Jon And Sheri's Vitamin D Wagon

[techieman33]

Sport trac leaves are a little stronger if you want to try those. If I remember right explorer springs are rated at 1100lbs. and sport trac springs are 1200lbs.

 

[Elessar65]

Could always go a different direction. Rip off the 'Yota guys and go with 63" Chevy's and a double shackle setup. Thats my plan, eventually, lol. You'll have to make new front hangers, and shackles though. But it will give you some more stuff to powder, lol.

 

[james t]

I wonder if your frame is tweaked a little. Thats the only thing i can think of that makes sense.

 

[Turdle]

I wonder if your frame is tweaked a little. Thats the only thing i can think of that makes sense.

Well, I have made cross measurements and found nothing.

But then I don't know for sure what I am doing. Is there a good method of measuring to be sure?

 

[james t]

Im sure there is but i have no idea.

What traction device is in the rear?

 

[Turdle]

Im sure there is but i have no idea.

What traction device is in the rear?

If you mean suspension type traction device there is none.
if you mean differential --it is open

 

[james t]

Okay these are just random thoughts im gonna throw out there... forgive me if some of it seems silly or basic.

The point about the locker i was getting at is if you're measuring the suspension say after you turn into the driveway, on the throttle, the locker can preload the rear springs and make it lean while its parked. Welded/spooled rear does this really bad. Not an issue if you're open.

Did you torque the spring/shackle bolts down after you got it down sitting on its tires or did you do this while on jackstands? If so, the springs/shackles could be bound up slightly causing the lean.

Are you driving it around first and then measuring, or measuring as soon as you get it down off the jack? You should drive it a bit and see if it settles out before trying to fix it.

Run a tight string from the center of the front leaf spring bolt to the center of the rear leaf spring bolt at the shackle. Measure from this line down to the Ubolt plate (find a common point that is inline). This will tell you for sure if its a spring... if one has more arc than the other then either they arent a matched set or you have some kind of weight balance issue. Drive it around first before you take this measurement.

If all else fails, swap the driver and passenger leaves with each other, drive it around and remeasure.

 

[Scott B.]

When I swapped the Explorer axle under my Ranger, I built the left side spring perch 1/4" taller than the right side perch.

On the left side, I carry the spare tire, fuel tank and me - a constant load. I tried to account for the load imbalance by the taller perch.

Did it work you may ask? More or less - I haven't measured for a while, but the truck doesn't look crooked, and doesn't wear out tires abnormally.

 

[Turdle]

Okay these are just random thoughts im gonna throw out there... forgive me if some of it seems silly or basic.

The point about the locker i was getting at is if you're measuring the suspension say after you turn into the driveway, on the throttle, the locker can preload the rear springs and make it lean while its parked. Welded/spooled rear does this really bad. Not an issue if you're open.

Did you torque the spring/shackle bolts down after you got it down sitting on its tires or did you do this while on jackstands? If so, the springs/shackles could be bound up slightly causing the lean.

Are you driving it around first and then measuring, or measuring as soon as you get it down off the jack? You should drive it a bit and see if it settles out before trying to fix it.

Run a tight string from the center of the front leaf spring bolt to the center of the rear leaf spring bolt at the shackle. Measure from this line down to the Ubolt plate (find a common point that is inline). This will tell you for sure if its a spring... if one has more arc than the other then either they arent a matched set or you have some kind of weight balance issue. Drive it around first before you take this measurement.

If all else fails, swap the driver and passenger leaves with each other, drive it around and remeasure.

From eyeballing it , it looks like I got a bad spring to be honest-and by some plain ol luck managed to slip it on the driver side. It is obviously "flatter" visually than the passenger side-even with the same size blocks.

I did tighten everything down on the stands though. Maybe if I was to loosen everything and re torque while it is on it's weight?

I can try that, but to be honest the driver side spring looks "wavy" before and aft of the u bolts

 

[FROADER]

If they are both brand new spring packs (which could be different, but go with me here) I would more likely go with james' first thought of the frame being tweaked. Another possibility is the front suspension. Are we absolutely sure that it's level? That would affect the rear if it's not.

 

[james t]

If its a new spring, and it looks wavy or what i call the "stretched out W" shape then its bad.

It wouldnt hurt to losen the spring bolts, retorque and then go drive it around.

 

[Turdle]

Any possiblity the severe angle of the front panhard bar is pulling the front driver corner down?

 

[james t]

Doubt it.

 

[FROADER]

Doubt it.

x2.

I was thinking if the coil buckets weren't mounted evenly. Just trying to think of all the possibilities, like did you find the 300lbs weight that Mark put under the back seat on the driver's side? :

 

[Turdle]

OMG that would be a cruel joke-

But to tell the truth, it would only take about 50-60 lbs of force to put it back to level. The springs are " right on" for trail use I think, as grabbing the front bumper and with one arm you can move the truck up and down quite a bit.

Maybe I just need to get some passenger side ballast.

no not a fat chick, something more like mounting the spare toward the passenger side of the rear bumper. That is, when I make a bumper.

 

[Turdle]

I am so over this.
I took the rear leafs out and set them side by side. I laid a level over them and wouldn'tyaknowit the bubble is centered.

Ok, so like I said I am so over this. New rear frame shackle bushings , shackles, and new bolts going in now. White shackles of course.
I had em on hand but got lazy on you guys.



Oh and I am going to rotate the leafs just in case.

 

[Albino 94LTD]

So, they have equal arc when unloaded, how about when someone's standing on them? The rate could be different.



And how come they aren't white?

 

[yellowford]

I know this is a little late but if I would have known you were going to be that close to my neck of the woods you probably would have left with a few things to be powder coated lol, I keep meaning to take a drive over to lmc someday.

 

[Turdle]

I'm kinda stuck. The bushings do not want to come out.

Any tips for this? Other than a sawzall?

 

[Albino 94LTD]

This thread needs more usless posts so you can catch up with IZwack.

You went to LMC, I went to ARB