abh3
Junior Member
My 1999 Dodge Ram 2500 Diesel 4X4 has rear axle code DRL Dana 80, GVWR 8,800lbs, GAWR rear 6,084lbs. Obviously, I optioned it pretty heavy duty as I was pulling stock & equipment trailers all the time back then, including Cat D-4 and Komatsu D-31 dozers. This model has large lift blocks under four leaf springs and two 'over-ride' leafs above the main leaf springs. The stock springs are worn to the point where there is excessive axle wrap with only mild acceleration but if loaded to where the over-ride springs touch their stops this wrap disappears. None of the leafs are broken that I can see.
I added some bars (heavy pipe and heim joints) from the spring plates to a point well forward on the frame and this fixed the issue but now I've bent one up due to low clearance, there has to be a better way... Who has been here? Would new stock springs fix this and for how long (I bought this truck new and recall this wrap gradually getting worse over time), are there aftermarket springs to fix this, or do I need to just figure out a bar setup that is ABOVE the axle? The above the axle option is easy to talk about but space is surprisingly limited for a full-size truck. Maybe I killed these springs early on with all that heavy towing (probably 32k gross from time to time and a LOT of dirt/woods roads) and replacement springs might last forever now that madness is in my past...
I'd like to eliminate the axle wrap and keep the load capacity in case I do need it again. The blocks, of course, will have to stay in place as the front end is equally high though Dodge used coils with no blocks so I can't just ditch the 4-5" blocks unless I want a 'tail-dragger' but then I'd have to wear unlaced boots and my hat backwards. I might consider a mild lift to replace springs front and rear and clear bigger tires but not if it turns into thousands and thousands of dollars for the rest of the stuff needed to make it actually drive properly. Any help is appreciated!
I added some bars (heavy pipe and heim joints) from the spring plates to a point well forward on the frame and this fixed the issue but now I've bent one up due to low clearance, there has to be a better way... Who has been here? Would new stock springs fix this and for how long (I bought this truck new and recall this wrap gradually getting worse over time), are there aftermarket springs to fix this, or do I need to just figure out a bar setup that is ABOVE the axle? The above the axle option is easy to talk about but space is surprisingly limited for a full-size truck. Maybe I killed these springs early on with all that heavy towing (probably 32k gross from time to time and a LOT of dirt/woods roads) and replacement springs might last forever now that madness is in my past...
I'd like to eliminate the axle wrap and keep the load capacity in case I do need it again. The blocks, of course, will have to stay in place as the front end is equally high though Dodge used coils with no blocks so I can't just ditch the 4-5" blocks unless I want a 'tail-dragger' but then I'd have to wear unlaced boots and my hat backwards. I might consider a mild lift to replace springs front and rear and clear bigger tires but not if it turns into thousands and thousands of dollars for the rest of the stuff needed to make it actually drive properly. Any help is appreciated!