I searched the oldest board, the original Yahoo one for newer folks, and found the following info which is probably the definitive info as far as I am concerned.
First from TmanII, an excellent mechanic and fabricator who's trucks are first rate without question. He built the tan truck for Chad that many have seen on Trucks on TV...this was before the Rockwells were added...Tman did that too...:
"In the front I removed only 1, the second from the bottom. On the rear I removed the second and third spring from the bottom. When I built Chads truck I did the same , however Chad wanted to remove one more in the rear. He wound up wrapping the axle and bending the rear springs with three removed. Yes as I have stated earlier, it greatly decreases the carring capicity of the truck. You can't have everything. If your front springs are in really good condition you might remove 2, as they soften up from use then reinstall one."
Willie in Texas, who has built one monster of a truck listed the following for the reworking of the leaf springs and also where he got the stuff to do it...also he lists poly bushings for the cab mounts that work...included below are the contents of 2 posts with the info he gave:
"I have all the spring packs rebuilt with teflon liners and polyurethane bushings using ample amounts of graphite paint,I also removed one leaf from the front and 2 from the rear."
"I bought my polyurethane bushings from http://www.ESPO.com for a Jeep J truck but I had to modify 2 of them on a lathe to make them all fit perfectly but these modifications could be made on a bench grinder with a little patience. You may ask ESPO.com about the dimensions of the bushings for a Gladiator as these, I hear, fit correctly. ESPO.com also sells the teflon liner matierial for between the leafs of the springs. They also sell the polyurethane cab mounts for the civilian J truck that are about 1 inch to 1 1/2 inches thicker than the originals."
Hope that helps,
brute4c
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