Sorry for the delay in posting Ron. It has been busy around here. So far the springs haven't sagged at all. My measurements are the same as they were when I installed them several months ago. The shocks are Bilstien 5125 series ( BE5-A463 ) 9.24" Travel 15.11" - 24.35".

 

Hi Pete, Thanks for the update. Good to hear that your still happy with the improved ride quality of the springs. I'm ordering the same set for my crew cab ctd conversion. Thanks for the info on the bilsteins too. Ron

 

Well,
After driving on these springs for over a year now I can say that they have definitely not sagged at all. The ride, while softer than my original 235,000 mile flat springs is better over regular smooth road contours, they are definitely bouncier than they should be though. Driving around curves with slight imperfections at highway speeds can send the truck into a bouncing mode (not a death wobble), that can be a little treacherous at times and any imperfections in the road surface like a small crack or uneven pavement is absolutely bone jarring. Since I am sure any warranty on these springs has expired I am taking it upon myself to remedy the situation with my own R&D. I have put on a shackle that is slightly longer than the factory one but shorter than the one they supplied that still clears the frame. I am going to once again remove the springs from the truck to de-arch the main spring slightly, so I can get my originally desired 2" lift not the 3"- 4" that I ended up with. I will replace the secondary leaf with something a little less massive. My truck is a 165" wheelbase Diesel Crew Cab so it is as heavy as these trucks get without a plow hanging off the front. I think this spring pack is simply too much spring for the weight of our trucks and doesn't get loaded enough with the weight of the chassis and driveline. In theory less leaf stack should translate into a better ride. As I'm sure we all have experienced, when you have a load in the bed, the truck rides much better. Unlike the rear springs of a truck the front should be mostly loaded with the weight of the truck, they are really not designed to haul too much of an additional load above them without being overloaded. We'll see how it turns out, I have to do something, it's a shame that I had to spend all that money to end up redoing what should have been what I bought in the first place.

 

That sounds exactly like what my alcan springs are like. I have ordered these parabolics and will do a comparison but i have a feeling i will be running the alcans when all is said and done.

 

I dont get it almost opposite of what I got to say.

I put mine on in january I got about 3000 miles on them,
No sag to report
Bouncier what is that???? Did you put the bilstein shocks on? They dont work,,, Put the shyjacker M95's on. https://www.dieseltruckresource.com/...t-t308959.html

Driving around curves with slight imperfections at highway speeds can send the truck into a bouncing mode (not a death wobble), that can be a little treacherous at times and any imperfections in the road surface like a small crack or uneven pavement is absolutely bone jarring ...... I cant believe I'm reading this.........
Shocks you got the wrong shocks on. Also what have you done to improve your steering? Are you still running the stock system???? Try https://www.dieseltruckresource.com/...x-t299031.html More here https://www.dieseltruckresource.com/...2-t301769.html That system lets you keep your sway bar. Also have you rebuilt your king pins & or bushings??? That makes a BIG difference.

Your going to de-arch your main spring Why.
You ordered the Two inch lift... Your old warn out 235,000mile saggy springs were not sitting at the factory height.. They were negative by about 2 inches. If you would have ordered the NON lift spring that would have given your originally desired 2" lift not the 3"- 4" that U ended up with. In other words minus 2 + 2 = 0 + 2 = positive 2... That adds up to the 2inch lift you ordered.
If your Front end is is too high you might try putting new springs in the rear After all they got 235000 miles on they and they are sagging... Mine was & were
I changed the the rears in my truck now sits level.

All in all I flat out love the way my truck rides.and steers.

 

I wouldn't say the bilsteins don't work, they are a bit of a struggle to get on yes.

 

I dont get it.

they are a bit of a struggle to get on yes

You struggled to get them on correct.

So does not that also mean they struggle to work.
Where is the pivot action in the bushing?????? Its not there.
That means they do not work.

