SOLVED: Driver Side Frame 1/2 Lower, Shim Added to Rear Leaf Spring

[Gavin stevens]

I have the same lean and it is eating my soul!! I have a Rough Country 3.5” lift and I’m trying to visualize what you’ve done. Can you throw some pics up so I can evaluate whether this is a viable solution to counter the gradual disappearance of my soul, I mean lean? A pic of the leaf assembly on both sides should suffice; thanks!

Its hard to deal with for sure... you see it every time you look at your truck :/

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[Hack_Actual]

So, an update to the issue I was experiencing:

Long story short, I took it to my dealership and they confirmed it was definitely lower on the D/S. They returned it to stock and confirmed it was still lower by more than .5"; I think their measurement was close to .72" lower.

They had it for about 25 days and during that time replaced everything they could think of (hardware, shock, shims, etc.) until they replaced the spring (which I had stated I thought was the problem from the onset) . Once the spring was replaced it improved the height to less than a .25" from side to side in the rear.

Visually it is nearly imperceivable and so much better that I can live with it. I'll likely replace springs down the road anyhow.

Either way, the spring was definitely the culprit and it was covered 100% by Ford.

 

[Hack_Actual]

And...Rough Country completely blew me off - I never received a response.

 

[Jmckinley]

Thanks guys for leading me down this rabbit hole. I measured mine and discovered it is ~1/2” low on drivers side. Also discovered one shim on passenger side, two shims on drivers side. Mine is late 2019 production.

I was happy in my ignorance until I stumbled upon this thread, now I’m irritated that Lord Motor Company has a spring problem and is solving it with a bandaid.

 

[jhndeergrn]

I plan on going to my dealership Friday to get this sorted out. Not sure how it happened over time...

 

[Tony Giordano]

Why did I read this thread.... mine sags to the drivers side by an inch in the back.

 

[Cmar]

Don't worry guys, mine was built in another country and is a a slightly different model, and it was built for a RHD market - and guess what mine leans too!

 

[olgzr]

Don't worry guys, mine was built in another country and is a a slightly different model, and it was built for a RHD market - and guess what mine leans too!

Which way? Left side low or right side low?

 

[Cmar]

Left side ( My passenger side - your drivers) Actually makes more sense for us because we drive on the left and Australia tends to have high crowned roads but still doesn't look right. This is a pic of mine but it isn't a good one to illustrate it - was taken for another purpose but you can see it.

 

[psweeney]

Hey guys! I'm coming at this from a slightly different angle (I've already got my prototype leaf springs on the rear end and very little of the suspension on mine is stock anymore front or rear).

It's interesting, Ford seems to have designed a Left and Right asymmetrical set of springs because my truck had a big lean (well out of the earlier listed spec, if only I'd cared enough then to dig that info up, dang!) from the factory when it was stock and had the single shim on the driver's side only. I then did the front suspension and rear shocks and dialed it all in and the rear still had the same measured lean, so that did not change anything side to side. Then recently when I put my test leafs on (they are much longer/progressive rate/8 leafs instead of 1, etc so they have a much softer spring rate to start which allows for a more compliant ride on the road with a much stiffer spring rate for off roading as well at the extreme so it can take the abuse I'm throwing at it offroad) and they (along with my bypass/resi/etc shocks) showed even more lean in the rear when they were symmetrical than the factory ones did because they are the same style (more compliant on road/stiffer off than factory equipment). So the single leaf (because it's basically just one with an overload spring) Ford installs seems to be accounting for something in the weight distribution/body that isn't straight (because my chassis is straight) and they're just using the leafs to counter it manually like a very large version of the shim they put in but impacting the whole rear end. So odd...if I wanted a leaning tower of truck, I would've bought a Chevy! (jk, no brand hate here/I've owned a number of them, just had to get a little joke in)

I'm curious if anyone has any more info from Ford recently on why this might be or what they're accounting for in the geometry that isn't symmetrical? I know almost all trucks account for torque delivery which distributes unevenly to the right rear, but that's why they've got the spec of 1/2" or so because they expect most of them to lean left 1/2". So far though I haven't been able to chase it down because I match all the tire pressures, spring lengths, shock internal valving/Nitrogen pressure/preload, measure with gas tank full/half/empty, on flat ground, and it only changes slightly (by 3/8" or so) but nothing accounts for that extra inch of discrepancy.

It's so far off that I had to make the springs asymmetrical for myself to make the truck ride level at ride height and I'm working on these as a future product so I'm curious if this is a consistent issue across all the Rangers where I'd need to make asymmetrical springs or if somehow I just got a bad build. (Extra info: Build date 12/18 so way early and I'm wondering if that has anything to do with it as well).

Thanks everyone!

 

[jubreunig]

I got the info from my Ford technician that exists only one part number for the leaf springs. That collides with your info.

 

[Gavin stevens]

I can still see the lean on mine, even though they “fixed it”. Thinking of getting the bds 6” lift to compensate!

 

[Barefootmoney1969]

It's a simple lift kit. You remove the rear shock, the (2) U-Bolts, insert the block, install the new U-bolts. See pdf below (just steps 1 through 4 and the first 3 illustrations... you DO NOT REMOVE THE SPRINGS),

https://eibach.com/us/i-10904-pro-truck-rear-lift-block.html

Hi, just wondering why you decided not to use the shim initially. Weird that removing the shin and equal block on each side fixed the lean. Can’t wrap my head around it. I have a shin on the drivers side and sit 1/2 lower front and back on driver’s side. Would like to correct it , however I don’t want to chase my tail... been there.

 

[HenryMac]

Hi, just wondering why you decided not to use the shim initially. Weird that removing the shin and equal block on each side fixed the lean. Can’t wrap my head around it. I have a shin on the drivers side and sit 1/2 lower front and back on driver’s side. Would like to correct it , however I don’t want to chase my tail... been there.

? ? ? ?

??? My truck has the factory shim... ???

Interesting thread.

My truck also has the nice shiny shim on the drivers side.. but none on the passenger side.

Built July 2019

 

[Barefootmoney1969]

? ? ? ?

??? My truck has the factory shim... ???

Sorry that question was for TexTazManiac. I am a nube.

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