attn. Sport owners

[Sinjin]

Does anybody know what would happen if I would take those little metal plates out, that are below the leaf springs and above the shock mount plate in the rear would do?
Just by looking at it seems in would give me about a 1"-2" of more clearence under the shock, but seeing it's under the axle, would it lower the truck, or would it might raise it in the back?
Thanks for any ideas,

 

[Robert]

If you have raised the rear end with stiffer springs or longer shackles then you can remove three of the pads. You will need one of them so the leaf sits level in the spring mount. If you remove them without lifting the rear you will be pushing your shock absormer in by about 1 1/2" which will cause your shock to bottom out before your suspension does. You'll wind up with a very harsh ride and probably tear up your shocks. Removing them will not provide a lift nor will it lower your rear. It will give you added ground clearance under your spring mounts. I three pads from mine when I put my longer shackles on.

 

[Sinjin]

Thanks for the response Robert, since I do have the warrior shackles I am going to go ahead and take out 3 of the pads and leave one, more ground clearance the better. Once you took these out, did you see any gain in ariculation?
Thanks Again,

 

[soupbone]

i fooled with the pads but just ended up getting rid of the mono leaf. just bolt on 4dr leafs and enjoy.........

 

[Diablo3305]

you installed a 4 door leaf in place of your mono leaf? did you notice any improvements? where do you get a 4 door one, and how hard is it to install?

 

[soupbone]

Yes there is a improvement in ride quality and height. There isnt anymore sag. It articulates pretty good with the sway bar disconnected also. the install wasnt hard at all. just have plenty of jacks around. also a smaller screw jacks works real good under the spring or the shock mount thing.

 

[Robert]

Originally posted by Sinjin
Thanks for the response Robert, since I do have the warrior shackles I am going to go ahead and take out 3 of the pads and leave one, more ground clearance the better. Once you took these out, did you see any gain in ariculation?
Thanks Again,

Not really since the leaf mounting points are not changed. The only thing that changed was the bottom of the shocks are brought up about 1 1/2" which put them back to the stock length. It is possible that with the pads in there that the shocks could have been getting stretched to their limits, but I didn't really notice it. If they were then they would have limited the downward travel. I just did it to give me the added clearance under the shock mounts.

 

[CBoug76]

My ASE Certified Ford Mechanic told me last night that if i were to remove the spacers and replace them with shorter leaf's then I won't have to change the entire Leaf. From what I can tell is that the "mono" leaf is just the main spring from the 4 door leaf pack. He also said something about when I change from the spacers to the 4-door leafs, I will need a new center bolt.

 

[Robert]

I don't think the mono leaf is just the longer leaf from the 4-doors. The weight difference between the 4-door and the 2-door is less than 200 lbs so I doubt that the extra three leafs are required for only 200 lbs. I also think the mono leaf is a progressive rate spring to provide a softer load when unloaded. I also don't think the bolt is any different either since the bolt on the mono leaf extends to the hole in the shock mount. The thickness of the mono leaf and the four pads is the same thickness as the 4-door's spring pack. The bolt on the 4-door extends to the same hole in the spring pack. Someone that has actually swapped the mono leaf for the spring pack would know better though. I ended up buying replacment bolts at Checker Auto Parts since I had to cut my bolts off to remove my extra pads and with the extra pads removed, I didn't need as long of bolts. I also cut about 1 1/2" off the 'U' bolts.