Good morning all. As you can see from the pictures the bottom spring is out of alignment by about half an inch or so. Is this relatively normal (the vehicle has 110,000 miles on it) wear on a vehicle or a sign of something much worse?

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Two thoughts, first is easiest, lose U-Bolts holding the rear axle to the springs, second is a broken spring.

If you are replacing a broken spring check out the spring hangers in the rear of the vehicle, chances are they are either rotted off or close to it and replace them both.

 

is it kicked out 1/2" on the opposite side?

 

I have the exact same situation on my ranger, been like that since I bought it, haven't bothered to fix it, and hasn't broken or caused any problems that I can tell. bottom spring is kicked out to one side just as shown.

 

I had my leafs apart, that flat bottom "spring/plate" is only attached to the upper springs via that center bolt that sits in the axle perch. just hammer it back in alignment and check all the mounting points to be sure nothing is broken. p.s. i can't tell by the photos but are the leafs lined up nicely directly above the axle?? check the center bolt and make sure the nut is present.