you should've stopped after that statement. usually people that knock these springs are ones that don't, and never have, had them in their truck.

i have the 2" skyjacker front springs in my truck. they've stayed the same height since i put them on 2 years ago. they gave me ~1.5" of lift and my truck sits level, to the naked eye. these are things i KNOW from first hand experience.

 

Just passing on info that I have seen. That's why I qualified it the way I did.

 

I have airbags and when I pump them up I pee blood.

 

Might wanna get that checked^^^

 

Hyperbole, but probably not far from the truth. That's empty. Super smooth with 2 tons in the bed!

 

So I bit the bullet today and ordered the 3 leaf parabolic stack for $575 delivered. Will report back once it's all buttoned up and running.

 

Got them installed, have way more give then stock, will see how they are when I get the engine back in.

 

Spoke with a local shop in Ladysmith (Vancouver Island). They said they could supply the 3-leaf parabolics too, because they are distributed by Standen. Also said they arch them in-house for more lift, and more resilient to sag after arching.

 

They make packs with more lift and they have 4 springs instead of 3.

As for re-arching making them more resilient to sag, I find that hard to believe...

 

I'm relaying what I was told. Maybe tapered leafs hold their shape better? If I buy a set, I'll hold him to it....

 

I finally got my engine put back together and installed so I could take it for a ride and see how the new springs are. Long story short, they surpassed my expectations by far. The front end is now far and away the easiest ridding set of leaf springs I own. Money well spent for sure.

Now I just need to get my coil springs on the rear end tuned in and I might have the easiest riding first gen around.

 

Did you go with the stock height springs?

How much lower is the front versus the rear (any pics)?

 

I did go with stock spring height. There is about 2 to 2.5" between the springs and bump stop and that is with a 300+ pound grille guard.

The rear end is higher, but only because I added a coil spring to each side that lifted it about 2 to 3". The stock rear leaves are completely sagged out, as were the fronts, so I don't really have anything to reference to that would mean anything to anyone else. I can measure the lockout to fender distance for the front if anyone is interested.

 

What do you mean by added a coil spring to each side of the rear?
You are running leaf springs, but added some coils springs to lift it 2 to 3 inches...What am I missing?

Are you talking the shocks with an added coil on them??

Glad to hear you like the new front springs. My new 2 inch Skyjackers front springs gave me just under 4 inches between the bump stop and the top of the leaf spring back in the front. I still have to drop all the sheetmetal back on it so it will settle more.

 

To preface this, I have a steel flatbed.

I made a simple bracket that holds a piece of 2" pipe on top of the rear spring stack. I put the bottom of the coil spring over this pipe to hold it in place and made a similar bracket for the flatbed to hold the top. This way I am effectively riding around on coil springs but the leaves are still there to hold the axle in place.

Picture a set of airbags, but I just used coil springs instead and set them against the flatbed instead of a frame mounted bracket. Much better ride and it added a lot of load carrying capacity as well.

As for my comment on tuning them, if I make a spacer to add an inch or two more preload to the springs, it will lift it a little more and should ride better as the leaf packs will be doing even less.

I have done the same thing to my '72 K20 with similar results of a much better ride and improved carrying capacity.