The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Driveline Remove a leaf or two

I have a 1949 3600.
Thinking about pulling three leafs out of the springs to soften the ride. Never hauling with it again.

Is there any problem with this idea.

Thx Don

These trucks ride like a lumber wagon no matter what you do. However, a lumber wagon does go down the road much better with some lumber in it.

Leave the two top ( longest ) and remove every other one under it. If you want to keep the same ride height, add a spacer under the pack the same thickness as the leaves you removed. Adding Teflon type slipper material between each leaf also helps. https://www.speedwaymotors.com/Leaf-Spring-Liner-with-Lip-1-3-4-Inch,2079.html When the pack is apart, dress down all sharp edges and steps so the leaves slide easy and don't dig into one another.
Do not try to grease or oil the springs, it will only make a mess and not stay where you put it. Some are using a spray on slip type material that seems to work pretty well, sorry I don't know the name of it.
It's best to replace the u-bolts when you take them off, they will stretch as you torque them. Trailer shops or any local spring shop will have or can make them.
Retorque them after a few days worth of driving just to be sure all is well.

Joe

Joe
Thanks for the post.
I do want to lower the stance too. I have really tall tires to eake out a few miles an hour.

Don

Carl
I like to drive with a load too.

I have a '49 3100 with stock suspension and I made the bed wood out of a skeleton of 1/2 inch square tubing (looks like the side of a shark cage) sandwiched between two 3/32" thick aluminum sheets covered with carbon fiber, with stainless steel bed strips. It is much lighter than bed wood, and I can feel it in the seat of my pants going down the road.
I am contemplating adding some steel bars to the inside of the frame rails at the rear to improve my ride without having something sliding around in the bed.

A very timely topic. I recently traded for a "slammed" 49 GMC that a previous owner must have really liked low riders.. This truck is low.
Low rider
He removed all but the top 2 leaves and as far as I can tell it was driven that way for a while. I'll know how it rides soon.
He used those spacer blocks likes been mentioned.
Pic
Pic 2

If you go that route, I may be interested in your old leaves LOL.

Dave

Dave, that is some engineering you have going on there! A few more leaves sure won't hurt. Why are the shocks mounted to the inside of the frame, never seen it done that way before. I would bet it bottoms out quite easily.

Joe
I may have a similar problem on my 49-3100 bottoming out with the way my shocks are mounted. If the shocks are mounted to the inside of the frame why would it bottom out easier? Thanks

I may be wrong but I see three problems with this setup and removing so many leaves from the spring pack in general.

First, the lower shock bracket/spring clamps appear to be installed reversed so the shock is to the inside of the frame.

Second, when you remove all but two leaves you're losing a considerable amount of load bearing capability. Granted you may not be carrying a load in the bed but look at it this way. You need a certain amount of spring rate just to support the truck. You need additional spring rate to support any added load. Only two leaves out back might be okay with no added load. On the front I'd say no way. With only two leaves left to support the front weight of the truck (including additional weight transfer during braking) the load would not properly support the front and it would dive. The front springs in Volfandt's truck look to be over-arched to the point that the arch has reversed! The previous owner also put spacers under the spring. This only returns the spring to the correct installed height. It does nothing to correct the spring rate or support the spring. Here in California any sort of spacer or block on the front spring is also illegal. Without the support of the other leaves the entire load gets transferred across a weaker length. Imagine replacing the steel bar of a dumbell with a cardboard paper towel tube. It's going to fail in the middle if you move it up or down. Same scenario with a leaf spring. Take away the inherent strength of the pack and leave the heavy lifting to only the longest leaves and those leaves WILL bend or snap over time right where they are clamped to the axle. Now imagine you're driving down the road with your grandkid in the seat next to you (seat belts? - maybe) and that spring fails under the weight and collapses or worse yet just snaps.

The third problem I see is that when you lower a truck this way you will affect the steering geometry. The drag link is no longer on the horizontal like it's supposed to be. It's now angled and your steering input comes in on an aggravated arc rather than almost a straight push/pull as designed. You're asking for steering problems.

For those wanting a lower ride on the cheap I wouldn't suggest removing so many leaves on the front. Two leaves might support the weight out back but not the front.

Dave,
It's not the shock location that will cause the bottoming out, it's the fact that there is not enough spring to hold the truck up and take out road bumps. The spring pack is under the frame rails, so when you hit a deep pot hole the axle and spring clamps are going to slam into the bottom of the frame rails. Look to see if there are marks from where it has already hit. The shock location will be better out towards the tires to lesson the amount of leverage the axle has. The closer to center the shocks are, the less force they apply to the axle out on the ends. Simply leverage!

When I pulled leaves out my truck, I left the two top longest then pulled every other out leaving four out of the original seven. The rears had five out the original nine. Your truck also started out with weaker springs then my '37, so with only two left, I am surprised it rides as good as it does. I since have changed to four new spring packs made with a softer spring rate, I didn't trust the old springs with leaves removed.

The steering issue is something to think about, I know I had to add 2* of caster when I lowered my truck just a 1" or so. Even if you lower just the front, the caster changes. Bump steer is nothing you want to deal with, so study on the dragline issue and see if you can possibly level it out with cutting & welding on arms.

Joe

Joe, I haven't driven it yet, it wasn't running when I got it. It sits so low I really didn't know what I was getting into until I got it up on jack stands. The previous owner says he drove it quite a bit as it was but we all know how previous owners tell tales lol.....
The shocks are very short, perhaps 12" or so. I can provide pics of the setup if there's interest.

Don, my GMC's suspension setup seems to fall within your OP. My 1st thought when I saw it was that I didn't like it, especially how the springs were bending backwards. I may try it before I change it, if just to see how well or worse it works... Got to get it running dependably 1st....

A couple pis of the front shocks.
Pic 1
Pic 2