needshave

My 1996 f150, 4.9l w/5 speed is beginning to sag or lean on the curbside, rear. There are no broken springs it all looks reasonably sound. On a flat parking lot there is .75" difference in height from the roadside to the curbside. The curbside or passenger side is the side sagging.

I'm doing a lot of restoration to a property that I own and when I get a pallet of cement mix (14 bags x 60lbs) and take a measurement to the same location on the same parking lot there is 1.50" difference between roadside and curbside.

I don't have time to pull the leaf springs and put in a new set, i need the truck every day with cold weather coming on and I have had some bad experiences with air bags. I was thinking about a set or over or under helper springs for the rear leafs. Anyone have any experiences with such and care to share there experiences or recommend one. I have been on line with NAPA, but there web site at least, does not show much in respect to helper spring, primarily just air bags and shocks.

Appreciate the help!

raski

I had a sagging left side, I put a one inch thick steel block(cut to length and width) between the leafs and the rear end axle several years ago. Has sat fine since. If both were sagging, I would go the helper spring route. Problem is I wouldn't just put them on one side, truck would handle poorly. Shocks were never meant to support the load, in my opinion and I would not consider them.

terry274

My 1996 F150 is beginning to sag on the passenger side also. Mine is only 7/16 difference at this point. I plan on doing the same thing the other poster did, a flat metal shim.
But I do wonder why they sag on the passenger side before the drivers side.

raski

May want to closely examine for a broken leaf. With the gas tank and the drivers weight on left side, I would bet most are sagging on the left with a full tank and a driver behind the wheel.

needshave

Thanks for all the responses. I have a real concern. I think putting the shim between the spring perch and the perch would work great when the truck is static or empty. I can't see how that would be the answer. My concern/problem is that when it gets loaded the compression rate of the passenger side is a lot different than the drivers side. When loaded with bags of cement the difference side to side is 1.50. So if I put a shim of .75 in and load the truck, Im thinking its still going to sag .75" on the passenger side. Either one of the leafs is cracked and I can't see it or they are getting terribly weak, and getting weaker. Over about 6 months I have seen the sag increase from 3/8 to 3/4", but I have been using it a lot.

So, what to do. I really don't have the time to tear this truck down and put new leaf springs in. I told by a spring house if all goes well, plan of 4 to 6 hours per side. With murphy's law riding in my back pocket I would expect the truck to be down about 3 days, if lucky. Cost for new springs and bolts delivered to my door, $226.00.

I talked to an engineer a Hellwig, he recommended a Hellwig 1801 helper spring. The add on mounts above the spring and has a bump in it to go over the spring stack u bolts. The unit is adjustable so the stronger side would be set lighter and the weak side tightened down more to level the truck in a static or empty mode. when loaded the helper kick in supposedly keeping the truck level, equating less and yet evenly. So it sounds like the perfect solution, but I read a lot of "trust me" in this, but maybe it's just me. Reviews say that it takes 3 hours max, to install. Cost 134.00 w/Amazon

so, what to do, what to do. The hellwig product has good product/customer reviews, but there were a few, it didn't work. Any thoughts?

raski

Just replace the springs. Too much nit picking here. Considering price and install time. you might as well do it right with new.

Kkline

Take it to the shop and do it right the first and only time. Get new leafs. The truck is 21 years old the stock ones are done.

jkenprice1

3x replace the springs. If you go to a spring shop, they could put on heavier springs. If your loading a pallet of cement in the back, you near more springs anyway. I changed springs on my 96. I spent less than 4 hours for the entire job. This was in my driveway with hand tools. If time is an issue, pay someone to do it.

ALTAJAVA

Yea, it's time for new leaf packs. The 4-6 hours per side should be worst case. If this was a brand new truck where all the bolts come out easily it should be no more than 2 hours total for both sides. See if the shop will do a reservation for a certain day, drop it off the night before so they can start first thing and you should be down 1 day. Also, if you are going to continue working with this truck you might consider an extra leaf. This is why I hate book time