Found a spring shop a ways from here, but at least it's in this half of the state. Guy rebuilds leaf springs and adds leaves; that's all he does. Uses US steel and says the asian stuff is not good. He does my kind of truck all the time, lots and lots of them for businesses that haul tools, etc.
I asked him about strengthening it vs. should I just get a bigger truck. He feels I should stick with this one. Of course, he does have a horse in the race ;).
His price is about the same as getting someone local to add air shocks, or to add new sets of heavier duty leaf springs, so I asked him if is worth it to drive to where he is.
He said air shocks = another system to leak or break (which I had been thinking). This was before I saw the post about using them for leveling, though, so now I am back to being uncertain!
He feels that helper springs are a temporary fix.. not sure why.
One thing in his favor is that he can tweak the springs to get a ride height that I like and is safe, vs buying premade springs that may give me too much lift or not enough. I like the idea of making the spring to fit the load.
What do y'all think? I am brain dead from being on the phone and google since I woke up this morning, trying to find a shop.
PS: I did find a local 4x4 shop that is willing to install anything I want. They are pretty expensive. I was a bit put off when I mentioned seeing a lot of my truck around town and the shop owner said 'Those are probably {other model}' He seemed to be entirely unfamiliar with my truck. (AND to think I was an idiot.)
