Remove leafs for less height?

[jchrisk1]

Is it possible and safe to remove leafs from a 4" pack to reduce the height? I am trying to get between stock and 2ish". Is this unsafe? I found some 4" lift springs for cheap and my front stockers are beyond shot, so I am trying to get a good spring without all the lift. After I piece together the rest of the parts for the lift I will put them back together. Just wondering if this is possible or just a bad idea.

 

[rompinstompinmudmonkey]

I've done it with no problems before.

 

[four_by_ken]

They may fatigue quicker, depending on the brand.

 

[jchrisk1]

Does it matter which ones you take out, or do just start taking them out from the bottom?

 

[4xcrazy]

I have taken the very bottoom leaf out of my Rough Country lift to help relieve some of the harshness of the bumps, it helped a ton, but also did lower the ride height about 1/2 to 3/4 of an inch. I think mine were only a 4 leaf pack, now 3.

They will more than likely soften, relax and sag quicker though as mentioned.

 

[dieselndixie]

wait a minute....is this a solution to my lift problem? a 4" rough country lift gave me over 6" of lift...causing driveshaft issues. Hmmmmm, got me thinking now.

 

[four_by_ken]

Just be careful.

Most that I know that messed with removing leaves ended up buying new spring packs after not too long. Puts more stress in the existing leaves, more than they were designed to handle.

 

[jchrisk1]

Good point about the stress from not being designed to handle the weight. I am going to be putting a plow on the front so I might put zero rates in the rear and try to keep the front about 1-2" higher than the rear. Maybe I will only have to remove 1 or 2 leafs. Or maybe not any. But I am going to use some timbrens springs also, so maybe that will help reduce some stress.

 

[86454K30]

Another problem you sometimes find when removing leaves from a lifted pack is the rear eye contacts the frame. This generally happens when too many leaves are removed and the fact that the main leaf is made longer as the lift height increases.

 

[jchrisk1]

Thanks for pointing out the rear eyes being closer to the frame. I will keep an eye on that now.I don't really want to lower the spring height too much since the weight of the plow will do some of that for me. I think. I won't know until I do it.
How much lift can you go without changing brake locations and steering arms and such? 2.5-3"? I will try to leave it as high as I can without the changes.