HellsCreek springs

[Rubikahn]

Looking to purchase some HellsCreek rear lift leafs for my 89 LWB that I’m keeping SUA and I’ve seen posts stating the owner is a member here. Does anyone know his username? I have a few questions before I order. TIA. 

[saveevryjp1998]

I would recommend the general springs. They will make metric ton military wrap even. I have both General spring military wrap metric ton and the Hells Creek metric ton. I was very disappointed that they fail to mention the Hells Creek leaf packs moves the axle forward offsetting the wheel in the wheel well. Obviously you could fix it by changing your perch mounts but why. It looks goofy and they cost me more than the military wrapped metric ton from General. The Hell creak also do not run the same size bushings as the factory which isn't mentioned. Do not think your getting a factory type spring. The ride quality is good I will say that but if I'm cutting corners, the money and product from General is superior for metric ton packs. The other thing is there is only like 2 actual leaf spring makers in North America. General is the brand of an actual manufacturing plant in house. Hells Creek are made most likely at the facility to the specs he provides. So basically your paying middle man Mark up. The owner of Hells Creek was honest and had excellent customer service at the time I bought mine. I also had just as much good service at General though getting the custom springs made at the time. They didn't list them at the time and had to specifically ask a tech. There was a wait since they did small production batches as the quota was met. Lol but I also received them in about a month just like the Hells Creek.

[Rubikahn]

3 hours ago, saveevryjp1998 said:

I would recommend the general springs. They will make metric ton military wrap even. I have both General spring military wrap metric ton and the Hells Creek metric ton. I was very disappointed that they fail to mention the Hells Creek leaf packs moves the axle forward offsetting the wheel in the wheel well. Obviously you could fix it by changing your perch mounts but why. It looks goofy and they cost me more than the military wrapped metric ton from General. The Hell creak also do not run the same size bushings as the factory which isn't mentioned. Do not think your getting a factory type spring. The ride quality is good I will say that but if I'm cutting corners, the money and product from General is superior for metric ton packs. The other thing is there is only like 2 actual leaf spring makers in North America. General is the brand of an actual manufacturing plant in house. Hells Creek are made most likely at the facility to the specs he provides. So basically your paying middle man Mark up. The owner of Hells Creek was honest and had excellent customer service at the time I bought mine. I also had just as much good service at General though getting the custom springs made at the time. They didn't list them at the time and had to specifically ask a tech. There was a wait since they did small production batches as the quota was met. Lol but I also received them in about a month just like the Hells Creek.

Gotcha, thank you for the info on both of those. However, I’m looking to have the rear lifted 3”. Will the GS leafs with the military wrap give me that amount of lift? 

[watchamakalit]

I have GS military wraps and I think I got roughly 3.5" out of them. 4.5" RE springs up front made the truck level.

[ghetdjc320]

7 hours ago, Rubikahn said:

Gotcha, thank you for the info on both of those. However, I’m looking to have the rear lifted 3”. Will the GS leafs with the military wrap give me that amount of lift? 

It will be really close to 3” lift. I ran the GS springs also and they are a good product. The 4 leaf pack lifts 2” over a stock 4 leaf so I would assume the 5 leaf pack will be about 2.5-3” settled.

[saveevryjp1998]

9 hours ago, Rubikahn said:

Gotcha, thank you for the info on both of those. However, I’m looking to have the rear lifted 3”. Will the GS leafs with the military wrap give me that amount of lift? 

It will all boil down to how worn your current leaf packs are. There were different rate spring options from factory as well. They weren't all just 4 pack or metric so not a single person who's commented here including myself can really give you an exact answer even if they wanted. Not only were there like 4 different rated springs I believe, you have to remember 30 years of use and sag if they are original. Really only one owner truck guys that have done the swap can give you the most accurate information. Even then actual real world data would be slightly skewed. I'd say the info your getting is the best you'll find from the comments here just know everyone will get slightly different results. 

[Rubikahn]

Just got off the phone with General Spring. The GSC-571 springs with the military wrap are on back order. Estimated wait time is approximately six months. 🤦‍♂️

[ghetdjc320]

5 hours ago, Rubikahn said:

Just got off the phone with General Spring. The GSC-571 springs with the military wrap are on back order. Estimated wait time is approximately six months. 🤦‍♂️

Should be warmer outside by then lol

[Rubikahn]

2 hours ago, ghetdjc320 said:

Should be warmer outside by then lol

That’s one way to look at it 🤣

[saveevryjp1998]

On 11/22/2021 at 6:54 PM, Rubikahn said:

That’s one way to look at it 🤣

I bet the Hell's Creek will be the same. Remember those will be small batch and third party vender as well, just saying. It's the wonderful world we live in. I've been buying parts for heeps for a 3-6 month out schedule to work on ahead of time going on over a year now. There was 1 month I couldn't find a 4.0 h.o. filter in a store anywhere here and finally ended up ordering a dozen online. I waited 2 more weeks to get them. That was around last spring. The oil filter shelves at all the box stores then look like the paint and caulk isles here now. I couldn't find silicone, glass block mortor, or stuff to mix my own glass block mortar mix. I have glass block windows to install and they came damaged since they came together with a hairline bead of clear silicone. I ended up buying quicksetting type s mortar, adding reinforcement, and set each individual old school way. It took me 4 Lowe's to gather enough quickset. It trippled the material cost on top of labor. I had no choice since I had a hole in my foundation going into winter. It's the world we live in now.

