Dakar Leaf Pack: Bent???

Finally had time to take the tire off and get some pics. It’s clearly not an optical illusion. Also, they have almost zero movement so their performance is not what’s to be expected as well. I’ll be sending pics to OME tomorrow.

 

You have the jack pushing up on the rear end. If you had zero movement you would have no arch on the leaf spring as the lift is pushing up the rear end.

 

Dude. My standard duty Dakar’s look identical to yours. My pack rides fantastic albeit just a hair harsh because I have no weight in my bed. It flexes great and has treated me well since I installed it approx 6k miles ago. I too was once worried about what appeared to be an abnormal pack appearance but it all does exactly what it’s supposed to and what it said it would when I bought it. I don’t have a picture of it right now but mine looks exactly like yours and still performs and does all of the things OME said it would.

 

Save your breath. He’ll probably respond with something like “In my 345 years of off roading with 1,506 different trucks, 0 have looked like this. It’s totally not normal even though my leafs are performing fine and literally everyone in this thread is telling me it’s normal.”

 

Hey, he should call arb and THANK them for the wonderful leaf pack they provided for him! Still a better lift than this guy has. (10” blocks? Lmao)

 

There is nothing about those pictures that makes it "clear" that it is not an illusion. Not without holding up something that is **known to be straight** to compare it against.
Those springs, in fact, do NOT look like they are reverse-arched.

Also, your jack is lifting up on one side, but not the other, so the truck is NOT standing level, and you are NOT subjecting the two sides to even load.

And I'm not sure what you mean by "zero movement". Are you trying to suggest that your truck doesn't go up and down with respect to the rear axle? If that is the case, I promise you it isn't the springs. The only thing that can cause THAT to happen, is the SHOCKS.

 

I'm amazed that anyone would ever consider trying something like that. Definitely EXTREME on the danger scale, certainly illegal, and likely to twist off the first time you give it.
And is that a dorF in the picture? I see ineffective inboard shock mounts, which seem really common on them.

 

This motor trend video is where it’s at. This is typical mod style on big chevys from what I’ve seen. Pay attention to the big chevys you see driving around with 8 & 10” lifts. I bet most of them have blocks like that.
https://youtu.be/SEy5tV6_Dlg

 

Watching them install the front shocks makes me cringe at the number of failure points on the lower shock bolt...

 

Where did OP net on this? My Dakar’s do the same thing but looks like this is normal?

 

It's fine.

 

I noticed he never updated this thread.

 

I mean it's 4 pages and headstrong telling him it's normal. I've got a set myself. I use the crap out of the. The pack works just fine. Squeaky. But fine.

 

So yours look like that too? Good to hear. And also mine squeak like a mofo too! I’m having an off-road shop clean them out when they do my CMC

 

Yup. They get one heck of a workout every year. 500lbs worth of crap at 65mph+ over some brutal stuff. Loaded up and does fine.

The squeak can be be battled, check all moving parts including the bushings around the hangers. Asking for a remedy on those is like asking for the best oil. Everyone has their own opinions.

And do not pay someone to clean the leaf pack. It'd be a waste of money and unlikely that it'd be fixed.

 

Well more like paying them to stop the creaking. It can’t be fixed?

 

I mean find a comfortable number to pay a shop to spray lube on the back. That's about as far as it'll go.

Just jack the truck up, fold the link out and spray it down. Then take a bar to spread leafs, hose out, spray those too. That's it.

 

I came here because my leaf springs look the exact same. Maybe a little worse because I have a camper, Offroad bumper, spare tire carrier w/ 33 inch tire. & after about the 4th or 5th person and a vendor saying it was normal, I felt better. But the OP having the nerve to say he’s owned every single suspension out there like he’s a millionaire, while he owns a 2012 truck?! then he puts his jack on the rear axle and says there’s no movement?! this guy is a clown. Based on how he’s was talking, his “experience” is based off of walking around a parking lot and looking at other people’s stock springs comparing to his Offroad engineered springs . Man I’m glad y’all roasted this fool lol

 

haha yah mind look the same. cant wait to get rid of them honestly. They do the job but there are much better leaf packs out there. In our case with heavy camper setups, they likely are not up to the task for many. Mine rides ok but yah that guy would not let it go.