All it took was a 4.5" grinder with a cutoff wheel and some time.

I got to thinking about what Kent Kroeker of T-Rex was saying about the overload springs being a major cause of the harsh ride. What if they weren't there?

Now, when I say overload springs, I'm NOT talking about the extra leaves above the pack if you have the camper pkg. Since I had these camper springs, I removed the spring stops from the frame, which helped only on huge bumps.

But what REALLY helped was cutting out the HUGE leaves on the very bottom of the pack. These are the ones with he little rubber discs on the front end.

This overload leaf is less like a leaf spring and more like a steel plate almost 3/4" thick!!! It tapers from the middle to the ends, but it's still huge.

You have to be careful where to cut the bottom leaf out. I didn't cut it right up against the lift block; instead, I cut it just outside the little clips that are on the thick overload leaf.

The end result looks more like I just drastically shortened the overload leaf. it made a big difference in the ride quality over little bumps.

The best way to describe it is that it rides more like a 1500. Unfortunately for you guys who tow heavy, you'll lose your heavy tongue weight capability.

But if you're like me and almost never tow, then this is a GREAT mod to do...

Justin

PS-- make sure you have a good grinder, as there will be a huge sparky shower for about an hour straight. be sure you don't melt your tire or anything like that

 

I'm actually planning on taking that overload and turning it upside down, so it curves away from the main leaf pack. My 3500 didn't drop even 1" with close to 1000lbs of tongue weight. too stiff for my taste.. all I tow is around 7000lbs total, usually around 700lbs of tongue weight.

I might remove the camper package leaves as well, or unbolt the spring stops, depending on how hard they are to get at.

No weight police on this one.. it was a test... not done while driving.

It would be nice if someone could say for sure "The overload kicks in at xxx pounds on the axle, static, and the first camper leaf kicks in at xxxx pounds, static" etc...

 

I considered a spring flip, but I looked closely and couldn't see how that would help at all. The overload leaf on bottom is almost perfectly straight on my truck. Flipping it wouldn't change anything.

So i shortened it. That shifts more of the weight to the other leaves, and gives it a little more flex-- just enough to take the harshness down a couple notches.


Justin

 

Interesting... Maybe I'll take it out completely for a while, and let the upper camper springs do the weight-carrying duties... Since I'm a light-loader...

I'm very close to ordering the parts to level the rear of the truck as well, as soon as I find a steel lift block.. Found a nice billet aluminum one that was 2.5" high, but I'd rather use steel...

 

I know this thread is old but I did flip those springs today and it does seem to ride a little smoother and it may of lowered my truck down a little bit too.

 

I took the overload and spacers out.
truck rides better now.

 

if you guys want your truck to ride like a car, why did you buy it?????

 

Well I always had wanted one before and now I can't do without the power.

 

Yeah, what's up with that? Buy a HD rig and then expect it to ride like a car???? You can't very well have it both ways except maybe with air suspension.

 

sure you can, go buy a 3rd gen. i dont know what the dif is but they drive like a car compaired to a 2nd gen truck. to bad you only get half the reliability.