The Stovebolt Site Forums The Parking Lot Big Bolts Spring leaf removal and re-arching

Emily, GVWR 23,000, rides a bit rough. Ok, really rough. Since I won't be using her to ever haul more than a ton or two, and her empty weight will be around 8,000, I am considering having a leaf or two removed from each spring. There is a local shop that re-arches springs, but I first thought I'd ask tap into the Bolt knowledge base.

Who has had springs removed? How many total, how many removed?

How has the ride changed and handling changed?

What is the usual price for re-arching the remaining springs?

Is re-arching necessary if no more than a ton or two would ever be hauled? (The helper springs will not be altered). I'm assuming that without re-arching the truck would be lowered by the amount of thickness of the springs removed.

Any other things I should consider?


Thanks in advance,

Scott

Trucks in that weight class ride rough with spring ride. Air ride is an option, but it is expensive. Trucks of that size were made to haul a load. They ride like a wagon when they are empty.

For what it's worth in recent article in a United Kingdom Antique truck Magazine one restorer claimed ride and handling were much improved by simply disassembling springs and removing rust and crud between the leaves and painting lubricating and reassembling spring packs. This was on a spring ride tractor(artic). And as crenwelge said they were designed to hold a load sacrificing ride quality.

If you plan ever hauling a load with it, I would not recommend oiling the springs. Rust removal is ok, but springs depend on friction for load carrying and oiling them will cause them to break if you hit something like a pot hole with a load.

The most I would ever be hauling would be a couple tons, and that would be rare. With an empty weight around 8,500 and a gross of 23,000, it would have the capacity to carry over 7 tons with the current springs. This is a play truck, not a work truck.

important point you have crenlege never would have considered oiling would cause breakage. saw a DIY tv show for cars and they wiped grease on the outside of the leaf springs then wrapped them in cloth host claimed the grease would work its way in after a few weeks then you could powerwash outside of springs. Again that particular show was aimed at cars.

Many old cars had spring gators to keep the grease in and the dirt out.
Some of the really fancy cars had automatic chassis lubrication systems, oiling the leaf springs was a part of that system.
I've even got a little tool made to force the leaves apart so you can get grease between the leaves.
Now that I think of it the rear spring on a 30's ford car had a center pin designed with a grease fitting and grooves in the springs so the grease would travel all the way out.

So, greasing springs in some applications (cars) was thought to be a good idea at one time.
Not so sure the same applies to trucks though, as crenwelge pointed out.

Grigg

Rather than doing something with your current springs that were designed for a load, I would look at the possibility of having springs built that are designed for your empty weight. On the rare occasion of hauling a load, the overload springs springs would carry it. The springs you have now were designed for a loaded truck and were designed to have friction between leaves. Someone like Eaton http://www.eatonsprings.com/ could probably build something to fit your needs.

What do you have for tires? They could be contributing to the rough ride as well. Bias tires will feel like they have a flat spot until you drive for a while. I would not bother messing around with the old springs if they are that worn out. When you take leafs out of the stack it is going to make the remaining leafs work harder and might end up with broken leafs. What crenwelde said sounds like a good idea.