rear suspension problem/capacity

johnnybronco · Mar 26, 2011

My B2 is starting to sink in the back. Been driving around the country for 8 months with a few hundred pounds of stuff in the back and on the roof. Anybody know how much weight in the back is capacity for the B2? It
started out OK last summer but now it's getting worse and I don't know if I should get new shocks, or new leaf springs or stop driving around with so much weight? Right now it so heavy the leaf springs are flat or a little concave. I used to stand on the rear tire to load my roof rack but today there wasn't enough space between the tire and the wheel well to get my foot in.
Thanks in advance for any ideas!

sfwjesse · Mar 27, 2011

happens to all the B2's...they have weak springs. New springs are what you need...shocks wont help. There may be a add-a-leafs in JC Whitney if you want to cheap out.

--weezl-- · Mar 27, 2011

check your door sticker, you should have a RGVWR or something similar, you want the number with the R at the begining, it stands for Rear Gross Vehicle Weight Rating, that's how much your rear wheels can have, pushing down into the ground, what you need to do, to figure out what that is, because the weight of the body, your wheels and everything counts on that, is go hit a scale, with the truck loaded...

what i would recomend you do, because it's sitting lower now than it was, with the same amount of weight on it, is replace the whole spring pack... go to a local junk yard and pick up a set, measure the length of the spring, and the eye to eye measurement... try to find one that's close, the spring length is the most important, the eye to eye should hopefully be shorter than what yours is, with the spring unloaded... shorter means it's got a sharper arc in it... that being said, it won't help the situation of them flattening out again, an AAL will help in that situation, OR you could get a stiffer pack from a different vehicle, i know chevy uses the same width leafs as the rangers and explorers do (i assume the bII's would be the same) but some, or most or all of the full size chevies are 63" leafs, which are much too long for your truck...

take a look around, typically something that's heavier would be best... the other thing you could do, is steal a helper leaf from another vehicle at the jy, and add it to your new pack, which works just like an AAL, except it's home made... these you want a fair amount of arc in, and short... the leaf wants to bend where the axle hits it, not at the ends, or 1/4 of the way through, so you stiffen up the middle, you stiffen up the whole thing... a really worn leaf will actually have kind of a W shape, you want to make the center peak not appear...

good luck to ya!

greasemonkey6886 · Mar 27, 2011

First of all I have a few issues with what you said there weezl. A shorter eye to eye measurement on a spring pack doesn't always mean more arch. I could just be a shorter spring period. Also you need to make sure that the spring width is correct also not just the length.
What I would recomend is that first of all remove some of the weight in the vehicle. I understand that some people use these things for work and carry their tools and stuff in them, I did for about a year before getting my truck, but try to eliminate the stuff you don't need on a daily basis. The roof rack system on the BII only has a weight rating of 200 lbs. to begin with. Removing some weight will also help with fuel mileage. Second, get a set of Explorer leafs and install them. Be carefull not to get the single or two leaf packs though. Get the highest spring count pack you can find on an Explorer. These spring will be the correct length and width, all that is needed is to remove the locating pin and re-install it so that it extends out the bottom of the pack. Reason for that is that the Ex is a spring under axle setup and the BII is a spring over setup. This should give you a slight bit of lift over stock ride height which should help after loading. If you still need a little more lift to compensate for weight then add a helper spring or add-a-leaf.
Paul

chrwilkins30 · Mar 27, 2011

greasemonkey6886 said:
Second, get a set of Explorer leafs and install them. Be carefull not to get the single or two leaf packs though. Get the highest spring count pack you can find on an Explorer. These spring will be the correct length and width, all that is needed is to remove the locating pin and re-install it so that it extends out the bottom of the pack. Paul

x2 on swapping to explorer leafs. best thing ive dont to my rear.