 

BOBVA

You can believe what you read, as I have no axe to grind. I do appreciate your unsolicited math tutorial but the fact is the lift ended up being about 4" over the stock height not over flattened springs. I had to add a two inch drop arm just to make the truck steer both ways, and still the steering geometry is off because the lift ended up being way over two inches of lift. I have tried several different shocks that have always worked very well for me in the past. Speaking of shocks I tried to use a pair of stock lift shocks that I used on a different truck, WITH A 2 INCH LIFT, and the shocks fully extended didn't even come close to reaching the upper shock mount as they did for the truck they came off of with an actual 2" lift. For everyones information, the truck has a freshly rebuilt front end, king pins etc… It does have the stock steering set up with all new parts. I have done a 2" lift to several other trucks over the years and ended up with little to no improvement to the ride. This is the first time the ride and steering have ended up worse than the worn out springs they replaced (THIS IS MY PERSONAL EXPERIENCE). If your experience has been a positive one then I'm excited for you. I am giving my input based on what I am dealing with. I don't post or reply too often but I am determined to correct this situation with my truck and I will post again when I dearch my over arched main spring and I will try a little thinner secondary spring and I will once again let people know the results I ended up with. Maybe it will be better or maybe not, we'll see. I'm not trying to argue with anyone or attempting to tell anyone what to do, I'm just adding my two cents for whatever it might be worth.

 

Hey guys,
I'm a long time lurker here but this is my first post. I recently ordered the 2" parabolics and the same Bilsteins PJ 3 mentioned above. I'd say the ride has significantly improved over the old worn out leafs and shocks, but as sevnt300 mentioned, it gets a pretty nasty hop sometimes, especially if there's a few bumps in a row, you'll be bouncing like a quarter mile down the road. I originally thought it had to do with the fact that I hadn't done my rear leafs yet, but then I read Bobva's comments and now I'm thinking I might have the wrong shocks on there. It almost seems like they're too long, so every time you hit a bump, they're trying to break free which sends the truck into a nasty hop. PJ 3, did you experience anything like this when you did your truck? Did you need to adjust anything to compensate for the lift? I had to get a front end alignment done because the new leafs and springs made the tires just wear on the outside like this \ / Not too sure what else to try. Might just switch out the shocks and see if that helps. Any other suggestions?

 

I found out the reason for the continued bouncing has to due with the fact that the springs do not have enough of a load on them. Since the springs are dont flex enough under the weight of our trucks the shocks don't even come into play. The tires are actually bouncing off of the pavement like a basketball which is why the truck always felt unstable on bumpy roads. After speaking with many suspension/ spring shops and giving them the dimensions of these springs their calculations of these springs ratings were estimated to be between 3000 and 3800 lbs per spring or about 2 times what these trucks call for.

After paying as much as I did for these springs I wanted to salvage some part of the springs instead of starting all over again. Parobolic springs have great potential advantages and I knew there had to be a workable solution. I removed the secondary spring and test drove the truck a few miles with just a mono leaf....WOW what a nice ride however not a safe option plus the ride height was about what I had with the sagging springs. I let the truck sit on the single main leaf for about a week in hopes of removing some of the over arc out of them. I perused many junk yards looking for ideas from Dodges, Chevy's, Ford's, new, old, foreign and domestic. I found that 1996-2001 Chrysler minivans had a 2 1/2 wide single parabolic leaf that that was not as massive as the one I removed. These springs aparently have a rating of 1300lbs per so I thought I'd give them a try. I picked two up for $20, I figured that if it didn't work out I wasn't out too much money and I'd continue looking. I matched the springs up to the original secondary spring, the arc was the same so I cut them to size, cut off the centering stud and drilled holes acordingly. If you choose to do this make sure that you line the holes up with the spring that you are replacing because the holes aren't nessesarilly in the center, one of mine was and the other wasn't and if you don't have a carbide bit you will not be able to drill through the spring steel. I bought new nylon wear pads for $1 a piece from a local spring shop because the chincy ones that came with the springs disinegrated. After reassembling the truck I was happy that I finally had the 2" lift that I had originally ordered instead of the 4+ that I got. I took the truck for a test drive over a section of road thet used to bounce my feet off of the accelerator pedal and the suspension absorbed the bumps for the first time. After driving the truck for about a week or so it was still very harsh on uneven transitions, I discovered that the springs were bumping the frame at the shackle because they were flexing more than with the original secondary leaf so I installed longer shackles, this alieviated the issue. I have been driving the truck for a few months now and am satisfied with the results. The truck still does not ride like a 2nd gen as advertised but the reality is that it never will with leaf springs but it rides better than it ever has and I no longer have to have a death grip on my steering wheel to keep from banging my head on the ceiling.

