Removing leafs to lower a lifted truck

[whtgmc68]

10 years ago I added a 6" Skyjacker lift when I added the Dana 60 and 14 bolt FF diffs to my 68 K10. We had to cobble together a kit because Skyjacker didn't have an off the shelf kit and that caused me to have to add longer shackles to the front. This required the addition of 2" add-a-leaves to the rear. When you add this amount of spring lift to the higher spring perches of the bigger axles, and me being 10 years older, getting into the truck is not as easy as it used to be.

My front spring packs are five leaves and I am thinking about removing two leaves to drop the front and maybe make it ride a little softer. Then I would remove the add-a-leaves from the rear and another leaf if needed to get it to sit right.

I have searched and cannot find the answer to my question, but has anyone ever done this with a lifted truck and what kind of results did you get? If I could drop it 2-3" then my 35's would easily still clear, the truck would look a little better and my wife might actually get in it again. I don't really want to drop a grand plus on another set of lift springs if I can help it.

[special-K]

I've never removed leafs from a lift spring pack. I would assume other than the dimension of the leafs removed, they'd relax some for more drop. But you don't need a set, you just need the front pair. The rear leaf packs are the larger half of the cost in a lift kit. They are more steel, but also everyone uses front springs and on the rear there are a few options for lifting. Isn't there a way to eliminate the longer shackles in the front? I guess you know that Dana 60 gave you about a 1" lift over the work you did

[kwmech]

I used to have a 90 suburban that had a Rancho 4'' lift springs on it. I took 2 leafs out of the front and they ran almost flat and gave a good ride. I took the 4'' block out of the back and had the stock leaf pack rebuilt by a spring shop and they put in one more leaf as the factory spring packs on those were kinda soft. Leveled it out just right

[special-K]

Originally Posted by kwmech

I used to have a 90 suburban that had a Rancho 4'' lift springs on it. I took 2 leafs out of the front and they ran almost flat and gave a good ride. I took the 4'' block out of the back and had the stock leaf pack rebuilt by a spring shop and they put in one more leaf as the factory spring packs on those were kinda soft. Leveled it out just right

How much would you say that lowered the front?

[kwmech]

About 1.5 to 2'' the rancho springs were really stiff. Now on my current 91. I went from the 2 leaf pack to a 3 leaf (used) and had a spring shop re-temper and re-arch them so they do not bend into a negative arch. Doing this it picked up the truck about 3 inches and gave a nice ride

[special-K]

Good to know. I ran those Ranchos on a Blazer in the '80s. The original type lift springs from back when no one considered ride quality, just get it up there!! Burbank Spring was the first 4" lift I bought, then Rancho, then quite a few Superlift kits because they offered rear springs.

On the '90 Blazer I bought new for the family car I took to the spring shop to level up, i - 2". They over arched them and added a leaf to keep it there. It rode fine. I ran 33/12.50s on 10" wheels no problem

[whtgmc68]

I think when I get some time this fall/winter that I am going to take out two in the front and the add-a-leaves in the back and see what it does. I may have to take another one out of the back to keep the stance right.

[b454rat]

I did it to a couple of spring packs. My first truck I SAS'd had 12" Superlifts, needless to say they didn't flex or ride good. I took the bottom 2 leaves out, lowered it (don't remember how much) but flexed like crazy and rode better. My current truck is SAS'd with stock HD springs. I didn't drive it, other than moving it in the driveway, but was stupid stiff. I took the bottom leave out (was 4) and lowered it bout an inch, and would flex a little bit. It's a long term project, so haven't done anything to it since then....