Posted in another thread, but same information applies here.
I went with ORD's 4" shackle flip with their stock length HD shackles and all new greaseable poly bushings and bolts in the entire rear end. I removed a leaf or two (7+1 or 8+1 down to a 6+1 pack) from the rear 52" spring pack as well as a 3/4" block and flipped the overloads.
I haven't recentered or shimmed the rear end yet. But looking at a couple new photos, the pinion is up a little over the driveshaft. So looks like a small shim would correct that, just need to measure the angle difference and get it adjusted.
Yes, truck is a long bed and I did get a bit of axle wrap when turning a hard right and romping on the throttle. Made me start looking into traction bars or a 3/4-link setup. Currently figuring out a way I can remove the spare tire and install a cantilever rear end. Roughly 20"-22" of travel without modifying the frame and being limited by the u-joint angles.
I believe that the bushings and greasable bolts were probably the biggest contributing factor (besides removing the leafs) since the old rubber bushings were all cracked up and the bushing couldn't rotate at all. I also saw that the factory spring bushings and shackle bushings had a bit of teeth on them to grab the shackle and shackle mount that restricted movement. My guess is that GM designed them that way to possibly increase the weight capacity or to help limit the movement of a load during small motions in the suspension.
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