The 307 will be lighter then the 216, the T350 might be a little heavier then the stock trans, if it is, it won't be much heavier, so over all you are slightly lighter in the front. The tires, wheels, axles, brakes, and anything else under the springs don't count, so you are left with sheet metal and wood. The oak bed floor will be heavier then the pine they came with and the fuel tank location will change the rear height if it has been moved.
Removing leaves doesn't change the height all that much, I have removed four from mine in the rear and three from the front.
I think what you will find when you raise it back up with more leaves, is it going to ride very stiff and jarring over bumps. That was the main reason I removed mine. On the front I had blocks to replace the missing height of the springs I took out. It might have been 1/2" lower with the leaves removed and spacers installed, I have since removed the spacers to drop it some more for more of a hotrod look. I would keep the springs as they are, add teflon liners between each leave and add raising blocks to get the height you want.
I replaced my modified spring pack, with two new ones in the front a few years back. Each had 7 leaves like it came with, it took about four miles of driving to figure out they were way to stiff. I thought the windows were going to fall out on a rough road. I removed every other leave leaving the two top ones in place, add teflon and removed my spacers, it rides pretty good, looks good to me and I don't worry about having 70 year old springs in front.
My truck has a 250 inline 6, turbo 350 trans, aluminum radiator, lots of cab insulation and carpet, oak bed wood, 18 gallon fuel tank behind the axle, 4x15 frt, 7x15 rear wheels, disk brakes, no radio or a/c. With me (160 lbs) in the truck and full load of fuel, it weighs in a 3250 lbs.
Right now, as described above, the center bolt of the front bumper is
14-1/2" off the driveway, and center bolt of the rear bumper is 20-3/8" high.
As a reference to worn out springs, the front leaves should be straight front to back with normal driving weight on the truck. If they are arched with the center higher then the ends, they are worn or weak, if they are arched the other way with the ends higher, they are good or better then new. Originally they were straight across with the drag link running parallel to them. The rears always had a big arc to them with nine leaves and some even had helpers springs above the nine others. Mine truck came from the Flint Hills of kansas, it was a heating and plumbing truck, the leafs were so worn, they dug grooves in the one above them, so much so they could not bounce or move any more. I ground all the sharp edges off, smoothed each end and ground each leaf smooth front to back and added teflon liner. It was a difference of night and day on how it rode, I couldn't believe how much better it was, I guess before they were almost solid!
Joe
