I don't see how adding shims under the leaf spring will raise the car? Putting them above the spring would definitely lower it. Sounds like he will need to reduce the thickness above the spring and if that doesn't work, fet a slightly longer shackle.

The energy suspension leafs pads that he has are 7/16" thick above the leaf and below the leaf. I'm not sure what the compressed thickness is, but if you do away with the 7/16" pad that is currently above the leaf you will be raising the car whatever that compressed thickness is.

Sorry no cad software on my home laptop. I hope this makes sense. Don't make fun of paint skills.

Thanks for the pics and offer Jason. I'll give that a shot. What are the dimensions of your plates? A friend of mine is a welder and i can have him cut me the plates. I'm going to go w/(2) 1/4" plates and see how it goes.

My plates are 5 x 2.5 with the holes centered.

Thanks Jason.
Something to work on next weekend!:thumbsup:

Ok so I pulled the rear springs out last night. Thankfull for having plenty of jackstands and a lift. As well as my daughter bagging all the nuts and bolt and labelling as they came off the car! Both made this so much easier. Also a couple Miller Lites afterwards to reward myself for injuries also this was a 1st!
I am going to replace the the rubber leaf pads with steel plates and going with longer spring shackles in the back. I want to try and do this just once!
I have tried talking to Hotchkis to see what their reccomendation was for how long the shackle should be to get the 3/4" clearance I'm looking for but no response. I read on afco's website that increasing the shackle length will softenthe spring so I don't know if I need compensate for this or not or if swapping the rubber spring pads will compensate for this.
Can anyone out there (David Pozzi?) give me a reccomendation on shackle length? The current ones are 3-1/2".
Thanks for the help :thumbsup:

Just remember you are probably going to need a longer leaf bolt to go through the center of the leaf and the new plate. You don't want to just throw that new plate under the leaf. If you do I'm guessing that the locator won't be long enough to make it into the hole on the shock plate.

Thanks Jason.
Have them on my list.

Let us know how it works out, and pic some pics of the finish product. Sorry I'm no help on the shackle question.

Alright the new plates and shackles are primed and painted ready for install.
I've got the plates installed on the bottom of the leaf springs with the longer bolts. My concern is with removing the poly pads the head of the bolt will hit the bracket that is welded to the axle. Do i need to use the top pad and just remove the bottom? or what?