Best leaf spring for the added weight

I am currently running an OME leaf pack on my truck but even with the small amount of added weight with the truck cap it seems to be sagging after about a year or so. I am looking into getting a rear high clearance bumper with a tire carrier and was wondering what you guys recommend would keep the rear of the truck supported and not let the rear sag. I would ideally like the rear to sit a little higher than the front.

 

Deaver u402 stage 2 or 3 depending on weight
Or dobinsons heavy leafs

 

Deaver U402 Expedition Stage 3 is what I'm running. Love them. I originally had an AT Habitat plus swingout, etc. You can see in the first pic below I had a lot of rake, and that was fully loaded for camping, including 150lbs of water in the bed near tailgate or on the swingout.



Here I am loaded with... lets just say a LOT of weight , and it sits level. I'd add up what you plan on running normally and figure out your load and decide on Stage 2 or Stage 3.

 

Yours fully loaded sits how mine does normally.

 

And I've had these leaf springs installed since June 2018.

 

Highly recommend a custom built set of ALCAN Leaf springs - love mine -

 

What kinda pricing for Alcan? I've heard good things, but don't seem to find any off the shelf items listed anywhere. Obviously you said custom, but unless there is an odd use case, custom isn't necessarily worth the extra cost.

 

I will have to go back and look at my invoice - install was $400 at their shop, but they also installed all my Archive garage hammer hangers, cross bar, ubolt flip kit etc. Was about 5 hours of labor involved.

their price was comparable to Deavers etc. If someone is interested I would call and speak with Lew (owner) and tell him what you need/want. I required (based on Weigh Scale ticket) 1000lbs over stock (I am 920lbs constant in the rear) plus he built 5" lift/arch for my lift. I drove up to Grand Junction Colorado from New Mexico and had them complete the install to save on shipping charges and any possible reshipping charges if something wasn't correct since I was dealing with lift and weight issues/concerns and having them do it at their shop allowed/enabled them to make adjustments/corrections on the fly etc.

 

My Deavers were 999.00 from @HeadStrong Off-Road 4 years ago, i know they are more now. Install, my friend helped with one day after work. Luckily a relatively easy job for someone that knew what they were doing (my friend, not me, lol).

The U402 Stage 3 are supposed to be about 3 inches of lift at 700-1000lbs constant bed weight. I feel that's pretty accurate, having only dropped down to stock height with a 1000 lb camper, + gear, + HC rear bumper, plus 400 or more lbs of tongue weight.

 

This whole 'xxx lbs over stock' or 'stage' 1 through 76 really should die in a fire. Springs should estimate your unladen lift and be spec'd in pounds\in (or the metric equivalent for outside the US).
Ex: my 3" AllPros* have a 248 lb\in spring rate. If I place 500 pounds in the bed over the axle the truck will squat 1 inch.

Imagine if other performance springs were designated in such an absurd way... 'x brand Porsche springs will allow 5 degrees of roll at 90mph in turn 27 of the nurburgring"

*I believe this brand has a bad rep on the forums for some issue years back but they were cheap and exactly what I wanted

 

This is another option for you, that that worked great for me. Easily carried over 1,000lbs in building materials many times over the years with no sag. Factory ride when not loaded. About $150 easy install in 1.5 hours.

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/smallest-leveling-kit.360797/page-5#post-10439102

https://www.hellwigproducts.com/product-list/helper-springs/

 

I think the main thing is different usage. I wasn't looking for lift. I wanted load carrying capacity. If someone were looking at the U402 Stage 3 with your standard of measurement, it would be something like 8 inches of lift unladen, with a probably very similar spring rate of 250lbs. But if you buy this type of spring to get 8 inches of lift... well... you are buying the wrong thing. It makes it very easy for someone to figure out what off the shelf spring pack should work for them. I do agree having the spring rate easily accessible would be great, but for 98% of people, they don't need that info or care.

 

I went from a medium Dakar pack to HD's with the exact setup OP is going towards... Cap, steel HC rear with a swing out, dual jerry cans and a 35" spare.. after a year the HD leafs looked like a W (~~) and performed like dog shit. I ditched all of the setup and have a tray now but went with some Deaver stage II's and am really happy with them. Buy once cry once, and of course, YMMV.

Good luck OP.

 

I’ve got Deaver U402 stage 2, and am very happy with them.

My weight is a camper shell, HC rear bumper (no swing) full size spare, sliders, and usually have about #75 of gear and tools.

 

It's absolutely harder to figure out using the stage\weight system. All it does it obfuscate the actual parameters the product supplies.

Additionally, I'm not sure you correctly understand the situation in general. I can't make heads or tails of your 8 inch claim. Nothing is stopping a manufacturer from making a leaf pack with 0 lift and big spring rates. The opposite is also true.

 

@tacotruck93

Dobinsons….likely 111-R or 112-R if you have lots of weight. My old setup was Dakar leaf pack with an aal for 8 total. They looked like a “w” and didn’t hold my weight well. I switched to the Dobinsons 112-R with their aal for 8 total. I probably didn’t need the aal since they handle the weight better than the Dakars but I didn’t want to have to add a leaf after. My truck fully loaded still has a bit of rake which is good for me. Plus, if I ever add extra weight it won’t be an issue. Right now I’m 7k+ loaded. @Crikeymike is the go to for Dobinsons.

Truck fully loaded with Dobinsons

Dakars 80% loaded. Fully loaded I couldn’t fit the tip of my finger between the frame and bump stop.

Dobinsons fully loaded

 

That bump gap difference is crazy!!

 

I've got the same truck as you with a fiberglass Leer. What's your rear hub to fender measurement? Around 24 inches?

 

I know, right. To say that the Dobinsons handle the weight better is an understatement. It's literally a night and day difference. I've been very happy with them and will recommend them over Dakars any day of the week.

 

With standard AllPros I would sag with a half bed full of yard equipment . Towing I'd be on the bumps. I was about an inch off the bumps with just the camper shell recently added. Replaced with Icon RXTs at option 3 and absolutely love the difference it made. Now it doesn't flinch when I drop the tailgate and sit on it, still rides smooth and I've got a slight rake back.