The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area General Truck Talk '69 2WD Chassis Mystery

My Father bought another '69 Chevy 2WD SB today and I went to help load it up. When we got it on the trailer I noticed to my surprise that it had factory "leaf springs" in the rear. We've restored lots of these old '67-'72's over the years and my Dad owns 4 right now. We were driving his '69 factory 4WD pickup and I knew it had leaf springs front and rear. My Dad and I both thought that someone had used a 4wd chassis somehow on this pickup. Nope after looking both trucks over carefully the 2wd setup was a little different and it obviously never had leafs or brackets for them up front. This ruled out it being a 4wd chassis. The rear leaf brackets on this 2wd were riveted in from the factory, no bolt on extras. Was this an option in '69 to have rear leaf springs? We've never seen one like this before. Here is the VIN: CE149B822884.

Mike

Chevrolets of that period are generally coil spring and GMCs generally are leaf spring. Both could be ordered the other way.

So yes, it was an option.

The leaf rears were a low cost option on Chevrolet 1/2 and 3/4 tons during those years. It uses a different (GMC) frame than the coil rears. A lot of customers liked the extra stablitly and didn't wear out the rear shocks so fast.

Thanks, well we've learned something new. It must not have been a popular option. I bet we've had 50 or so of those Chevy trucks over the years, not to mention about 15 that we have for parts in a pasture. Not one 2wd has ever had leafs in the rear.

Mike