Truck leaning / spring problem

[mightydodge]

Quick question: I replaced the leaf springs on my 1968 D-100 when I had it torn down to just the frame. Now that I have the body all back together, I noticed that the truck is leaning to the driver's side. I took a tape measure to it and sure enough, the driver's side is approx. 1 3/4" closer to the ground than the passenger side. Does anyone know what could be causing this? Thanks in advance for help.

[LC]

LC from PA check the arc of the springs may finnd that they are differnt from pas side???/

[CLIFF]

ok heres what i know. I had new springs made at a local company to me here in st louis. they told me that the front springs had a different weight rating on the one side..i dont remember which side though. I was thinking cause of the balance of the slant six possibly? i asked them but they said it could have been a for a few reasons but didnt elaborate. Im thinking it cant be for any other reasons. So i guess the question is do you have new springs on the front of your truck? motor? maybe you have the wrong spring on the wrong side? if there old springs?.......just taking them off and having them sit without any weight on them wil makem do funny things like that.

[mightydodge]

They are new springs. Here's what happened; been restoring my truck over the last ten years. I stripped it all the way down to the frame, and I remember that it was at that point that I replaced the springs with new ones. Then the frame sat for a while during my time in college and the army. Over the last year I've made some real progress and now have the entire body together and back on the frame. I never noticed the truck leaning until the whole body was on. Perhaps you're right and I need to flip the left and right springs.

I also thought of this:

Since I put the springs on when there was only a frame, and I'm sure that I tightened the spring bolts at that time. I was reading my shop manual last night and it states, "when replacing the springs to leave the bolts loose, lower the truck down so that all the weight is on the springs, and then tighten the spring bolts." Since I'm certain that I didn't do that, since there was no body on the truck, I'm wondering if that could cause the leaning problem?

[DukePW]

Dunno if this will help...
My truck's down to the frame right now and I am about to get the rear springs re-arched soon. I also have a slant 6 and I think my trucks frame's higher on one side. Also I have an overload spring on the rear drivers side only. Not sure why.

[mightydodge]

OK, that was the problem. Got the truck up on jack stands this weekend and loosened all the bolts on the springs. When I lowered it back down and got all the weight on the springs(to include the body this time), the truck sat level. Then I just tightened the spring bolts back up to torque specs. So, just in case someone else is doing a restoration, don't tighten your leaf spring bolts until the whole weight of the truck is on the springs!