I have lowered the back of my truck 4" with Western Chassis 2/3" Drop Hangers and 2" shackles.
The front has 2" drop Western Chassis A-Arms.

The front rides real smooth but the back is to harsh when I hit bumps in the road.

Hear is my question?

If I:
1) Replace the 2" Lowering Shackle back to the OEM Shackle
2) Move the Hanger Hole from 2" to 3" Drop
3) Remove the bottom leaf from the Leaf springs to get a softer ride and 1" drop

Will I get a better ride, or should I just go to a 3" drop in the rear.
Which I would do by just setting the hangers to the 3" hole with stock shackles.

My shims are good for a 3/4 rear drop (6°).

Rob G (lowering god) has informed me of why I should C-section the back which I will be doing if I stick with a 4" drop. He also told me about the clearance issues with the stock sway bar which I will need to solve.

To attain the additional 1" drop upfront, what drop springs have you guys used and did they infact give you a true 1" drop? I don't want to go anymore than a additional 1" up front. I might even wait for a drop spindal to finally be available for our trucks.

Thanks!

 

Stupid question, but how much clearance do you have between the bump stops and the rear axle?

 

I will go measure, I think when I installed new bumpstops there was like 3" of clearance. Will check at lunch.

My bad only about a 1.5".
C-notch time.

 

Not so soon. There are several very low profile "buttonhead" bump stops out there. They are only maybe 1/2 - 3/4" thick. Now, when you bottom out with those, you will feel it, but I can't see any real harm to the frame or the axle tube from such a hard landing.

Stan Martin says that the rear axle needs 3" of travel.

The stops below are from BellTech

 

What make you think that a drop spindle is coming anytime soon? These trucks have been out since 1997 and are now going out of production.

I have DJM 2" drop control arms which I have not yet installed. I do not want more than a 2" drop, so I am going to buy some front springs from Stan Martin. With the stock spacers, they come out about stock height, which should net a true 2" drop.

For your situation, Hotchkis coils would work great. I got a 1" to 1.25" drop. Plus the increased spring rate will keep you off of the front bump stops. What is your time frame? I will be selling my front Hotchkis coils in the next month or two.

 

There was a post 2 months ago about a guy how was testing a bell-tech drop spindal for the F-150 and he said it would be available later in the year.
Could be BS, but you never know.

I would be interested in you front coils if the price is right.
Kinda leary of the front going below the 1.75" mark and having bad bump steering. At it's current ride it's great, but I do need to get the rake look back.

I took a good look at my rear bumbstops and they have black on them about half way down. The stops are energy suspension button stops (1st ones in your pic). They are only about a 1" tall so getting even smaller stops will not help me much at this point. I will just C-Notch the back and have it reinforced with additional metal plating.

Thanks for the input!