When I'm not hauling four people and a weekend's worth of gear, I'm usually towing my boat. During a few recent trips, I really started to notice my rear leaf springs were completely shot. The final straw was a few weeks ago when I started bottoming out on bumps with three people (including me) and maybe 30 lbs of gear.
Unfortunately, most replacement spring packs out there seem to taylor to the offroading market. For these parts, increasing articulation is more important than hauling heavy loads. Fortunately, Automotive Customizers had a set of springs that were rated 400 lbs heavier than the stock Nissan springs. Since I'm also not interested in lifting my X, the 1.5" lift they would provide seemed like a reasonable trade-off.
They arrived ready to install, with all the parts. Interesting enough, they had a Rancho sticker on them. Doesn't Rancho offer a 1.5" lift for the X??!! The spring pack has 13 leafs, including two load leafts.
Anyway, thanks to Rick and Chuck for helping a tool-tard like me install them. And Schlud and SuperJens for the moral support. We had the construction crew standard in full effect this weekend. Three people watching, two working!
The ride is outstanding! I put on a new set of the longer bilsteins, so it is nice and stiff, but not bone-jarring. The only draw back is the spring pack is now lower than the dif. Since wheeling is not my primary concern for the X (actually a close second), that is acceptable for my purposes. Once I've driven on them and re-torqued the bolts, I'll cut off the ends of the U-bolts you see sticking down.
Stats:
Wheel well height before = 34"
Wheel well height after = 36"
Clearance from lowest part of trailer hitch before = 16"
Clearance before with boat hooked up = 14.5"
Clearance after, w/o boat = 19"
Clearance after, w/ boat = 18.5"!!!!:ylsuper
BTW - Hats off to Mike at A/C. I hit him with lots of questions and he replied within hrs. every time!