I'm sure that a bunch of you are going to jump on me and say that its not possible for the truck to ride nice with a front shackle. I'm not really looking to start that debate. I know shackle location has nothing to do with ride quality.
Every time I searched putting super duty leafs in an obs, all I found was that it's impossible to do without an rsk and a minimum of 3" or so of lift. I knew better.
Forgive my lack of pics, I'll try to make this short and sweet. A while back I picked up a set of 99-04 SD front leafs, I happen to also have a spare set of obs leafs.
The SD leafs were 3" longer over all, but we're 1" shorter from the rear military wrap eye to the pin. After doing some measuring and figuring, I knew I could make them work with out the silly rsk kit. My goal was to only get 0-1" of lift, gain ride quality and get rid of some of the slop in the front bushings.
So I oredered up some of these in the 3 7/16 wide x 9/16 bolt.
Bushed DOM Sleeve - RuffStuff Specialties
My plan was to bore a hole through the frame and weld these in 3" further forward. At the time I didn't realize the farmers horns are 37" center to center and the leafs are 36.5" so I needed these.
5" Shackle 1/4" Offset - RuffStuff Specialties
If I could do it again, i would have ordered the bushing a a custom width 4 1/16" I believe(assuming the SD leafs are 3 7/16 wide, I never actually measured them :homer
, in order to use a straight shackle on the inside and their 5/8" offset shackles on the outside. The reason for this is that with the 3 7/16" kit, the 2" sleeve is only about 1/16" or less wider than the frame. This makes it a little harder to weld. Having the bushing stick out on either side would make it much easier to weld. I was able to weld inside the frame of both sides, which wasn't a big deal. I am 100% confident in it, especially considering the sleeve is captured inside the frame.
So basically, pull the sorry excuse for a shackle, measure 3" forward of the factory hole. Bore a 2" hole through both sides off the frame. I used a hole saw due to my 6.0 intercoolers plastic tanks being right there. I have used a torch on other projects. Weld it in centered in the frame rail if using the bushing and shackles I did.
Next step is to compensate for the 1" shorter rear eye to pin measurement. Simply drill a new center pin hole 1" back in the spring pads and plate.
After that, it's drill the rear spring hangers to 3/4" and bolt every thing back together.
Here are some pics of the final product.
The shackles are very close to my bumper, which is spaced out about 1/2". Not sure if it will clear without the spacers.
I also did the rear super duty leafs, which are bolt in once you enlarge the holes. The truck rides and handles so much better now. I maintained the exact height in the rear(both packs were 4 leaf, plus a typical lower and upper over load) and less than an inch in the front, which I mostly attribute to my old leafs being bent. I could have probably used longer shackles, or bored the hole lower to gain more. I was trying to avoid loosing caster and having to fawk with shims.
Every time I searched putting super duty leafs in an obs, all I found was that it's impossible to do without an rsk and a minimum of 3" or so of lift. I knew better.
Forgive my lack of pics, I'll try to make this short and sweet. A while back I picked up a set of 99-04 SD front leafs, I happen to also have a spare set of obs leafs.
The SD leafs were 3" longer over all, but we're 1" shorter from the rear military wrap eye to the pin. After doing some measuring and figuring, I knew I could make them work with out the silly rsk kit. My goal was to only get 0-1" of lift, gain ride quality and get rid of some of the slop in the front bushings.
So I oredered up some of these in the 3 7/16 wide x 9/16 bolt.
Bushed DOM Sleeve - RuffStuff Specialties
My plan was to bore a hole through the frame and weld these in 3" further forward. At the time I didn't realize the farmers horns are 37" center to center and the leafs are 36.5" so I needed these.
5" Shackle 1/4" Offset - RuffStuff Specialties
If I could do it again, i would have ordered the bushing a a custom width 4 1/16" I believe(assuming the SD leafs are 3 7/16 wide, I never actually measured them :homer
, in order to use a straight shackle on the inside and their 5/8" offset shackles on the outside. The reason for this is that with the 3 7/16" kit, the 2" sleeve is only about 1/16" or less wider than the frame. This makes it a little harder to weld. Having the bushing stick out on either side would make it much easier to weld. I was able to weld inside the frame of both sides, which wasn't a big deal. I am 100% confident in it, especially considering the sleeve is captured inside the frame. So basically, pull the sorry excuse for a shackle, measure 3" forward of the factory hole. Bore a 2" hole through both sides off the frame. I used a hole saw due to my 6.0 intercoolers plastic tanks being right there. I have used a torch on other projects. Weld it in centered in the frame rail if using the bushing and shackles I did.
Next step is to compensate for the 1" shorter rear eye to pin measurement. Simply drill a new center pin hole 1" back in the spring pads and plate.
After that, it's drill the rear spring hangers to 3/4" and bolt every thing back together.
Here are some pics of the final product.
The shackles are very close to my bumper, which is spaced out about 1/2". Not sure if it will clear without the spacers.
I also did the rear super duty leafs, which are bolt in once you enlarge the holes. The truck rides and handles so much better now. I maintained the exact height in the rear(both packs were 4 leaf, plus a typical lower and upper over load) and less than an inch in the front, which I mostly attribute to my old leafs being bent. I could have probably used longer shackles, or bored the hole lower to gain more. I was trying to avoid loosing caster and having to fawk with shims.
