Are these leaf spring good to go?

[nutt7]

I’m in the middle of a shackle flip with these used 56” springs I bought. Under the suburban’s own weight, these 7+1 3/4 ton springs are flat. Well they have 3/4” of arch. The top leaf is a little wavy like it’s fatigued at the ends. See pics. The lift height seems about right. Just not sure if I should continue or find better springs. The RC ones never changed shape (super stiff) and my ORD fronts got a little wavy pretty quickly (ORD said it’s normal). So I’m not sure what’s acceptable with stock springs.

Side note: my rough country 4” springs are ~58” along the arch. What are your thoughts on replacing the top leaves of the stock spring with the arched RC one? swapping the shackle hangers left to right would accommodate the extra 2 inches exactly. The leaves are both about 5/16” thick…just not sure if the RC will like laying flatter or how much it’ll affect the ride. I’m not opposed to a slight bump in lift either. I planned on using a zero rate anyway.

String added for reference

Note the main leaf wave


Free hanging

 

[BattleBornK5]

I’m in the middle of a shackle flip with these used 56” springs I bought. Under the suburban’s own weight, these 7+1 3/4 ton springs are flat. Well they have 3/4” of arch. The top leaf is a little wavy like it’s fatigued at the ends. See pics. The lift height seems about right. Just not sure if I should continue or find better springs. The RC ones never changed shape (super stiff) and my ORD fronts got a little wavy pretty quickly (ORD said it’s normal). So I’m not sure what’s acceptable with stock springs.

Side note: my rough country 4” springs are ~58” along the arch. What are your thoughts on replacing the top leaves of the stock spring with the arched RC one? swapping the shackle hangers left to right would accommodate the extra 2 inches exactly. The leaves are both about 5/16” thick…just not sure if the RC will like laying flatter or how much it’ll affect the ride. I’m not opposed to a slight bump in lift either. I planned on using a zero rate anyway.

String added for reference
View attachment 465192
Note the main leaf wave
View attachment 465193View attachment 465194View attachment 465195View attachment 465196

Free hanging
View attachment 465197

I’ve ran worse. The one thing I’m doing on my build I had not done before is run an anti wrap bar from Barns. That will save your springs a lot. As well as bump stops. But I’d run them and just keep an eye out for spares.

 

[BattleBornK5]

I’m in the middle of a shackle flip with these used 56” springs I bought. Under the suburban’s own weight, these 7+1 3/4 ton springs are flat. Well they have 3/4” of arch. The top leaf is a little wavy like it’s fatigued at the ends. See pics. The lift height seems about right. Just not sure if I should continue or find better springs. The RC ones never changed shape (super stiff) and my ORD fronts got a little wavy pretty quickly (ORD said it’s normal). So I’m not sure what’s acceptable with stock springs.

Side note: my rough country 4” springs are ~58” along the arch. What are your thoughts on replacing the top leaves of the stock spring with the arched RC one? swapping the shackle hangers left to right would accommodate the extra 2 inches exactly. The leaves are both about 5/16” thick…just not sure if the RC will like laying flatter or how much it’ll affect the ride. I’m not opposed to a slight bump in lift either. I planned on using a zero rate anyway.

String added for reference
View attachment 465192
Note the main leaf wave
View attachment 465193View attachment 465194View attachment 465195View attachment 465196

Free hanging
View attachment 465197

As far as the RC main leaf goes you can always toss it in and look. That’s the joys of building. Put it all together to just tear it apart and try something different. Only thing I would do is measure the distance between the front eye and the center pin to see if your wheel base is going change much. It may be back 1” from where your current springs are which is not a bad thing in my eyes. I had ORD make my rear spring with the pin 3” back from factory to make up for the shackle flip pushing it forward and then an extra inch just for more clearance for 40s.

 

[Chickntrk]

The 4" RC springs probably have a lot of arch.....I think you'll end up with a lot more lift than you want doing it that way, but you already have them so its free to try.

 

[83ChevyK5Blazer]

Looks like mine ran flat as well. It rode and flexed well.

 

[nutt7]

As far as the RC main leaf goes you can always toss it in and look. That’s the joys of building. Put it all together to just tear it apart and try something different. Only thing I would do is measure the distance between the front eye and the center pin to see if your wheel base is going change much. It may be back 1” from where your current springs are which is not a bad thing in my eyes. I had ORD make my rear spring with the pin 3” back from factory to make up for the shackle flip pushing it forward and then an extra inch just for more clearance for 40s.

Yeah, I’d guess they would be 1” back

The 4" RC springs probably have a lot of arch.....I think you'll end up with a lot more lift than you want doing it that way, but you already have them so it’s free to try.

With Just the top leaf, seems like it shouldn’t be too bad. I suppose now is the time to try…both packs are coming apart anyway