4" lift front springs - anyone remove one leaf?

[Jersey]

4\" lift front springs - anyone remove one leaf?

The rancho 86206 "soft ride" springs in the front of my k5 are loosening the fillings in my teeth! soft ride with 520lb/in rated springs...i don't think so. i have checked and double checked everything else - greased bushings, loosened shackles, removed sway bar, removed shocks...tried everything and still rides stiff as h*ll. I've read a lot of you guys praising the ez rides by TC but before i go spend another $2-300, i was just wondering if i could soften the ride up by removing one of the leafs? It uses 5 and i figure i'd remove #3 from the top. I'm sure i'll probably loose about an inch or so clearence but i can deal with that. Has anyone ever done this or any suggestions? Thanks in advance.

- Jersey

 

[GMCLegacy]

Re: 4\" lift front springs - anyone remove one leaf?

i removed my overload spring for the front of mine, it gave it a much softer ride and better flex, along with about as loss of about an inch of lift. the most it will cost you to try it is a few center pins and bit of your time

good luck
marc

 

[Waxer]

Re: 4\" lift front springs - anyone remove one leaf?

remove the overload and install ORD's zero rate add-a-leaf. That way you keep the same height and lose some of your spring rate. Enjoy

 

[BARRAZA]

Re: 4\" lift front springs - anyone remove one leaf?

I removed 2 of the 5 in my skyjacker fronts and one of the rears. Made a big improvement. Lost some lift but, my 4 inch was about 5 inches new.

 

[arq]

Re: 4\" lift front springs - anyone remove one leaf?

my brother removed 2 leafs from his pack on the 73. i just put some ranchos in the 72 and wish i would of left the TCs. i'll probably do the same and remove 2 leafs. i'll loose some front lift but i wont have to waste time and $$$ lifting the rear.

ARQ.

 

[Jersey]

Re: 4\" lift front springs - anyone remove one leaf?

thanks all. So it looks like i'm going to try it, just need to figure out which one to remove to give most flex without loosing a lot of lift. I thought the bottom two springs would be the ones holding the lift up the most and the top three actually combined for the rate per inch. so, i figure i couldn't remove the top one (duh) so i figure to loose the #2 or #3 from the top.

 

[MudbogAD]

Re: 4\" lift front springs - anyone remove one leaf?

Is it possible to flip the overload so you won't lose the lift? I know you can do it to the rear maybe you can do it to the front also. Just a thought.

 

[Jersey]

Re: 4\" lift front springs - anyone remove one leaf?

i'm not sure if the bottom spring in the front is used as an overload and i'm thinking that the only thing that would do is decrease the lift amount, which i think the main purpose of the bottom 2 springs are for - lift. I think the top 3 or 2 mostly make up the rate of the spring. Then again, i could be completely wrong! maybe someone with more experience and knowledge on this will shed some light. Thanks to all again for all the input.

- Jersey