Rear Long Travel setup vs Rear Mid Travel Setup Advice

If/when I ever need to tow it's nothing that extreme.

If pops ever needs me to tow his boat for whatever reason then I can, but he's got a '14 of his own...


In the winter when we get some snow, only thing I'd tow then would be this super light single axle with a snow mobile. Picked up a super clean Yamaha VMax 600 last year for $500 at a local auction and I now have the snowmobile itch Dying to get some snow again this winter and there's a super nice SRX700 triple listed on FB for a good price... Two is always better than one!

 

I say long travel with 3 inch wide SUA deaver leafs. It'll do everything you want it to do and some and some more. I am currently long travel on deaver I96 leafs and the only thing I would change is going to the 3 inch wide leaf packs for the purpose of towing. It's still something that I'll eventually get to down the road.

 

What someone else warned me about was if I did go with long travel leaf's I'd be over exerting the 2.5s on both up travel and down travel. And since I don't want to move shock mounting points, buy triple bypasses, or cut the shit out of my fenders (at this time) I'd have to add limit straps to prevent too much down travel and larger bumps to prevent too much up travel. I'm pretty sure just a set of U748s and king 2.5s are going to out perform the front by miles anyway so doing LT SUA in the rear with only midtravel in the front would be excessive.

I'm also trying to do all of this work myself in my garage on a truck that I have to use almost everyday. And even if I were to take it to a shop, I'm not sure there's any shops around here in the state of Nebraska I'd trust to tackle a LT job like this.

All rednecks 'round here know how to do is RC block lifts and fender liner lights lol

 

LT and tows moving to the giant link killer leaf kit and 4.0 bypasses should tow well still

 

I am running U748 and king 2.5 in the rear, my only complaint is it lifted the rear 4" even with 350-400 pounds in the bed. My 2.5 has a shock stroke length of 10" when let out, and when the truck is on the ground showing 8.5" which is only 1.5" of upward travel. Pulling into driveways etc. I'm maxing out the upward travel of the shock no problem. Going to Deaver in a couple weeks to readjust the leaf pack and drop the rear end about 2" to get some travel back. SMH

 

How long (miles?) have you had the U748 installed? Mine were taller than a giraffe's ass for a long time, but have settled in nicely. On a cruise now, so can’t measure shock shaft length for you to compare. I did go with ADS Deaver spec reads though, which makes the shock an inch longer. Still 10” travel, but with a longer body to put the shaft closer to center of stroke at static.

 

Im at about 3K miles on them, also towed about 7500 pounds for a bit of that to help a buddy. Still sitting exactly where they were when installed lol. Contacted deaver and they said they will not settle, so best to bring it in and have them adjust it.

 

What shackles do you have?

 

Running Total Chaos shackles.

 

What length?

 

the smallest we can run, 3/4"

 

That's what I need. I didn't think I'd be towing much or if anything at all but I guess I was wrong with that.

 

That makes sense. I just wanted to say that regardless of travel numbers, you will always want more travel for the rears over the fronts. I have never rode on the u748s but I can imagine those being a night and day difference by themselves.

 

Curious to hear what they do to make this change for you.

FWIW, I bet it took a full year for mine to fully settle. Seemed like forever! But, the ride and load handling capability is so great. Worth it…

 

Tighten all the bolts on a lift, or sitting on the ground?

 

With the truck on the ground.

 

My appt is on the 23rd, ill report back with what they did, another guy i know just had his adjusted too, they dropped the rear 3" and kept the same ride quality and performance of them. Think they removed a leafs to accomplish this.

 

That’s what I’d be afraid of. Admittedly, leaf spring tech is not my area of expertise, but I’d be concerned about losing capacity and altering the progressive rate in a negative manner by simply removing a leaf. Seems like a lower arch would be the ticket, rather than weakening the pack.

They’re the experts though, and I’m simply guessing. Looking forward to your review!

 

wonder if they could/would switch them to a leaf under setup to keep it as close to oem ride height as possible. I'm no leaf expert, but aren't LT leafs just longer U748s and mounted under the axle? So if you moved the U748s to an under mount it would in turn lower the truck? Then maybe add a 2" shackle or whatever the exact size needed to get back to oem ride height.

 

I don’t think that’s accurate here’s my i96 LT leafs

 

I haven't seen them side by side, but what makes a "long travel leaf spring" a long travel leaf spring?

wouldn't it be just longer springs with more arch? I'm really just guessing here lol

 

Yea, different rates also. But definitely dont think the u748 has the same leaf load ratio etc. where deaver would just swap a few things.

 

I'm sure yeah just trying to give an example... It's gotta be able to flex more with the same amount of weight so I'm sure it's got a much softer rate.

 

Just curious if a SUA U748 would work the way I think it would.

In theory, it'd ride the same as the intended SOA but lower the rear end closer to factory ride height (with the larger shackle of course)