2” lift rear leafs

I think on any normal vehicle a 2" lifted spring could use the standard main leaf with no worries. Yes, the geometry at the shackle would be off just a little, but not too bad.

But when you take a Gremlin leaf spring that's 6" shorter than everything else on the planet and arch it 2" more than stock the spring eyes move toward each other quite a bit. Using a boomerang shackle doesn't solve the big problem, which is this:

With the shackle angled all the way forward, when you go over a pothole or dip there's no way for the wheel to go down. In order for it to travel down, the spring arch has to increase, and for that to happen the two eyes have to get closer together. But in your case they can't so the wheel can't stay on the ground, which is bad of course.

A boomerang shaped shackle will make it look better, but won't actually change the geometry at all.

The good news is that's it's not too hard to change the arch on springs at home if you have a press. For about $125 at HF and a little welded jig I can show you how to do it.

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Gelalthedamned Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List AMC Nut Joined: Nov/28/2014 Location: Athens ga Status: Offline Points: 376	Post Options Post Reply Quote Gelalthedamned Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: Jun/06/2018 at 12:41pm

	Calamity - 73 Gremlin X zombie rod (daily driver)

Greyhounds_AMX Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List AMC Addicted Joined: Nov/14/2009 Location: Kansas City Status: Offline Points: 1268	Post Options Post Reply Quote Greyhounds_AMX Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: Jun/06/2018 at 1:04pm
	I think on any normal vehicle a 2" lifted spring could use the standard main leaf with no worries. Yes, the geometry at the shackle would be off just a little, but not too bad. But when you take a Gremlin leaf spring that's 6" shorter than everything else on the planet and arch it 2" more than stock the spring eyes move toward each other quite a bit. Using a boomerang shackle doesn't solve the big problem, which is this: With the shackle angled all the way forward, when you go over a pothole or dip there's no way for the wheel to go down. In order for it to travel down, the spring arch has to increase, and for that to happen the two eyes have to get closer together. But in your case they can't so the wheel can't stay on the ground, which is bad of course. A boomerang shaped shackle will make it look better, but won't actually change the geometry at all. The good news is that's it's not too hard to change the arch on springs at home if you have a press. For about $125 at HF and a little welded jig I can show you how to do it.
	1968 AMX 390 w/T5

knobbler Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List AMC Apprentice Joined: Sep/13/2015 Location: Seattle Status: Offline Points: 171	Post Options Post Reply Quote knobbler Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: Jun/06/2018 at 11:41pm
	I'm a little disappointed in Eaton's reply, to be honest. I wouldn't describe spreading the eyes up to 5-1/2" just to get them to fit as only being "more difficult then a stock spring." At least they confirmed that the main leaf isn't lengthened to account for the lift (though some details as to WHY they don't compensate for this sure would be nice). All the same, if you're considering sliders, you might be interested in this page I came across a couple weeks ago: http://www.diymetalfabrication.com/how-to-build-leaf-spring-sliders/ If you already have a good supply of steel stock to pick from, then the only thing you might need to pick up would be the UHMW, which can be had for much cheaper than what the author mentioned they paid.