Flipping rear leaf springs?
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Joined: Aug 2007
Posts: 10,923
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From: NM
It is more commonly called SOA Spring Over Axle swap. But the only down side it will over lift it, usually 6in or more. Measure the thickness of your leaf springs and the size of the axle tube and spring perch. It will probably be 6in or more.
For the front yes you can get coil spring spacers. They are safe most are polyurethane not rubber. There are aluminum versions as well. Here is one example tons more and different thicknesses. http://www.summitracing.com/parts/GLS-2011/
The Max you probably can fit is 3in.
Don't forget the rear from factory is 2in higher than the front so you will have 2+6=8 in lift in the rear while the front only has 3in lift. I suggest to do a AAL Add A Leaf spring kit, cheep and easy to install. 2-3in and with the 2-3in front it will be perfect. You can buy the AAL kits at www.summitracing.com
As a side note Thunder was correct on his first reply, you will need a new spring perch which is cheep and you can buy from www.summitracing.com
Also one other note is the link provided earlier if you do the SOA swap then for 2wd you will be able to do the U-Bolt flip as well to gain some ground clearance. If it is 4wd and you want to do the U-Bolt flip you will need the U-bolts and the spring plate 2wd setup or just new pieces.
For the front yes you can get coil spring spacers. They are safe most are polyurethane not rubber. There are aluminum versions as well. Here is one example tons more and different thicknesses. http://www.summitracing.com/parts/GLS-2011/
The Max you probably can fit is 3in.
Don't forget the rear from factory is 2in higher than the front so you will have 2+6=8 in lift in the rear while the front only has 3in lift. I suggest to do a AAL Add A Leaf spring kit, cheep and easy to install. 2-3in and with the 2-3in front it will be perfect. You can buy the AAL kits at www.summitracing.com
As a side note Thunder was correct on his first reply, you will need a new spring perch which is cheep and you can buy from www.summitracing.com
Also one other note is the link provided earlier if you do the SOA swap then for 2wd you will be able to do the U-Bolt flip as well to gain some ground clearance. If it is 4wd and you want to do the U-Bolt flip you will need the U-bolts and the spring plate 2wd setup or just new pieces.
Last edited by Crazy4x4RT; Nov 19, 2011 at 10:52 PM.
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Joined: May 2021
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Good thing the content doesn't matter when you're trying to pad your post count.
You can get coil spacers for the front end which are an easy and safe way to lift it up.
For the rear you need to drop the leaf springs. U-bolts off, the bolt through the perch comes off, and the bolt through the shackle comes off. Slide the leaf springs back in place overtop of the axle, boom. Done. No fabrication needed. Don't listen to the idiot post above this.
If you're wanting a fairly substantial lift, get 3" coil spacers, and a 2" blocks for the rear and install them while you're doing the flip.
You can get coil spacers for the front end which are an easy and safe way to lift it up.
For the rear you need to drop the leaf springs. U-bolts off, the bolt through the perch comes off, and the bolt through the shackle comes off. Slide the leaf springs back in place overtop of the axle, boom. Done. No fabrication needed. Don't listen to the idiot post above this.
If you're wanting a fairly substantial lift, get 3" coil spacers, and a 2" blocks for the rear and install them while you're doing the flip.
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Joined: Apr 2010
Posts: 87,533
Likes: 4,228
From: Clayton MI
You NEED spring perches to do the spring-over-axle conversion. Trying to do it without them is just asking for trouble. (expensive trouble at that.....) As for how much lift you get, essentially, you get whatever the diameter of your axle tube, plus, whatever distance from tube to mounting surface on the spring perch. Likely somewhere in the range of 3 to 4.5 inches.