IIRC its 4spring count.

johnnybronco · Mar 27, 2011

Thanks for all the info guys. I think adding a leaf is the way to go for right now - I've got about 2500 miles to go before I'm home so I can't really unload stuff. There's about 250 pounds in the back and less than 100 on the roof, so I'm hoping that's not too much. When I left 8 months ago it wasn't riding too low and I was getting great mileage

johnnybronco · Mar 27, 2011

What about a lift block? I just talked to a guy at the auto parts store - sounds pretty cheap and easy. I might do that until I can get back home and swap out the springs.

--weezl-- · Mar 27, 2011

greasemonkey6886 said:
First of all I have a few issues with what you said there weezl. A shorter eye to eye measurement on a spring pack doesn't always mean more arch. I could just be a shorter spring period. Also you need to make sure that the spring width is correct also not just the length.

see below

--weezl-- said:
...what i would recomend you do, because it's sitting lower now than it was, with the same amount of weight on it, is replace the whole spring pack... go to a local junk yard and pick up a set, measure the length of the spring, and the eye to eye measurement... try to find one that's close, the spring length is the most important, the eye to eye should hopefully be shorter than what yours is, with the spring unloaded... shorter means it's got a sharper arc in it... that being said, it won't help the situation of them flattening out again, an AAL will help in that situation, OR you could get a stiffer pack from a different vehicle, i know chevy uses the same width leafs as the rangers and explorers do (i assume the bII's would be the same) ...

johnnybronco said:
What about a lift block? I just talked to a guy at the auto parts store - sounds pretty cheap and easy. I might do that until I can get back home and swap out the springs.

you could do a lift block, that would give you extra height, but if you are already having an issue with your springs flattening out, honestly, it's not a good idea, the blocks tend to cause that problem when there is no weight on them to begin with, due to axle wrap, and a few other factors... honestly, an AAL would be similar in price to a block, maybe a little more, and would do a much better job... AAL's typically add about an inch of lift, blocks are usually 2-3, AAL will actually help solve this from continuing, where as blocks will make it worse...

if your spring is flattening with mileage, i would honestly be worried about you breaking a spring, if it keeps "flattening"

Surrey · Mar 27, 2011

Explorer Leafs out of a wrecker are your best option. $20 a pop or so usually, only took me about 30 minutes to remove two.
Your bronco Leafs are garbage, putting an add-a-leaf in is just a band-aid to the problem.
A block is an even worse band-aid... At least the add-a-leaf adds something to the leaf for strength and take a bit of the concave/flatness out of them... Adding a block sounds like asking to break a leaf entirely.

johnnybronco · Mar 27, 2011

OK, I found some leafs from a 91 Explorer - do you think those will match up with my 89 B2?

8879ford · Mar 27, 2011

right, a lift block would do is just add ride height/lift. You can get them from 1/2" and up, and it would still ride the same, just higher. Also, good luck getting the bolts out of the springs...haha, i always have to cut em off

BONES · Mar 27, 2011

Yes they will match up perfect. Used the same springs on my 86Bii, game me roughly 1.5-2" lift and a better carrying capacity too. I would take the spring bolts from the Explorer too, just incase your bolts get damaged when removing them, extras never hurt.

--weezl-- · Mar 27, 2011

why would he need to get the bolts out of the springs, unless he's changing individual leafs... he's changing the whole pack, which means the bolt can stay...

the nut on it won't quite fit into the hole on the axle perch, but if you use some sand paper it opens the hole up enough... i didn't turn the bolt around on my ranger, when i put the expo leafs in...

BONES · Mar 27, 2011

Sorry, was talking about the spring eye bushing bolts.

Surrey · Mar 27, 2011

BONES said:
Sorry, was talking about the spring eye bushing bolts.

Yeah, They came out easy on the explorer I ripped the leafs outta in the JY, but when I had to replace a shackle/hanger on my old b2 the bolt was seized inside the rubber bushing, and I had to use a sledge hammer and a big pry bar to get it out... Took me over an hour for just the one stupid bolt...

But That truck was a rust bucket. I had to replace the shackle/hanger 'cause it rusted out... Maybe you'll have better luck.

rear suspension problem/capacity

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