awesome man. Glad you got everything like you wanted it

 

So it's been a little while since the lift, and I have a few observations.

First, 3" isn't enough to notice. I need more! LoL

The second issue is somewhat difficult for me to diagnose.
At freeway cruising speed, basically 75+, I've noticed the steering is now very vague. Now I don't know if this would be caused by the removal of the sway bar, or if I messed up the tie-rod ends when I was removing them from the old spindle. It aligned just fine though, and I didn't notice it directly after the alignment.

This last issue may be tied-in with the second, but I'll mention it separately to get everyone's opinion. I've recently noticed -more- bounce in the front end as speed increases. Say I hit a dip in the road at normal speeds, 50 or so, I don't notice it much; but hitting a dip on the freeway makes the front end boat up and down something crazy. I would assume stiffer shocks would cause a harsh bump, then level back to normal very quickly, without any up and down action.

 

very nice, makes me want to upgrade my 2wd too. i want to level it (not lift it) and wanted to replace the stock struts (180k miles on them) but have no experience with those leaf springs in the rear, are they hard to work on/compress? or do they not come into play like coil springs do? (i usually rent a coil compressor tool as u did, how did you make it explode? use a drill to take the bolt off real fast lol? sucks!

do you find the truck skips in the rear end less after doing the new shocks? i hate the damn skip almost as much as i hate the stock nose down angle of these trucks lol. i hate feeling like i am one bad bump on a curve away from ending up in the guard rail.

breaks look great too btw.

also the before and after pics look like there was a HUGE amount of lift, i cant beleive its only 1.5 in in the reaR?

 

Put a jack under the front of your truck and raise it 1.5 inches at the front wheel well then get in it and feel the differance it makes in how high it feels now.. I did that this weekend and I am for sure going to get my spacers in now.. I also went to a load range E rear AT style tire and it really helped the handling on this truck I am thinking a rear sway bar has to make a HUGE differance in handling on these beasts.

 

I had not noticed that anyone replied here before.
The leaf springs aren't too hard to work on, much easier than the coil springs. I replaced the shackles without any help. Though it would have been faster with help, it's not impossible. No special tools are needed, but having a really long crowbar or similar on hand really helps line things up.

I never had a lot of rear end skip to begin with, so I can't say I've noticed any difference after the shocks. Come to think of it, I can't remember the rear end ever skipping, and I drive my truck pretty damn hard. The feeling of being pushed into the guard rail by bumps in the road stopped after replacing the front shocks, because it's always been my front end that skipped in corners (nose towards the outside of the corner when hitting bumps, as opposed to tail).

I can appreciate that a sway bar in the rear might help an SRT10 or similarly lowered truck, but I don't think it would do much on a raised truck. Here's a pretty good example though: Hellwig
I don't see how it works without killing the articulation of the rear suspension.

 

nice and informative.