Thanks for the reply guys. To answer a few questions that were raised:
- no, it's not parked on an incline. It's in my driveway on level ground.
- I don't find the ride rough and I haven't noticed it bottoming out at all.
- if I were to flip the swaybar, that would put the taper for the link top connection the wrong way around, wouldn't it ?
- no heavy bumper (stock) and no winch, but I do run a plow in the winter (not on right now) so there is a plow receiver mounted on the front. I estimate it weighs about 150 lbs. It can be seen in the last photo - On the hydraulic jack.
I did some experimentation based on the ideas you guys supplied about the sagging suspension. The rube only has 95,000 km (~59,000 miles) on it so I didn't think the springs would be shot but maybe that's the whole issue.
With it sitting on level ground (my garage), I measure 18" from the floor to the bottom of the front bumper at its midpoint. I have a repair manual and figured there must be a body height spec somewhere, but I don't see one. As it sits, it looks to me like the swaybar angle is somewhere in the area of 10 degrees (Camera is level in this shot):
If I jack the body up to get 22" bewteen bumper bottom and floor, then the swaybar angle is in the other direction - but the link swivel is almost perfectly inline with the link:
However, now the back end looks low - I know, springs back there too...
I like it stock and don't want to get into lift kits, bigger tires, etc, because I know if I start there would be no end - I know, that's the fun of it right :lildevil:
So now the question becomes, what springs and is it a job that I can tackle myself or is it one of those jobs you'd rather pay to have done ?
What kind of body lift can I expect to recover with new springs. Seems that somewhere between 3 & 4 inches would be perfect.
And if I'm in there anyway, might as well do the shocks too.... Hmm, Dear, I got some Christmas ideas for you
Regards, John.