liveoffroad

i've searched through the pirate CHEVY SPRING FAQ page and haven't found what i'm lookin for, so thought i would throw this out there. i did the 3 leaf chevy spring swap a couple years ago and now with my bumper and all my gear my rear springs are too soft. i tracked down a set of 4wd (4 leaf) chevy springs at a salvage yard, they said they came off a 98 chevy 1500. when i got home i ran a tape across them and they measure 60"! (i know someone will ask, i measured along the leaf following the ark of the spring, not straight across!).
after thinking a while i decided to droop my current springs out just to see what they measure and sure enough, at full droop they measure 64". am i missing something here? its possible that the salvage yard screwed up but to my knowledge, there are no 60" leaf springs out there for any make/model.

donomite49

dodge?
check this http://littlekeylime.com/MrN/mrnimages/leaf_springs.png

liveoffroad

yea i saw that but the center pin is centered on the leaf, the dodge ones are slightly offset. i'm wondering if its off a '98 suburban, i've found conflicting information on whether they are the same as the truck springs.
thanks for the feedback!

liveoffroad

my suspicion was correct. the springs had to come off a suburban. suburban springs are 4" shorter than truck springs (60" vs 64").

http://www.sdtrucksprings.com/index....oducts_id=7347

http://www.sdtrucksprings.com/index....oducts_id=1443

i had several salvage yards tell me they were the same, so hopefully this info helps someone in the future

liveoffroad

well i've spent half the day saturday walking around a salvage yard with my tape measure, searching for 4 leaf (5 with the overload) chevy truck springs. according to the 63" chevy swap FAQ on pirate, the 3 leaf springs came on 2wd 1500's, and the 4 leaf came on 4wd 1500s. i found this to be wrong. majority of the chevy trucks in the yard were 1500 4x4 trucks and NONE of them had the heavier spring packs. i actually never found one with the 4 leaf packs until i visited a buddy later that night, there was a z71 1500 parked out side his house so i strolled over for a look and sure enough, 4 leaves! so it seems that the heavier spring option was special to the z71 package, which is why i haven't been able to find them at any salvage yards!
I ended up buying some springs off a 2500, which have 5 leaves +overload, i plan to remove one leaf and cut the remaining leaves down a little to match the 4 leaf springs.

UVRUGBY

The z71 was the suspension package on the Chevy, that was all that was different from a z71 1500 and the reg 1500 2wd & 4wd. Just some more info to add in there.

liveoffroad

interesting, thats good to know. the z71 i was referring to was a 1500 but i'm assuming thats what you meant

UVRUGBY

ya, I was on my phone when I typed this up, I can edit that hahaha.

and edited.

yotasmith81

What is the difference between the 4 leafb springs and the 3 leaf springs and is it going to throw any pinion angles off or need a longer drive shaft or steering colum?

liveoffroad

more leaves = more load capacity. i've found the 3 leaf packs to be way too soft for a 4runner, but they work great for trucks.
i'm using my stock driveshaft still and i'm not sure what your talking abou with the steering column ???

I'm now in the process of switching to the 60" suburban packs cuz they're much easier to fit and provide a similar ride to the 4 leaf truck springs