Rear Height Difference

[MarkD51]

Hello all,
With some recent tinkering on my '97 Tahoe due to some new 22" wheels-tires, I was in the process of decranking my front end, when walking around and taking measurements at all 4 corners, discover a difference of rear height of more than 1".

Although my Hoe only has 39.8K miles on the vehicle, it is possible father time none the less has taken it's toll on the rear leaf springs? The driver's side is quite a bit lower than the passenger side, and suspect the cause is the additional weight of the gas tank as a cause of the droop over the years.

I have inspected both leafs, no cracking, and living here in NM, my underside is extremely clean for a '97 vehicle.

What's the solution? Even with Firestone Air Bags in the back, I'm finding it difficult to get same measurements at the rear, even with a 20 psi difference, still no cigar.

New Springs, swap Springs, what can be done to correct this?
Should I be worried?
Mark

 

[SunlitComet]

with vehicle airbags deflated, empty of fuel and stuff measure the leaf springs center of eyelet to eyelet for distance on each one. measure center of wheel to ground. and finally top of wheel well to ground.

 

[MarkD51]

with vehicle airbags deflated, empty of fuel and stuff measure the leaf springs center of eyelet to eyelet for distance on each one. measure center of wheel to ground. and finally top of wheel well to ground.

Hello Sunlit C.
Yes, when discovering the height difference, I did then totally deflate the rear firestone airbags to take those out of the equation altogether.

The measurements were not good, larger than a 1" difference. Gas tank was a little less than 1/2 full.

Perhaps sunday I can crawl underneath and take some spring eye to eye measurements, and this will no doubt also confirm the difference. Assuming the sagging driver's side will have a longer eye to eye measurement.
Getting this measurement should be lots of fun underneath by myself with tape measure in hand.

I did also accurately check and set tire pressures and re-measured, all were set at 40 psi.

Sure, I'd assume an empty gas tank might ever so slightly lessen the height difference, but of course one doesn't drive a vehicle around with an empty tank.

Doubtful there's much in the way of a "band aid fix".

I have recently seen products like the Roadmaster Active Suspension Helper Coil Spring System, but I assume this is not this product's purpose, to re-level height in my particular case. Plus they are probably not compatible being teamed with a Firestone Ride Right Air Bag System.

I also take it, sticking a 1" riser block on the driver's side woud also be a dumb ridiculous incorrect band aid fix.

As I earlier commented, not even a 20 psi difference in the air bags corrected the issue. Helped some, but could not attain the same heigh both sides still.

I'll try to report back some measurements to this thread ASAP.
PS: My initial measurements were of course taken at the fender lip.
Mark