I believe that a true parabolic set up of three similar to the Caravan springs size or even two Caravan springs and an original main leaf would further increase the ride quality while keeping the capacity but with more spring flexibility comes more spring travel which would defiitly require crossover steering. I may try the original main leaf option in the future as a inexpensive option for someone looking for a better ride but for now I'm satisfied with my results.

Please remember that this is my personal experience, if this is similar to your experience maybe this info can help you. I am not looking to challenge or be challenged by anyone.

 

Interesting....So do you have any pics, or exact method of building the springs? Found it a little hard to follow how you built them. And all this is in your crewcab?

 

find all the above comments very interesting. i put in a set of parabolics last fall in 92 one ton. one thing it did was not bottom out. the front was lifted considerably. i know to get a great ride out of these trucks is tough, but that bieng said i was not happy with the ride.i feel they are to much spring. there is still way to much bounce they dont i feel give enough, i am sur with a heavier load up ft they may be fine. i want to make an improvement but as yet have not decided what to do. i want to do my 3/4 ton but at this point will not go that route.

 

OK I've read, and re-read your post several times. Think I have it all pictured in my head now.

- Get a set of rear parabolic springs from a 1996-2001 Dodge Caravan. They run a single spring design I believe.

- Then use the second leaf from from the original OEM leaf pack to be your template for cutting and drilling the Caravan spring.

- Then drill new holes in the tips of the new modified caravan spring for new wear pads.

- Then attach this new spring to the bottom of the top main leaf from the new-er parabolic spring pack. Loosing the heavier second leaf from the new-er parabolic spring set-up.

- Install longer rear shackles so the new spring pack has more travel....How long did you make them??

Install and enjoy. Hope I got all that right.

Think I will grab a set of those caravan springs to have here just in case I find the ride too harsh when I finish my 4wd conversion on the crewcab.

 

I've had these springs almost a year now, they never do seem to settle any. They are a little bouncer than i'd like, noticed a fair improvement after doing kingpins, seems like the bouncing settles quicker.

 

I didn’t take pictures but I will to show what it looks like now and the shackle length. Yes, these springs are in my Crew Cab, while it still rides stiff over hard bumps potholes and the like, the ride did improved considerably. I still think it could improve more if the main leaf was not as massive and flexed more but I think it is a good compromise salvaging some part of the springs that I paid all that money for. As stated in an earlier post “I don’t mind doing a little R&D”, I just wish that Custom Suspension had done at least what I did and try to understand spring load and spring rate. It’s great to have springs that will never sag…. but at what cost? I think we all actually use our trucks and not just look at them, so for me I’d prefer a truck that sagged after 15 years and was usable to a truck that will not sag and is painful to drive. Every time after driving my truck before doing this mini van hybrid, I would check my frame for cracks because it drove so hard, thankfully I never found any.

The reply by ”thrashingcows” is pretty much step for step the process with the exception of saying “use the original OEM leaf pack to be your template”. If you are altering the “Custom Suspension” springs you’ll need to use their secondary spring as a template for the mono leaf minivan springs you’re replacing them with and to make sure you drill the centering holes on the new spring in the same place as the old spring you took off just in case (like mine) the hole is not in the center. I scrapped my original springs but when I find something I do want to experiment with using two minivan springs along with the factory main leaf on each side to see if this further improves things, not a true parabolic set up but If it works then in hindsight it would saved me and might save others a lot of money, time, headaches and backaches. I plan on installing the longer and wider rear springs from a 2nd gen 2500 in the next month which should improve the ride and increase the capacity even more… but I’m getting ahead of myself.

I will try to post a few pictures with the end results of what I did soon