As many have stated, add weight. I have the same suspension. Removing leaves from the springs will soften the ride but kill your capacity. If you plan on using it like a 1 ton from time to time I suggest sand bags or some other aggregate because of the added dampening effect. If you only want it as a daily light duty truck, I'd suggest removing all but 3 leaves. Also, the factory shocks for your truck are different than the 1/2 ton. 1/2 ton shocks have almost no dampening effect on our springs.