How to: Chevy 63" Leaf Spring Swap

Interesting....

 

Yeah, i want to see pictures of this added leaf. @Trident904

I haven’t taken mine out to flex it yet, I’m sure it may limit up travel slightly and may hurt droop because i lost some shock travel. Ill see how it does, i want to try 16” shocks sometime soon too.

 

What sucks is you have to go king or big brand for 16s. I’ve had John look for 16s at 4wheel parts. I’ll be doing 16” ads shocks in the back when I do the swap

 

Yeah. I know. $$

 

Finally. Planning on king 16s through the bed and a ruff stuff kit. Should I remove the overload? Im assuming yes.

 

Thanks to all who contributed to this awesome thread. Very helpful!

I’m slowly completing this project myself. I went with all the same parts as the OP but held off on the rear shackle outrigger mount.

What’s holding me up is I’m trying to understand my options for ride height. I don’t want a lot of lift.

I want to keep ride height fairly low but at the same time don’t want to sacrifice up travel anymore than needed.

So a few questions:

1. Would mounting the shackle outrigger mount higher up on the frame help accomplish this? It seems that would reduce ride height but not affect up travel and might even reduce or eliminate the need to extend the bump stops.

2. I see most mount it flush with the bottom of the frame. But why not move it up half way or even to the upper end of the frame?

3. Is there anyway to utilize the stock inverted shackle hanger while I decide on finally shackle mount location? Maybe double shackle or some adapter. Not long term, but to buy me some time while I figure this out...

Any feedback would be greatly appreciated!
Mike

 

Got my 63s installed weekend before last by @EddyRRT. Pulled my OME 886s off anp put a set of RR Kings up front to got with the 14" Kings in the back.



Here it is with the 63s and 886s


The Kings need to be preloaded to match that ride height. Haven't done that yet. Just got a spring compressor yesterday, so maybe this weekend.

Here's how its sitting at the moment:

 

Does anyone know if the L marking on the springs has to go a certain way. I swear I kept them in the same orientation but I might have messed it up. Every spring has one. Wondering if they have to go the same way.

 

I’m not sure if it matters, but i think they go towards the front. I will check tomorrow. I marked the original orientation of them and mounted them the same way.

 

Ok, sorry I forgot to look the other day. I have mine with that mark towards the rear, which is the original orientation.

 

So I will put all 6 L marks towards the rear?

 

Yes. Even though it probably doesn’t matter. Most other leaf springs come with a military double wrap that goes in the front. These chevys are just plain spings.

 

So @Trident904 do you have any pics of your added leaf yet? I’m going to take mine apart again this weekend, I will try what you have if you show me what your set up is.

 

No, I took the whole leaf pack out. I have to replace the bushings.

 

Man I gotta do this sooner than later. Thanks for the great thread!

It's been a while since the last post, anybody actually done 16s on the Ford towers yet, and is it that beneficial over 14s?

 

Wouldn’t do the towers unless your doing a lot off offset. Onboard them or do custom hoops

 

what do you mean by onboard? 1st gen style, with them mounted in the center of the bed? or just going through the bed?

 

My bad. Inboard them. Like so. Or straight up and down but you will lose your spare tire location. 12s inboard should be fine. These are 10 or 12s that we’re recent provided for a swap I did.

 

I was wondering about mounting them that way. I guess they flex better there, but don't ride quite as controlled for normal dirt road driving?

I'm not super familiar with the pros and cons of inboard mounting. It's probably a lot easier to get max articulation though! My spare is already in the bed so that spot is empty

 

Will a 2.5 shock fit in the ford shock towers? Anyone know?