Thanks for all the responses! I know the suspension upgrades are a hot debate on all fronts so I expect a lot of different theories. My budget is tight at the moment and summer's a wastin' away, so I have come up with a temporary solution to get me through a few short distance camping trips hopefully. A buddy of a buddy has a tire and suspension shop down the road from me and I am headed there in the morning. His suggestion was "helper springs" for now anyway. I say "helper springs" with some hesitation because it took me awhile to figure out that we were talking about two different things. He is referring to helper coil type springs and I was talking about "helper leaf springs" or "assist springs" as pictured earlier in this thread. My point is that the terminology is very confusing and the term "helper springs" can refer to a lot of different ideas and products. My shocks are shot, I am sure of it, and maybe even the leaf spring packs. My sway bar seems to be good, but I am not a mechanic. So I will let him put it on a lift and see what he says, but right now the answer is coil type helper springs installed for $70. These are the ones that fit between the leaf springs and the bump stops. I am glad I found this guy as I think he is very knowledgeable and builds suspension for race cars and is a third generation tire man.
He did suggest bumping up the tire pressure to about 55 psi. We talked about tire failure for awhile and that's a whole other conversation.
My concern with the re-arching is the memory of the material and the price involved. It just doesn't make sense and as stated earlier, new leaf packs are probably less. I don't mind doing the work myself, but I don't want to if I can help it. I have enough projects in my life and this is supposed to be a vacation from those projects.
I also really would like to get a suspension person to help guide me through this process. I realize I may be upgrading from one product to the next until I get it right for my set up. I have a feeling I will be putting new shocks on also tomorrow in addition to the coil helper springs. Long term, I realize this isn't ideal, but I just want to get through the summer and maybe fall. With any luck, we will use it this weekend with the trusty 1000 lb ratchet straps on all four corners (not going far or off road).
Subterran and others. as for the jacks folding up to fit in those fence post rings, the feet are just way too wide to fit that close to the body of the camper. I understand exactly what you are saying and that is how the seller explained it to me, but the feet are like 6" square. I may have to just take another look at them and how they might be able to fold up closer.
I am a little concerned about cutting off the jack stands and re welding them to accommodate my truck because I think my truck is just sitting too low and when I do replace the springs and shocks the truck may actually be sitting higher and then they may end up too short. Not to mention, the resale value of the jacks if someone with a larger truck pops up wanting to buy it later. I am thinking they are the original jack stands but I have no idea if they come in different sizes or not. All the original paperwork is with the camper and the paperwork matches the stands. It even the original key hain. That made me smile and want to put on some birdwell shorts and a panama jack t shirt.
I ended up backing up the truck with the camper on it, onto blocks about 3.5" high just to get it off the truck. I may have to jack the truck up just to get the camper back on! lol. Man is that thing rickety on those three jack stands all by itself.
I have read about the plywood box standing on edge with a piece on top for support when the camper is off the truck for camping and I was kind of planning on doing that. But i dunno.......it seems pretty high off the ground with all the jack stands lowered as far as they will go.
Just for the record,
I am grateful for all the input as I am a complete noob to truck camping. If I don't address you specifically, don't think I didn't read your comment. I welcome all suggestions.
