Truth is: if you have to ask they are probably worn out.

Height. Rear end height when van is sitting setting unloaded should sit evenly (left and right). Van with good springs should be a couple inches higher in the back than the front. Mine sits 2" to 3" higher in back even with a 400lb load.

Load. when loaded to max carry capacity it should not bend the springs down so much that the entire rear of the vehicle is now lower than the front. On a 1500, the max payload capacity is 1/2 ton ( 1000 pounds ).

Generally if the back end leans or feels sloppy around turns or is dragging whenever you put even a minimal load on it (500 lbs) I'd say the springs were shot and its time to replace them. The coil-over shocks are a quick fix that'll probably buy you another year or two.

 

Found a guy in Oakland who took apart, re-arched my leaf springs and added a leaf. After that my shocks arrived. Everything is in now. What a difference. Big Red never felt this good! We are now armed with a factory service manual. Taking some time away from working and worrying about the van and enjoying driving it.

 

Next up will be dropping the fuel tank to see what's wrong with the fuel level gage, do something about the cracking grommet leaving the tank, and r&r a tie rod end.

 

Cool solution -- how much did that cost you? Id consider doing this too.

 

The leaf spring work was $350. I saw I nternet prices for new springs as low as $300, and I figured the slightly beefier springs and him doing the work was worth $50.