nd leaf around 1/2" shorter than the current main .

also measure the leaf thickness . if you put in a thinner leaf then its not much good to you .

and its best not to mix and match std leafs with tappered thickness leafs used in the front ends factory .

[kwmech]

I mix and match all the time, but more often than not I just have the spring pack rebuilt at the spring shop telling them what I need. They usually add a leaf or 2 and re-arch the pack and install new bushings.

I've still got a bastard pack in my 1 ton flatbed, but that thing is such a beast it doesn't matter in the long run. I even added 3 leafs to the auxillary/overload pack

[ManNamedJed]

Thanks. I was hoping someone had done some spring mixing from squarebody trucks or suburbans in the past and had an idea of what worked and what didn't to save me some experimenting.

[sweetk30]

best way to do any spring pack is never let 1 leaf cover 100% the next leaf a good fan out and same thickness works good .