New Alcan Leaf Packs - Other Things To Do During Installation?

My TSB leaf packs are only about 4 years old but as they are slightly inverted unloaded I'm replacing them with a new set from Alcan. Worked with Lew and settled upon a new pack that will get me back to stock height (slight rake) unloaded and have some freakin' clearance before the bump stops engage.

I'm considering doing a U-bolt flip with new bump stop while I'm in there. Looking at the setup from Archive Garage (I know about the TW discount), checking with them regarding suitability of their bump stops with a stock height leaf pack. I'm also doing the diff breather relocation while I'm in the neighborhood.

Is there anything I should consider doing during the leaf pack installation? I've seen mention of greasing the leaf bolts, but can't think of anything else not already done. Shocks are new, U-joints are in good shape.

Thanks!

 

Polyurethane bushings for the leaf eyes, Archive Garage is currently running a sale on their Ubolt flip kits that stacks with the TW code if you PM @ARCHIVE beyond that I can't recommend AG Hammer Hangers enough.

Otherwise there's not much to the rear.

 

Thanks for the bushing suggestion. I'll add those to my AG order.

 

Well, turns out the new Alcan leafs come with poly bushings, so all good there.

 

Got 'em installed yesterday. Took much longer than expected, partly because I spent some time on rust remediation while I had things out of the way, and part because I bolted things up in the wrong order on the first leaf and it took a while to get the front bolt in (involving a woodworking clamp to get the holes lined up). Also had to wait to cut the U-bolts down until they were installed; the inner two required a hacksaw and that wasn't especially speedy. Second one went in pretty smoothly and I pre-cut the U-bolts in a vise.

I've got waaaay more space between the new bump stops and the frame now. Ride is definitely better, rear end height isn't increased as much as I thought it might be. Will see how things look in a few months when she's all settled out.

 

What's your hub/fender measurement with those bad boys?

 

I need to ask my neighbor to use his nice flat driveway again to get a reliable measurement. By eyeball in the middle of the street it's up just a bit in the rear but the spacing from bum stops to frame is a couple of inches. Used to be virtually non-existent on the driver's side before the swap, but the new Archive Garage bump stops are a bit shorter than what was there originally. Have maybe a couple of inches of space between them now.

Speaking of which, the ones I pulled off don't appear to be OEM. Timbren?

 

Didn't like how the parking brake cable was looking stretched; felt the bolt hole on the shackle was a bit high. Made some offsets to give some wiggle room.

 

@b_r_o I finally got myself, the truck, the tape measure, and a flat surface to park on all in one location today. Here are the flare to wheel center measurements:

LF: 21" RF: 21 1/8"
LR: 21 3/4" RR: 21 3/4"

The appearance of the truck looks just about dead flat. So much so that I think we (Alcan and I) undershot it a little. Springs are flat with nothing in the bed. Still, that beats the inverted situation with the TSB leaf packs. And these ride a lot better.

As a note the front shocks/springs are new KYB SR4463/SR4464. Well, 1 year and 4K miles new.

 

Thanks Leo