How to: Chevy 63" Leaf Spring Swap

I am planning to just mount the shocks to the flatbed I am going to build. I was going to do frame mounted towers but I want to keep the flatbed as low as possible, while having the shocks as high as possible.

Doing 14's outside the frame.

 

Appreciate it. My flatbed is aluminum so I’m not sure it’s the right setup for shock mounting. I may have to lift it anyways though to clear larger towers so I can get some more uptravel. Use to tuck into the bed with 10” shocks and Dakars/bamf hangers

 

That makes sense. Just a heads up you will lower where full bump is compared to stock leafs because both leaf mounting points get lower overall. You dont want the leafs to invert too much.

 

Good to know. On my ubolt plate I have tapped some holes for a bump pad to be mounted. Will weld something up as I am using the Chevy bumps.

 

Here's how I deciphered the swap. I believe if you want the least drop the rear hanger has to be oriented this way in order to preserve shackle angle.

I cut the outrigger and mounted it up more and frenched in my front hanger. I aimed to inboard the fronts of both leafs in order to gain tighter roll steer and induce lateral rigidity.

The frenched front hangers modify the thrust angle and technically should make my ride softer. Additional wheel separation from body is a bit more during acceleration.

Overall i achieved what i spent years researching and countless calculations. I actually may have to go to a longer shackle. We will see what happens when I assemble my bastard pack.

I have a small puck the size of the leafs I'm running in between the perch and upgraded bolt plate.

 

I believe the coveted shackle angle at ride height is a really bad baseline to go by after taking weeks to do this. 90* droop is a much more important factor but also hanger mounting distance based on your proposed shackle length, flat pack length and expected weight.

 

I found the mounting distance of the front hanger thr most important since the rear shackle angle is going to be dependent on droop and bump. I decided to tack my rear shackle in while at full droop with the leaf pack fully assembled. Checked with all weight and I got 60ish degrees. I started with the 5” shackle recommended in here.

loads of work and it looks like it’s coming along @will.i.was

 

Yes I had two base hanger mounting distances. It was 52-1/4" or 60-1/2. The shorter distance was the most relaxed position based on the leaf eyelet distance.

I did another calculation based on the shackle length of 5" with a 30* angle.

I averaged the two and kind of guesstimate based on my current spring condition. I used the lift probably two dozen times to verify measurements since i had a few additional variables to consider. You guys doing it in the garage are insane lol.

 

It hasn’t been too fun on the floor but slowly getting it done. Just happy to be using a buddies heated shop since I would be doing it in the driveway and it’s currently -20 Celsius (-4f) here with 5feet of snow in the last 2 weeks

 

oof.. we went from 70 degreeish weather to almost freezing. it is very odd to be pre-heating all of my steel before welding and to be wearing so many layers lol. definitely nicer than having swamp nuts welding in typical texas heat.

I found that being able to put my truck in d or neutral helps alot in setting my angles. I took many many days just measuring, documenting and going back to forums and my reference material.

 

Yeah the heat can be pretty bad, but like everything you want what you don’t normally get lol. I don’t mind the heat but the cold can make everything a bit harder. I know the heat can do that same but after what feels like 6 months of winter the month or two we get of heat is nice lol

 

I struggle with the cold too, mostly cause tools stop working. Seals blow out of hydraulics, anything battery powered or digital doesnt work well, I cant empty my air compressor cause there is ice at the bottom...

 

I know I'm being a little sissy because it was only maybe in the teens with the wind chill factor. It's been very odd preheating 10* metal and seeing the water vapor just dissipate off of the steel. It really does remind me that prep work matters.

I started some welds and they looked like utter dookie without preheating. I'm used to welding everything before my sweat flash rusts surfaces and I have to wire wheel or sand it down again lol

Anyhow, progress slowed again as it warmed up but i have mad some headway and got some gadgets in the meantime
... my shock angle is way off and so are the axle tabs. Need to do something soon because it's been stuck on the lift way longer than expected and I'm running out of motivational steam.

 

Well I burned in 90% of the frame plates and got everything laid out as planned. Stopped welding after my fingers were cramping up after a 12hr work day already.

The ride height is slowly coming down nicely as I'm fusing additional metal alloys to it.

My initial 12* shock angle is completely null and ideally it is almost straight up and down. No complaints here besides my bedside chop will be drastically different.

Will probably end up running through some welds again. I got really sloppy lol late night welding isn't my forte for sure.

 

Man does this thing flex.

Disclaimer no shocks are attached but I dont think 14's will limit it much.

 

Finished boxing the frame with axle notching. Dialing in the shock and hydro mounts. Got some 6" offset shackles in but going to step up to 7" due to plenty of stretching room. 14" shocks are too short as shown and I already have a solution.

Overall im happy with how my frenched front hangers came out. It took alot of time to not half ass it just to slap it on and to just really think everything through.. definitely changed a myriad of variables.

 

Looks awesome.

Question about the shock tower. What’s the distance from the top of the tower to the top of the frame. Wanting to fit 14’s but I’m not sure I’ll have the room with the flatbed I have.

 

Top of the frame to shock tower eyelet is about 11-1/4" - 11-3/8"

 

Thank you! Will give me an idea of the room I need for 14’s.

 

Consider your lower shock tab location and orientation during install as well. Shock angle will play a big part. Mine are 90* from the side and rear. I was at 12* but after cycling the suspension with the main leaf it clarified alot of things.