[4x4zook]

hi guys recently put an "ebay special" 2 inch lift in my swb sierra. bought it just as a bit of a start to my build. will eventually get rid of it and get better leafs and springs. got a 2 inch body lift on order so just wondering how many leafs should i keep in the packs. want a bit of flex and dont care if i kill the leafs as thats when ill upgrade. removed the load leaf out of the back witch made it a bit smoother and flex a tiny bit better. but it still has a small leaf on the bottom of the pack witch i think is another load leaf? so would removing this make it flex better? it currently has 4 leafs including the short one. the front has 4 leafs with the load leaf still in the pack. should i just run 3 in each pack?

[joel]

you can run 3, but you will probably end up with axle wrap and wreck ya springs, also i didnt take any pics, but y ute had 3 leas in the front and they had sagged tht much they were curved in the wrong direction... but if you dont care about them, do it!

[4x4zook]

what is axle wrap lol. sorry im new to the 4b thing. and how long did it take for ur springs to sag with only 3 in the packs?

[Gwagensteve]

Axle wrap is when the axle tries to twist on the spot due to the torque being applied to drive the car.

Like this:



As you remove more leaves from the spring, it gets softer and therefore less able to resist twisting.

Axlewrap is bad because it can wreck driveshaft unis and cause vibration, but it's also bad because it leads to "hop" offroad, where the spring twists up and releases over and over again. This is very hard on the driveline of the car - axles, unis, transfer case etc.

How few leaves you can run is a function of how much traction and gearing you have. If you have small tyres and open diffs, it's likely you can run three leaves with minimal axlewrap. with big tyres, lockers, and gearing reduction, you end up needing more spring rate to counter the wrap.

As for lift - it's almost irrelevant. The purpose of suspension lift is to provide sufficient compression wheel travel for the car to drive without without excessive bottoming of the suspension. If you space your bumpstops down, there is a case for some suspension lift to retain compression travel.

Other than that, there is no problem with "flat" or "sagged" springs. Odds are they ride and flex better than springs with arch.

Steve.