I would like some input on the success people have had with removing existing leaf springs to lower your truck and improve the ride. What were the results? Would you do it again or just buy new ones to lower your truck.

Thanks,

Marty

 

Removing leaves does improve the ride and will lower your truck a couple of inches. There's no point in buying new springs unless you have broken leaves.

 

When you take a look at the spring packs on the rear of your truck you will note that they are engineered for hauling heavy loads on the farm or other work. It is unlikey that most of us on here will ever need to haul that amount of weight in the back of our trucks. It certainly doesn't hurt, and will improve the ride considerably when you remove a few leafs. General rule of thumb as mentioned in several threads on here is to remove only every second leaf. I would recommend leaving the second top one though and remove the short ones at the bottom of the pack. My truck had a stack of 10 which I felt was extreme overkill. The 4 at the bottom are usually broken anyway from overloading in the early years of the truck.
Others though, might have different opinons and will chime in.

 

If your springs are not broken or heavily worn take them apart, clean them, remove every other leaf, and reassemble with HMW plastic slider strips between, new eye bushings, shackle bolts. They will lower the truck and ride better than new ones. You can find the slider strips and detailed instructions on which leafs to remove in the Mid Fifty print catalog, as well as additional info on lowering. download or order a catalog on their web site Mid Fifty F-100 Parts - Home You can find instructions I've posted a number of times on how to disassemble the springs safely and how to clean them on here. Do an advanced search on this forum (click searchv in the blue band at the top of the page, select advanced search from the drop down menu)
Put AXracer in the user field, leaf springs in the topic, last year in the date, this forum in the search field.

 

Thanks for the input. I looked through the posts and still have a question. How big should the plastic slider slips be? On the springs from the 9" rear I bought they were about the size of a playing card.

Thanks,

Marty

 

If they are small, they have a protrusion that fits into a recess in the end of the leaf, usually called button sliders. If your leafs do not have recesses, the slider strip MF sells comes on a cut to length roll and has raised edges plus you punch a hole for the center bolt to keep it in place. Follow the directions that come with the product, but it is usually installed the same length or slightly shorter than the smaller leaf of the pair it goes between.

 

Marty,
As I had a shortened F-2 with stock springs that had an almost uncontrollable ride I bought new front springs from Posie's. They make their springs there in Hummelstown, PA. The dual-flex is a modern (relatively) design which uses only 2 leaves but they are tapered in two dimensions so that they provide a more dynamic flex than straight leaf springs. They have the buttons that AX mentioned incorporated in the design.

Remember that ride is also controlled by the shock absorbers. If you have good springs but cheap shocks you won't get the best ride improvement. I went with Bilstein gas shocks in the front.

The rear is a little more straight forward (pardon the pun ). I used Posie Super Sliders back there with a standard heavy duty shock.

This lowered the truck 2-3" with all the remaining parts kept stock.

While you have it apart you should check the other suspension components like the steering box, drag link, tie rod ends, king pins, etc. I'm not sure where you are located as there is nothing in your profile but unless you are lucky removing the spring pivots is going to be a chore. The good news is that there are lots of people here on FTE that have done that job before and so they have posted many helpful tips.

 

I have questions. I removed some from both the front and rear. It set's great but when I get into the cab on my side it leans. When I get out it will not rebound. I feel they may just be old and weak. The rear seem to be fine just maybe my front ones.

 

Sounds like the leafs are rusty/dirty/worn/all of the above and are not sliding over each other. But I really am concerned if you getting in the truck collapses the spring on that side. Either you are a very big person or you took out too many/wrong leafs. Did you follow the instructions on which leafs to take out? There may be other factors at work, but unless you can observe the suspension move and report what happens when weight is placed in it it will be hard to diagnose long distance. First I would suggest check what you took out compared to the instructions in the Mid Fifty catalog Mid Fifty F-100 Parts - Home Next I would disassemble the springs again and clean the leafs smooth with a belt sander or wire wheel, sanding only parallel to the length, never across or circular. Order a roll of slider strip while you are in the MF catalog and put a strip between all the leafs before reassembly. DO NOT paint the leafs! Be sure to replace the eye bushings and any worn pivot/shackle pins if you didn't the first time.

 

My front springs were so worn they were bending upward instead of down so I ordered new ones and the liner
I was just wondering why not paint them?

 

As a quick check you might want to try pumping lube into the spring pivot pins until grease just starts to ooze out of the bushings. Then drive it around a bit and see if it helps. If not you are going to have to do a more thorough job.

 

Paint will cause then to stick and bind.

 

Even with the liner it will stick and bind?

 

Maybe yes, but why take the chance? Nobody will see the tops and bottoms of the springs anyway. Just my 2 cents

 

It just bothers me knowing it's there lol but I guess I'll have to get over that thanks for the information