[ghetdjc320]

5 hours ago, saveevryjp1998 said:

I bet the Hell's Creek will be the same. Remember those will be small batch and third party vender as well, just saying. It's the wonderful world we live in. I've been buying parts for heeps for a 3-6 month out schedule to work on ahead of time going on over a year now. There was 1 month I couldn't find a 4.0 h.o. filter in a store anywhere here and finally ended up ordering a dozen online. I waited 2 more weeks to get them. That was around last spring. The oil filter shelves at all the box stores then look like the paint and caulk isles here now. I couldn't find silicone, glass block mortor, or stuff to mix my own glass block mortar mix. I have glass block windows to install and they came damaged since they came together with a hairline bead of clear silicone. I ended up buying quicksetting type s mortar, adding reinforcement, and set each individual old school way. It took me 4 Lowe's to gather enough quickset. It trippled the material cost on top of labor. I had no choice since I had a hole in my foundation going into winter. It's the world we live in now.

@Rubikahn

https://www.sdtrucksprings.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=20914&zenid=fe33951a046bdaa2f37c2e613d256012
Looks like they are on sale too. That’s who I ordered mine through.

 

Demand was super high as everyone had some extra cash and time on their hands.
Here at least that cycle has reversed. Oversupplied with less consumer buying power. Took some time though. Now there are pallets upon pallets of product at Home Depot they can’t stock on the shelves yet since they are full. Hopefully that happens stateside eventually. 

[Rubikahn]

2 hours ago, ghetdjc320 said:

@Rubikahn

https://www.sdtrucksprings.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=20914&zenid=fe33951a046bdaa2f37c2e613d256012
Looks like they are on sale too. That’s who I ordered mine through.

 

Demand was super high as everyone had some extra cash and time on their hands.
Here at least that cycle has reversed. Oversupplied with less consumer buying power. Took some time though. Now there are pallets upon pallets of product at Home Depot they can’t stock on the shelves yet since they are full. Hopefully that happens stateside eventually. 

Ok, thank you. Do you remember how much lift you got from these? They look just like the 1700 leafs General Spring sells on their site with out military wrap. 

[ghetdjc320]

53 minutes ago, Rubikahn said:

Ok, thank you. Do you remember how much lift you got from these? They look just like the 1700 leafs General Spring sells on their site with out military wrap. 

 

From what I recall, it’s the same part number (571). I don’t believe General Spring sells a non military wrapped 5 leaf pack for the MJ though I may be wrong. There is a bit of confusion here I suppose. The only thing I can comment on is that SD truck springs is where I bought my springs from and they were the same model/sku as the general spring ones. Even the same stock pictures used. They are from some other company though. Searching that sku on SD spring reveals multiple vendors with the same product so there should be some in-stock options unless they are all drop-shipping. I’m almost positive there is a sole manufacturer with various suppliers private labeling the same spring as has been suggested. I believe they are either made in Mexico or Canada. The 4 leaf pack netted me 2.5” without a spare or any weight on my short bed. That’s 2.5” over a decent original 4 leaf 4wd pack. I ran them for about 9 months but they never settled down further. They ran great but I was SOA so the lift was far too tall and the rake was not nice. Sua though would make these a really nice mild lift spring that fills in the much needed gap between stock sua, add a leaf and soa. If I were to venture a guess I’d say the 4 leaf pack is good for a solid 2” once settled on most rigs. The 5 leaf probably 3” but mostly due to load capacity. 1700lb spring capacity is pretty high on a truck the size of an MJ. Then again, it’s great to have such an option. 
 

I would venture a speculative guess that the hells creek springs are not actually made solely for the MJ. That would explain the different bushing sizes. There are many forger leaf springs that are similar in size to an MJ pack. Perhaps a cross-reference showed that their product happened to fit an MJ??? Not sure 

[Parei_doll_ia]

14 hours ago, ghetdjc320 said:

 

From what I recall, it’s the same part number (571). I don’t believe General Spring sells a non military wrapped 5 leaf pack for the MJ though I may be wrong. There is a bit of confusion here I suppose.

GS has a 4 leaf and 5 leaf without military wrap. They hid the MW ones on their site because there's a long backorder for them. I called to see if I would still get mine, and he said the ones that were already ordered are about a month out.

[acfortier]

Is there are reason the SD springs are nearly twice the price as the GS springs?

[ghetdjc320]

4 hours ago, acfortier said:

Is there are reason the SD springs are nearly twice the price as the GS springs?

The GS are sold each. SD sells the pair

[acfortier]

1 hour ago, ghetdjc320 said:

The GS are sold each. SD sells the pair

Hmm, the SD rep I talked to said they were sold individually, not as a pair. Maybe he was mistaken.

[ghetdjc320]

1 hour ago, acfortier said:

Hmm, the SD rep I talked to said they were sold individually, not as a pair. Maybe he was mistaken.

You may be right. I double checked my order placed on 06/2019 and turns out they were shipped out from General Spring. The total for both springs was under $200 for the 4 leaf with shipping. Same part number though as the sd truck springs plus they will beat any price you find online. Maybe I price matched??? It’s been a while ago

[ghetdjc320]

In doing a little more diggin it appears that Dayton spring is also a carrier of the same part number 97-571. They are also a manufacturer so not sure who actually makes these springs

[saveevryjp1998]

Lol I went down this rabbit hole once.

[fiatslug87]

1 hour ago, saveevryjp1998 said:

Lol I went down this rabbit hole once.

Where did you come out?