Updating the Alcan Leaf Pack

January 3, 2018

When I got my Alcan leaf pack, I knew it was top quality. I really liked how the guys at Alcan asked what I wanted from the pack, as far as “every day” weight in the back, as well as “loaded” weight for adventures.

So far, I’ve been really happy with how it has held the weight in the bed, provided a better ride than my OEM leafs (which were perpetually riding on the overloads and bump stops), and have given the truck back it’s aggressive stance, even when loaded.

Once I got bigger tires however, I got concerned that my wheels weren’t centered in the wheel wells — they were further back than center. That didn’t matter with stock tire sizes, but with 255/85R16’s, I could tell that if the tire ever really stuffed, that I’d have some issues.

So, over the last few months I’ve been flexing the back in various situations and then checking for clearance. I’ve never been able to get contact, but it’s been close. I’ve also read up and talked to others who ran into the same situation — solving it via a center pin relocation plate or by getting the center pin moved forward ½–¾" on a custom leaf pack.

And, it seems that there’s no rhyme or reason to running into the issue — some trucks do, some don’t, even with the same leaf pack.

I didn’t really want to use a center pin relocation plate (the back end of my truck is already tall enough, and I don’t love the drive shaft angle), so I talked with Alcan and they manufactured a new top+torque leaf for my pack that would shift the center pin forward ¾".

Those showed up in mid-November, but of course, I had no time to install them, what with the holidays and whatnot. I’m a busy dude.

With the holidays behind us however, I decided to make the swap today. It was a brisk 38°F out when I started, but sunny — not much more I could ask for! Before I got started, I snapped one last pic of the tire in the wheel well — definitely shifted back.

Then, it was off with the wheel, and up onto the jack stands so I could remove the u-bolts and then ultimately the passenger leaf spring itself. My plan was to do the passenger side completely, then the driver side — that way, if I ran into trouble, I could always roll it into the garage for the night.

But that’s not how it ended up going down. To see the trouble I ran into, keep reading Updating the Alcan Leaf Pack at adventuretaco.com.

Originally published at adventuretaco.com.