I just purchased a pair of downey rear leafs that are good for about 3 1/2" of lift to replace the broken stock leafs with downey 3" AAL's. My truck already sits higher in the rear and I was thinking about removing the stock overload to get the truck to sit more level.

What are the pros and cons of doing this?

 

Overload leaf probably adds very little lift (basiclly its thickness). It also helps control spring wrap when you accelerate. You could add an anti-wrap leaf atop the main spring pack:

http://www.4crawler.com/4x4/4R_suspe...l#Update-part2

Otherwise, consider removing the leaf above the overload leaf, or swap one of the Downey leaves for one of your stock leaves (if there are any unbroken ones).

I once went on a short off-road trip with a guy who removed the overload on his pickup rear springs. At the start of the trail he was bragging up how much flex he was getting, how soft the ride was, etc. About a mile into the trail, were got to a little ledge to climb. I think he took one shot, couldn't make it then hit is a little harder the second time. By the time he got to the top of the slab, his rear axle was resting on the bumpstops. The rear springs were in a "W" shape. Luckily he had installed a booty-fab set of spring shackles with half a dozen holes drilled in some steel bar and was able to drop the rear of the springs down a few inches to get the axle off the bumpstops. I think he ended up re-arching the springs and then put the overload leaf back in.

 

Thanks for the informative reply. I'll leave it in.