Rear leaf spacer or shackles?

I'm pretty new to trucks and use mine mostly for hauling around my mountain bikes and building material/scrap. After 205k miles the struts on all 4 corners were pretty sloppy and wheel chatter over moderate and big bumps at speed was becoming unsafe. So I went with cheap, supposedly oem fit struts and a set of leaf spring blocks to being the rear level with the front.
When doing the install of the rear struts I realized since the lower strut mount is below the axle and that spacers would increase the distance between the strut attach points. So my question is:

Do I need to get longer struts to use the leaf spring spacer blocks or would leaf spring shackles at the rear attach point allow for the extra 1.5" lift?

If I am missing something obvious or not going about this in the right way, please enlighten me. I read through the suspension faq and some other stickies, saw mention of rear leaf blocks being a buffet way yoo lift the rear but found no install info/guides. Like I said, I'm new to trucks having spent most of my auto history playing with Subaru stuff and 50s-70s American car stuff. Thanks!

 

Generally, if you lift the rear you should get longer shocks.

Getting a lift block to level the rear sounds suspicious. It seems like you need new leaf springs? At 205k, I would get new leaf springs and ditch the block.

 

The new front struts and springs lifted it 1.75" so that's why I wanted to bring up the rear to level it out. The rear leafs may be tired but they don't appear to be flattened out at all.

So what is the proper economical way to lift the rear 1.5" or so? Leafs and longer struts? What's the purpose of shackles or lift blocks?

 

Shackle will put additional stress on the worn leafs... I'd probably look for an add-a-leaf, but it might get you a little more than 1.5"

Either way, a slightly longer shock will avoid you bottoming out on the shock itself.

 

Won't add a leaf stiffen up the rear by increasing the spring rate? If anything I'd like to soften the rear. 75% of the time the bed has only a pork chop box with bike stuff in it and a 22# bike the other 25% of the time.

I'd like to accomplish lifting the rear 1.5"+ without changing springs. They are already stiffer than they need to be for my use. Is this not possible?

 

Many people on these forums blindly put down blocks, and likely have no actual experience with them. I have used blocks in my previous truck (a rock-crawler), even in combination with a shackle lift and custom (ie - home brew) spring packs. I ran the Rubicon a dozen times with no mechanical problems or breakdowns. They have disadvantages (mainly increased axle-wrap), but with a 95hp 4-banger, it was not an issue for me. Advantages : cheap, easy to install, doesn't really change the ride and will never sag.

A single AAL will stiffen the ride and stress the adjacent leaves, and IMHO, is the worst way to lift.

And yes, your shocks are now 1.5 inches short, which would be the case no matter what kind of lift has just been installed. This means that your shock COULD bottom out when (and only when) the tire on that side DROOPS to its maximum. You can test this by jacking up that corner (by the FRAME), until the tire is just off the ground, and then check to see if its the shock has maxed out. If not, you are fine.

 

Get new leafs

 

The proper way is with new springs. You can remove a leaf if needed to soften the ride.

Adding a block will raise it up like you want but will open another can of worms. You will experience more axle wrap, or spring wrap if you prefer, which is something you want to avoid

Longer shackles will stress the leafs and change the pinion angle. You will need a 3" plus extra length shackle to get 1 1/2" of lift and it will ride terrible. I would go as far to say that they are unsafe at that length.

Both of these items are offered through various companies but in reality should not be used.

As far as shocks, if you are just using the truck to haul a bike around and not actually taking it off road, stock length will be fine for awhile. You should get longer ones though to make it right.

 

Sure, use the block if you don't want to mess with springs. If you stay under 2" a block shouldn't be too bad. You might need longer u-bolts.

I've run all kinds of set ups, including a 3" shackle that gave me 1.5" of lift. I do not believe 3" is unsafe, although they will torque the springs more and wear the life out of them faster.

Still, with that many miles, I would look at new spring options personally.

 

I like it when people stack blocks on top of each other! That's the best! Go for it!!!

 

sorry bud. you bought a truck. it's going to drive like a truck. IMO buy either an add a leaf or new leafs that give a 2 inch lift.

I also did the research on longer than stock shocks for my truck when extended. mine extended were 19.5. monroe 37032 are 2 inches longer when extended. this post has many more numbers if you want something longer.

 

Just so you know with new oem replacement leafs (no lift) the truck will sit level with front raised 1.75" because of the factory rake

 

Well I put in the blocks because I already had them and they leveled it out just about perfectly. However, between them being aluminum and being installed on worn leafs AFAIK, I'll be ordering new OEM height leafs or the toytec # leaf AAL pack .

Thanks, Bro! Thats Sic!

No need to be sorry. I'm not trying to make it drive like a caddilac, just don't want it to be super bro'd out for driving around on pavement 90% of the time.

Thanks for the link and the P/N.

Thanks for that info.

 

Aluminum ? Yeah, don't run those very long. I've heard of them breaking down under that pressure. Could be ugly.

A 3-leaf, progressive add-a-leaf would be the next best thing to an all-new leaf pack. Thats what I did. Inexpensive and a lot easier to do than a new pack ( you don't really have to detach the main leaf pack from the mounts and mess with bushings ).