Determine lift rear suspension

[snoddas]

Hi,
Changing axel shaft seals on my bronco and got curious about the suspension lift.
Do the stock rear leaf springs have five blades? I have six blades and tought its a lift extra blade (about 1" thick).
Its also a block which measure at least 1.5"

Want to have 2.5" lift but unsure what I have.
Do know that the drive shaft need to be replaced ;D

//Anders

 

[DirtDonk]

An approximate measurement you can make is between the top of the axle tube and the bottom of the frame rail. Stock height would be about 6 inches, so anything above that is your lift.
Front measurement is about 7 inches too, in case you ever want to verify that for sag or lift.

Paul

 

[DirtDonk]

Oh, and your springs could be totally stock, or have an add-a-leaf. Even in stock form they could have come with six leaves per pack with the heavy duty option. Five otherwise.
The bottom leaf was always (I'm pretty sure) the big thick flatter leaf used as an "overload" leaf.
If your springs are sagged out though, they will often settle down right on top of that bottom leaf and the ride will be even harsher than normal.

Old-school lifts often included lift blocks that were lower than the lift in the front. The assumption here was that all Broncos were high in the rear from the factory. This was true of some, but not all EB's though.
The idea was to lift say, 2" in the rear for a 3" lift overall. Ending up with a level stance.

Since almost every Bronco acts differently to different inputs, and since they're now at least 40 years old too, you almost have to take every Bronco individually and do what is needed to get the stance you like. Some of us like it slightly higher in the rear, others like level. Some like both, so don't mind if the rear end raises up a bit in the summer when the hard top and back seat come out.
In other words... Your results may vary.

Paul

 

[snoddas]

Thanks Paul for one more great reply.

Have a great weekend!
Cheers/Anders

 

[MonsterBIlly]

i have a wildhorses 3.5 inch lift. i found that the rear was at keast about q.5 inches higher than yhe front. so, i removed the bottom 3 leafs from the 11 leaf pack and now it sits perfectly level.

 

[taipeichris]

Hi Paul,
I was google' around and found this thread. Great post, description and as always very helpful!
Thank you!

 

[DirtDonk]

Thanks Chris. Appreciate it.
And thanks too for your comments from (yesterday was it?) in the other spring thread about cutting coils.
Used to be a very common hot rod trick, but I can't remember the last time I heard it discussed in 4wd truck terms. Good to know the same concepts hold true and can be done successfully.

I don't suppose you took pics during the process by any chance?

Paul

 

[taipeichris]

Hi Paul,
Credit where credit is due. I know you're always being super helpful on here and I'm sure I'm not the only one who appreciates it!

About the coil spring chop, I don't think I have pics. It was pre-iPhone for me but I'll warm up the old laptop and take a looksee!
Happy Monday!