Suspension travel?

[Firstgenfan]

Need a lil help here guys! I got my explorer 8.8 in on my new TCI rear leaf kit and it needed to drop a decent amount to satisfy me lol. I threw in some 2" blocks I had laying around to see what that would look like but I really want it down another inch. I'm worried about clearances though. I have 4 3/8" from the diff. tube to the frame rail and the same from the top of the diff. center section to the bed. If I go another inch lower is that too close? There's no bump stops on there yet either. I don't have any weight in the rear now but if I sit my fat arse in the bed it lowers a lil bit but not much. I also assume the springs will settle in a lil over time? Any help is appreciated!!

Here's how it sits now

[_Ogre]

don't start fine tuning your suspension until the truck is all together.
you have a lot of weight to add to your truck still

[buildinga55]

I agree. The truck will proabably squat a little more when you have it all together. The back is pretty easy to adjust compared to the front suspension most times in my opinion. I noticed it looks like you have tubbed the bedsides, what size wheels are you using? And what was the rearend width?

[Firstgenfan]

Originally Posted by buildinga55

I agree. The truck will proabably squat a little more when you have it all together. The back is pretty easy to adjust compared to the front suspension most times in my opinion. I noticed it looks like you have tubbed the bedsides, what size wheels are you using? And what was the rearend width?

Thanks for the response! The reason it's semi important now is because I'm goin to get the lowering blocks machined to bring my pinion angle down a touch. Maybe I'll just send up two sets of blocks to get machined so I have them either way. You're correct too I did tub the bed 3" on each side and I'm running 20" wheels with 275/40/r20 rear tires. The rear is out of an explorer and is 59 3/4" wide. I had to get wheel adapters because the bolt patterns are different and they brought each side out another inch. (I needed that inch anyway) The rear fit right in on the stock leaf pads and everything I just need to bring the pinion down 5*.

[_Ogre]

up 5*?

[Firstgenfan]

Down....it's up 8* now going to shoot for 3* up on pinion and 3* down on trans. It's been a nightmare trying to get a consistent answer on all that but this seems to be the most popular answer I've found.

[mr48chev]

As it isn't bagged I'd think it prudent to go with a mild C notch. It's always simpler to do it when you are in the middle of building the truck rather than take it back apart to to it after the axle hits the frame all too often.

it somewhat depends on your springs, shocks and the roads you drive on too. The roads I drove on most of the time were pretty rough and I beat the tar out of the frame right above the axle to the point my frame cracked on the driver's side.