Are my leaf springs shot?

Kyle,

I'm considering the same setup. Just letting you know there are others out there that might be interested in a group buy. My luck is holding, I haven't had to ask a single question relating to suspension yet. Everyone seems to ask them for me .

 

So did everyone sort out their springs?

There is another group buy on, you know...

(click on link below)

 

I put on some Wheelers but did not get the group buy price as I did not want to wait. I dont think the springs on there were the stock ones, but they were shot, soft and flat. The new springs are a big improvement.

Flash

 

How about mine...

 

mine look like that. pointed downward is bad, right?

 

Wait until people see the front leaf springs of the late 70's early 80's SFA chevy and GMC trucks. They are like a smile turned upside down.

 

If my leaf springs looked like that I'd be thrilled.

 

Mine looked similar back in 2018. Simple answer is that they should not be pointed downward with nothing in the bed. Rear of spring (under tailgate) should curve upward, and forward of spring should either be flat or ideally slightly curving upward.

The culprit for mine was that the shocks were "shot", and had been for years. Literally the shocks were not holding any weight whatsoever, and just tubes sliding freely by that point. Excessive, occasional loads of brick, dirt in bed of truck most likely led to it. I wound up replacing leaf springs, coils, and shocks all at the same time. Did it myself over three days, but wasn't easy given I'd never tackled that before in my life. Most annoying part was one of the nuts on one of the front shocks refused to come off, and ultimately it stripped. Had to cut it off, to re-use some metal piece needed for the coils.

I used one or more of Timmy The Toolman's vids as an ultimate guide.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0HJx6HH2yno

I wound up buying a heavy duty spring compressor, cause I didn't want to die, lose a hand, or be puckering for any period of time during the process. This one isn't sold anymore, but it gave me 100% confidence in the most dangerous part of replacing the springs.

8MILELAKE Macpherson Strut Spring Compressor Interchangeable Fork Coil Extractor Tool with 3 Pairs of C Jaws and Yellow Covers

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B077XZVJ7W?ie=UTF8

I went with Old Man Emu components, and Bilstein shocks. Still appear to be in good shape.

 

I got a few things in the back and a MX Series Topper and mine look like this: