I've got a78 F250HD that I'm building to be my trail ride. I want to replace the heavy duty 3" wide springs with something lighter rate, without having to have a custom set built. The rear will be easy enough.

What is the best way to put say a lighter 2.5" leaf pack on the cast-in-the-diff pad?
Also, this is a D60 front and has the shoes under the axle that the ubolts go through. Is there a decent way to run bolts with the threads pointing up as to not drag up on stuff? For instance, instead of two u-bolts, use four regular bolts, threads up, and then a plate on top of the springs like what is on SOA rears?

Search the IH board...the Scout II guys use Chevy fronts (2.5") with their 2" springs...check out how they do it.

Have you seen FullSize's rig? He's got some mad fles, you may want to PM him and ask a few questions. As to going to the 2 1/2" spring, a lot of us EB guys go with your 3" springs for better flex. In fact, Mr. Ladd (B&T) has a kit for doing the conversion. Maybe you should just take a leaf or two out of the leaf pack and save yourself some work!

-Jack