Here is my truck that we've been discussing...

nice truck

thats is an ok set up for the front mount.

can you post a shot of your shackle on the rear of front leafs?

post a shot of the rear springs front and rear shackle and blocks u-bolts.

you could just add a 2" add a leaf into those front springs and they would be flat and not negative arch like now.

a main leaf from a 4x4 front with the spring eyes cut off and then stuck under your main leaf will do about the same thing for the arch.

what are you after? a slight lift or just flat front springs and stay as high as is now?

I would think it has a good ride and is not harsh as most 4x4s are close to bump stops stock.

if you have body lift make sure they stay torqued up, they tend to work loose when off roading a lot with frame flex.

again. nice looking truck.

cool truck , tho I don't like the mount setup I would reverse it to the original way and put longer shackles in the rear of the front spring. also if you need new springs look at rancho or other brands that carry spring lift packs , unless you are against lift.

I want to eventually mount lifted springs on the front frame perch and do away with the "engineering"...

Got a front 3 ply (1750# cap)spring for my '84 W100 from www.sdtrucksprings.com paid $ 76.50

I'll sell you some 4" lift springs

Thanx to all who responded to this post a while back. I FINALLY got some new leaf springs for the front of my truck(OEM replacement). I'm mounting the axle to the springs... but the U bolts need compressed to go back in the holes.... There's not enough room for a C clamp and I don't have big enough channel locks or anything else... anyone know a good way to squeeze the bolts together enough to get them back in the holes? Very limited space to get something on the U bolts when trying to re mount them.

Set the u-bolt on a side with a spacer under it so it is not sitting on the threads. Take a hammer and strike the other side, close to the rounded part, (be careful not to damage the threads) to narrow the opening. It really does not take much of a blow, I suggest you do a little at a time.

If the opening has closed up and needs to be opened a little, grasp the u-bolt from one of the sides and strike the closed end against something solid. Again, it really doesn't take much of a blow. Strike lightly.

My shop used to be close to a spring shop that custom bent u-bolts, these words of wisdom comes directly from him, many years ago. Gene

Wooo Hoooooo!!! I got the U bolts in and tightened down.

I beat on them. I put them in my HUGE vice and almost had the bolt ends touching. Neither made the ends stay closer together after hitting them or taking out of vice. The old bolts are tempered I guess... or something. I managed to get a C clamp on them. It wasn't easy and the clamp kept coming off but at least I was EVENTUALLY successful.