The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area The HiPo Shop Spring leaf removal for softer ride

My 49 half ton is great with the new front clip but the rear is still stock and still too rough. I know that some leaf removal should help but not sure how many and which ones to take out... What about the overload springs too ...can I remove them too.

I believe you'd have to take out the shorter ones, but not many, no telling how strong old leafs might be after 60 years of abuse, I've had individual longer leafs break - might consider getting mono-leafs if you don't carry any load - the overloads, turf'em or leave'em, won't make any ride difference at all because they're never in play unless you're [over]loaded, just add a little weight back there, which should actually improve the ride

Bill

I have the heavy duty 8 leaf oem springs in the rear and I took out the two short ones all the way around. after talking with Sid of Nostalgia Sid's Dropped Axles most guys take two leaves out of the standard 7 leaf packs so I'll probably be removing another leaf in the rear.

As for the overload spring packs, ditch em unless you plan on hauling heavy loads on rough roads. I had them too. now they're garage art.

Weight definitely improves the ride. I had a rotary motor and it's 5spd trans strapped to a palette in the back for 100mi and the truck has never handled as well as it did then.

My 1 ton had to work for its keep a year ago when It hauled its replacement engine home. It has never ridden better that with that 500 + pound engine riding in the back. I am looking at removing the overloads and a couple of the lower short leaves. Jerry

I removed every other leaf starting with the shortest and leaving the two top ones. The top, longest spring locates the whole bunch, the second one is a safety back up, from there down they support the one above. Removing every other one does gives a softer ride but also greatly reduces the load rating. Adding teflon liner or Poly-liner between each leaf does as much or more to soften the ride as removing leafs. Be sure to clean off any sharp edges, steps, and rust before assembly. Also, radius the top side of each leaf so it doesn't dig into the leaf above it, this is really important when using Poly-liner.

Trailer supply houses have new u-bolts and center pins. You will need to bend new retainer clips or shorten what you have if you remove leafs.

Joe

Joe

You can install the shorter leafs on top of the longer ones. It will lower and give you a softer ride.
dan

If you need pictures IM me.......I lost my online pics when Webshots went down.....But I have them on file
dan

I have teflon liner between the leaves, works so good I had to get better shocks.

Thanks for all the suggestions, Guys. I will try removing two short leaves, cleaning up the remaining ones and installing the Teflon or Poly liner.

It's an 'old ranch truck' so maybe I'll try just hauling around a coupla' hay bales to see how much the added weight helps