Ahhhhh, that is exactly what I had in mind...
http://www.tuffcountry.com/axlepivot.html
The problem I see though is they only sell add a leafs for 1.5 inch and those brackets are for 2 inch. With a diesel those 1.5 leafs would prob only be 1 after it settled.
While I was measuring my truck I found 2 things...
1.My rear arch is exactly 1.5 in higher than the front.
2.My rear axle width is a few inches smaller than the front. I think I have a 10.25 in it. Is that normal for the rear track to be smaller?
JR
Thanks for the heads up on the pivot brackets. Those are pretty cool. I wonder if those would work even with a mild leveling. I put air bags on the front of my wifes truck, but the amount of pressure I use is directly relative to the tire camber, which still doesn't make it level. She likes the ride the bags give and doesn't want add-a-leafs. Seems that maybe if I used those brackets, I could air it up to level and adjust the camber accordingly. I need to replace the pivot bushings on her truck anyway.
My intent with the add-a-leafs on my daughter's truck was to raise it back up to stock since it was sagging pretty bad. The end result was that it probably is a little higher than when it left the factory. However, it does still have a little rake (rear higher). The PO said the whole front end had been rebuilt with new bushings and all. If this is true, hopefully the adjustable bushings that everyone is referring to were used. That will make this easier. I'm also thinking that if it was rebuilt, it was aligned in reference to the sagging springs, so that may be compounding my problem. I'll have to take a look at what's actually installed so I can get a game plan. But that will have to wait until after we get another foot of snow this weekend (sorry Mel
).
Your answer to question 2 is yes. They came from the factory with the rear track 2 inches narrower per side than the front.
Lord knows why since this significantly affects handling. You can fix this by using these:
http://www.mrtruck.net/spacer.htm
I haven't done it yet, but they're on my list. At about $300, they're actually pretty far down on my list of mods. Check out the rest of the website. Lots of cool stuff on there.
By the way. The add-a-leafs I used were the Tuff Country units. I got about 1.75"+ of lift out of them and holding. At less than $150 delivered to my door, they are one of the best bangs for the buck in my opinion.
Tom