Best leaf to remove for lower ride height? +leaf count question

[Borick]

I have a brand spanking new set of OME light springs for my '76 FJ40. They are the CS001F (front) and CS001R (rear). ARB claims 1.5" lift in the front and 2.25" in the rear from these springs. I'm also using some anti-inversion shackles that are close to stock length.

I'm planning to remove a leaf from each spring in order to get closer to a stock ride height.

So that's the first question: will removing a leaf from the light springs reduce the ride height at all? Or will it just soften the ride?

I removed the 4th from the top of the front springs. Some threads have said remove the 3rd from the top, but it has a clamp attached so I removed the 4th from the top instead. This spring originally had 6 leafs, so that left me with 5 which seems fine as far as I can tell.

Here's the second question: the rear springs I got had 4 main leaves and 1 load leaf. I removed the 3rd from the top, but then only 3 leaves are left. Is that right? Seems like awfully few. Or would it be better to remove the load leaf?

Last question: I'm also wondering if I somehow received CS001R springs that were already missing a leaf. Do they really only come with 4 leaves + 1 load leaf?

 

[Borick]

Lunchtime bump. Trying to sort this out.

Can anyone tell me how many leafs they have in their CS001R spring packs?

 

[dfclimber]

Bump-
Shaking life into old dead post to find out answers

 

[slickrock]

Post pictures of your springs. Without them, everything below is generic.

If you look at your spring pack, there's really only one spring attached to the frame and shackle and the others help add support, arch, etc. My only concern with removing a leaf on brand new leaf springs is that they probably haven't settled. You could remove one now to get the height you want and 3 months later they settle and then not lift enough or they go into a negative arch situation because you removed too many....very bad.

How long have you driven with the new springs and have you fully cycled them by raise one tire off ground to full compression with all tires...a lot of times? Once isn't enough and using a jack isn't enough. You need to find some place where you can drive up something to articulate the axle. If you find a place, get the front tire up, like the one in the picture above my name. Do that to all 4 and DON'T ROLL IT. Do this a bunch of times over a few days of driving. Let them settle and then look at the height.

I'm SOA with flat springs with one leaf from the stock leaf springs removed but I can't remember which one. I think it was the bottom one. If I removed any other leaf, they would have or could have gone negative. Since yours are arched for a lift, my application probably would work for you and I don't recommend it.

As for which leaf to remove...depends, as some might say you can remove the smallest, thickest overload leaf and you'll be fine and loose about 3/4". Others say to remove the one right under the main leaf and loose 1/2". Also, if leafs are pinned together, you can't remove any of those so your options are limited to the ones not pinned to the main pack. There are plenty of websites that go over this concept. Lots of Jeep XJ guys remove individual leafs when they put in Chevy Springs. Search for removing leaf spring from pack on Naxja.org.

 

[peteinjp]

I'm getting ready to do the same thing on a 2" lift pack here in Japan. I'm planing to remove the smallest spring then cut the others shorter to get them staggered correctly. I figure it will reduce the rate by about 1/6 as it is a 6 leaf pack. based on that figure I'll lose about an 1" of height. I'm going to extend the shackles and the spring mounts to get that inch back.

I may then remove a 2nd leaf in the rear and run aribags for when I'm carrying a load. I have a bj46 which is rated for 1/2 ton. Basically I'm trying to get a softer rate without giving up too much travel and height.

Pete