Trout,
Before I did the rear spring over conversion on my 91, I took the stock springs to a local spring shop and had them take them totally apart, remove as much rust and corrosion as possible, repaint each leaf seperately before the spring pack is reassembled, replace the thin metal spacers between each leaf (they were fairly worn out), use a new center bolt for reassembly, and use a bolt on spring clamp instead of the stock clamp on style.
I did not replace the OEM bushings, since the spring guy thought I didn't need to. If I were to replace them, I think I would stay with the stock rubber bushings, instead of poly ones. I think the rubber gives a better ride and also provides more flex.
I was lucky, the arch of my spring pack was within stock specs, in fact, a little high (good), so I didn't have to rearch the springs.
Doing all the little things that I did to the spring pack reduced the interspring friction and provided more articulation, as well as a smoother and more compliant ride. Using the bolt style clamps with space above the spring to the bolt (about 1.5") enables the leaves to separate during droop, which helps a lot offroad. The stock crimp style clamp probably gives you less side to side sway on the street, but offroad improvement is more important to me, as well as ride comfort.
I think repainting each leaf separately helps them slide against each other better, and also reduces the corrosion between leaves that can bind up the spring pack. Most of time they paint the spring pack after it has been reassembled. Just ask your spring man, I'm sure he could do it for you.
DOGMAN
