[tv_larsen]

Shown below:
-Chevy 56" rear leaf spring. 26" from front eye to center bolt, 30" from rear eye to center bolt.
-Dodge 51" rear leaf spring. 24" from front eye to center bolt, 26" from rear eye to center bolt.

My plan is to use the 56" Chevy springs, with some Jamie Peal shackle flip brackets (left mounted on the right, and right on the left to move the shackle mount rearward 1.5"), and 8" long shackles.

This should net me an axle that is closer to the center of the wheel opening than with most shackle flips, a great shackle angle for axle droop and flex, and a longer spring for better flex. I'm putting it together as soon as I get the rest of my parts, this weekend I hope. We'll see how it works.

 

[Guest]

How much lift are you going with, TV?

 

[whlnwgn]

Cool, take detailed pics, I want to do this swap too!
-Steve C.

 

[tv_larsen]

How much lift are you going with, TV?

About 1-2" more than it had before. It has 4" TC springs on the front, and I want the rear to sit level, or just barely higher than the front. The rear was sitting a bit lower than the front before, but it only had and 2" rear AAL and a 1" taller than stock block in the rear.

My ultimate plan is to run 38" tires with only about 4-5" of lift and good flex.

 

[tv_larsen]

Cool, take detailed pics, I want to do this swap too!
-Steve C.

I will, but it should be pretty straight forward, if it all works.

 

[Guest]

I'm really looking forward to seeing this, Trenton. I have a RCC shackle flip that I want to use mainly to get rid of the blocks. But I've been wondering how to do it without moving the axle so far forward. Your idea looks promising.

 

[Guest]

That is the same thing I want to do. Except I am going to be using a front spring mount on the rear of the spring.
what year and vehicle did the springs come from?

 

[tv_larsen]

what year and vehicle did the springs come from?

Mine came from an '84 2wd 3/4 ton.

The only person I spoke to that was sure he knew what the 56" came on told me that all 2wds and all 1 tons (2wd and 4wd) had the 56" springs, and all of the 4wd 1/2 and 3/4 ton trucks had the 52" springs. Of course this is on the '73-'87ish models.

Now, if a person didn't want the long shackle and/or long springs, but still wanted to move the axle back 2", you might be able to use the 52" springs because like the 56" springs, they measure 26" from the front eye to the center bolt, that makes the center bolt centered on the leaf of the 52" springs. And they're only 1" longer than the stock Dodge springs.

 

[tv_larsen]

BTW, since I'm throwing out measurements here, and some may wonder, the 63" Chevy springs like Sam used measure 31.5" from the front eye to the center bolt, I think.

 

[Guest]

what year and vehicle did the springs come from?

Mine came from an '84 2wd 3/4 ton.

The only person I spoke to that was sure he knew what the 56" came on told me that all 2wds and all 1 tons (2wd and 4wd) had the 56" springs, and all of the 4wd 1/2 and 3/4 ton trucks had the 52" springs. Of course this is on the '73-'87ish models.

Now, if a person didn't want the long shackle and/or long springs, but still wanted to move the axle back 2", you might be able to use the 52" springs because like the 56" springs, they measure 26" from the front eye to the center bolt, that makes the center bolt centered on the leaf of the 52" springs. And they're only 1" longer than the stock Dodge springs.

Thank you I was begining to wonder if I was going to be able to find them. That helps a bunch

 

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I kept the original rubber bushings in the springs because they weren't bad, and will flex better than poly bushings. GM's use 9/16 bolts, Dodge uses 5/8" bolts. I had to drill out the bushing sleeves to 5/8". Also, the front spring eye was a tight fit in the Dodge mount, I had to grind the spring edge slightly to get it in. The custom shackle is 8" long, 4" longer than stock.

I still plan to pull about 3 leaves from each side, and keep the overload spring. I will adjust final ride height, if I need to, with a 1" or 2" block.

 

[phoenix827]

How bad is your pinion angle going to be? Looks like it's pointed right @ the shaft now.

 

[tv_larsen]

How bad is your pinion angle going to be? Looks like it's pointed right @ the shaft now.

I'm not sure yet. Right now it does appear to be right inline with the driveshaft. If it needs blocks, I'll get the tapered ones and rotate the pinion down a bit. This is just a crawler, so I don't care too much about vibration. I just don't want the pinion to rotate up too far if there is some axle wrap.

 

[tv_larsen]

And tonite the new tub is on.