Garage Projects

The Mighty Merc – Rear Leaf Setup

For the rear of this project, I am using the typical GM 63” leafs, but with a slight twist. Or maybe just a bit more knowledge expansion on my part. In the Ranger, I started out with an older (Late 80’s) 63” pack. That pack wound up being too soft, so I bastardized it a bit by cutting down a main leaf, and adding an add a leaf to get where I needed to be. Unfortunately, I had managed to tweak that leaf pack pretty badly over time so I couldn’t use it again.

I picked up another set of GM 63’s, but this time out of a 2000 year model. I was surprised to see that GM added another leaf to their pack which essentially gave me the same leaf setup I had before (sans the add a leaf).

80’s Pack on the top with the extra cut down leaf installed and AAL. The 2000’s Pack on the bottom (missing the overload):
Sara L.: Suspension &emdash;

Once I had the leafs sorted, I pulled the Mercury into the garage looking like this:
Sara L.: Suspension &emdash;

…and promptly removed everything out of the rear:
Sara L.: Suspension &emdash;

During that removal process I was surprised to see that this is actually a 2 piece frame, and that the leaf mounts are actually spanning that area for extra support:
Sara L.: Suspension &emdash;

After some test fitting, and doing this:
Sara L.: Suspension &emdash;

I found that by moving the stock rear brackets forward 6.75”, that I would wind up with a good shackle angle at ride height:
Sara L.: Suspension &emdash;

For the shackles, I am using the stock location on the frame side and 6” long shackles:
Sara L.: Suspension &emdash;

Everything centered up nicely:
Sara L.: Suspension &emdash;

And things are starting to look pretty good at this point:
Sara L.: Suspension &emdash;

In the end, it looks like I am going to be 115” (ish) wheel base, with about 24” under the frame rail. And, just maybe, I’ll be able to drive it out of the garage without having to air down the tires!

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