aAdding leafs to my truck

[jackndelphine]

Hi, My 96 ex after 140k is finally sagging in the rear, and I had to tow my camper a couple of weeks ago and it definietly could use some help, my camper is only 2600lbs and the truck did not like having it hitched to it at all. Anyway, I was gonna put on helper springs but I have another set of springs form a parts truck I had last year. What I wanted to do was take some leafs out of the spring pack that I have from the parts truck and add them to the spring pack that is in my truck now. My question is, should I just double up a couple of the same size springs or stagger them? I realize and hope that I will lift the truck a little higher than stock height but I wanna make sure that I am going at this the right way. I have to pick up my camper this weekend so I am gonna have to do the job on saturday, this is the first time I towed anything that heavy with that truck and I was a little disapointed. I didnt expect it to sagg as much as it did, it did however have plenty of power so I just need to get it to sit up high and I will be happy, and I am sure it will handle better while towing as well. Thanks, Jack

 

[5.0]

I would use an add-a-leaf. Although, the chances of you finding one by Saturday and install may be slim. I wouldn't use the leafs from another pack; just wait for an add-a-leaf.

 

[jackndelphine]

Well, I went ahead and took your advice and ordered the add a leafs, I got them today and installed them, I am pretty sure I got it right but I just wanted to check, I took the bottom heavy leaf off and put the add a leaf on top of it, so that all the thin leafs were together and kept the heavy leaf on the bottom, I figured that if I put the add a leaf all the way on the bottom it would be fighting that heavy leaf all the time and probably wouldnt be that effective. I put everything back together and it is sitting about 1 1/2 above stock height which is fine with me, so I guess tomorrow I am going to crank up the torsion bars so I can match the rear ride height, I am hoping I can get away with out having to get it aligned if I only come up a little in the front, I am due for tires in the fall so I wanted to get it done then. Anyway I am going to be towing that camper this weekend so now it should be sittin pretty again.
Thanks for the help, Jack

 

[5.0]

It sounds like you've got it right. The add-a-leaf needs to fit in the pack where it's shorter than the leaf on top of it, and longer than the leaf under it. It's ok for it to be the bottom of the pack also, as long as the overload leaf is still under it. The heavy leaf at the bottom is the overload leaf and needs to stay on the very bottom as you have it.

I don't know about the alignment. It will be off some, although I have no idea how far it will be off.