I bought a set of front leaf springs (from General Spring) for 39-'46 trucks that are 17" eye-to-center and 19" eye-to-center, making it a perfect upgrade/swap for my 1930 truck (exact same dimensions)- BUT the 19" portion of the new springs happen to be the pivot end (with 11/16" bolt) and 17" portion the shackle end.
Reason for the "BUT" is that my '30 is just exactly the opposite- 17" pivot end on the front side of the axle with the 19" shackle on the back side. Initial thoughts are just relocating the mounting points to keep the pivot up front- but it seems weird to have the longer spring section on the front side of the axle. Then again, it seems weird to have the shackle on the front side. (Of course I've been wrong about plenty of things in my life. LOL)
Thanks for your input. Charlie
Edit- outside bushing dimensions are the same so I could swap them for a simple solution. Still wondering what the 39-46 trucks did with this and why.
Last edited by 1930 Charlie; 04/02/20215:21 PM. Reason: rewording and more info
'37 has the pivot at the rear with shackle up front. Not sure I ever measured, but pretty sure they are the same as the '39-'46 springs. If you can swap ends, and it all works out, seems like a good fix. The length may have more to do with fitting the frame then ride quality, I don't see how it would make any difference.
The first scans are for the cars, here is the truck information
Can't tell you how much I appreciate the time to photo and post those.(makes me want one of those books now LOL) Very interesting to track the changes and reasons. I see no reason to not mount them as designed in '37- especially since I was going to make a few mods there anyway.
No problem, hope it helps. It's interesting they kept adding spring rate, when you get up to the '46 springs, the rate is about half of what it was in '37. I had custom springs made for mine, they are slightly weaker then '46 springs to soften the ride. With stock '37 springs, it road like a lumber wagon.
No problem, hope it helps. It's interesting they kept adding spring rate, when you get up to the '46 springs, the rate is about half of what it was in '37. I had custom springs made for mine, they are slightly weaker then '46 springs to soften the ride. With stock '37 springs, it road like a lumber wagon.
Yeah, curiosity about the ride is in the back of my mind somewhere. My '30 is a 1.5 ton flatbed and will get some additional weight with a headache rack and additional goodies on the back. Hopefully it will ride halfway decent. Out back I went with '87-96 Jeep Wrangler springs which were identical dims of the original (eyes to center) and rated at 1,080#. 2500# helper air bags will give me some beef when needed for pulling a loaded trailer.
