Upgrading/Replacing Rear Leaf-Springs

 

For some time now, I have been making referrence in my posts about making upgrades to my half-ton's rear suspension. I performed this project back in October, but haven't had time till now to post anything about it. For those that are interested in add-a-leaf springs, you can get a good look at the product I used.

To see a larger version of any of the pictures, click on them.

For my suspension upgrade, I not only installed the add-a-leaf, I completed replaced the whole leaf pack, the stock ones had lost their ability to carry load and the bushings had gone out, causing all kinds of problems, so it was just best to replace them now and save a lot of headache later.

This is the add-a-leaf kit I used from BDS off road products. The whole kit cost $60 and included all the parts needed to install the new leafs into the main leaf packs.

By comparison you can see exactly how beefy the new leaf is in comparison to the stock leaves that Mopar made for the 1990 Dodge half ton. The original leaf spring pack is designed to carry 1650lbs. Unfortunately, I don't know exactly how many pounds of extra lift the new springs added, but I've been well over GVW and its sat level with these new leaves in place, so I can guess that they give the rear suspension a lot more lift than what the rear axle could ever handle.

 

The new leaf pack installed on the rear end. One thing I had to also get for this project was new U-Bolts, the original bolts were a couple inches too short. For those doing this project, be sure to get the exact same type of U-Bolt as what you have on there (Rounded vs. Square) they are NOT interchangable and will cause serious damage and possibly death if you use the wrong ones and it fails.

The original suspension setup, you can see my cheap booster springs still bolted on in this one. I believe these are the ones that Neverhappy keeps praising, I personally think they're probably the reason the bushings on the old springs died, glad to have them off. The sad thing about the stock springs was they were SO worn out that lifting the rear end didn't lift the rear axle, it arched the springs, they were that flat.

The final comparison, the old leaf pack vs the new leaf pack. I love my new leaf springs, they handle so much better than the old ones. I did have to make some modifications to my cargo trailer, the tow ball was raised so much by the new springs that the bed of it was too low when connected and drug on the ground! Had a friend make custom lift blocks for it, and it rides a good 3 inches higher and has much better ground clearance than before. The next suspension project? New SHOCKS! The ones on there are 15 years old and have had it! Monroe Heavy Duty, here I come!


Home