guess ill look tomorrow and see about removing some maybe
rear suspension
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rear suspension
my 82 f250's po told me the truck had a 'heavier' suspension package than normal. it also has air shocks though i seriously doubt the leaf springs have ever been flexed enough to make them useful. Anyone know of this option or is this after-market?
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I have seen these trucks with 4 leaves in the back or 5 leaves in the back. I am not sure what the official difference was, it may have been a camper or tow package that made the difference. I am also not sure what years the 5 leaves were available. I have only seen them on one truck a long time ago.
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I looked up a 86 f150 on car-part.com and here are the options they list. They list some sort of "aux" spring. It may have been some sort of helper spring. I have never seen a factory one on a f150 but I have seen factory helper springs on a 94 f350 in the back.
Aux Spring, 4x4
Aux Spring, 4x2
Main Spring, 4x2
Main Spring, 4x4, 4 leaf
Main Spring, 4x4, 5 leaf
Aux Spring, 4x4
Aux Spring, 4x2
Main Spring, 4x2
Main Spring, 4x4, 4 leaf
Main Spring, 4x4, 5 leaf
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Someone has been messing with that spring pack. It's not hard to do. The only problem is it ruins your ride. That's the first thing I noticed when I got my first truck from this era. It was how nice and smooth the ride was for a pickup. Messing around with the springs fouls that up.
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From: Virginia
The original spring has thinner curved springs on top, and a very thick shorter flat spring on the bottom. The thinner curved springs give the nicer ride unloaded, and when you load the bed down the thinner springs come down and flatten out against the thicker spring on the bottom. That's why the rear seems to drop dramatically when you first load the bed, and that is also why these trucks have a rake to them with the rearend of the truck higher unloaded. So when you put a load in the rear it's not sagging so dramatically.
These frontend "leveling" kits ruin this design and make the truck look even worse when it's loaded.
These frontend "leveling" kits ruin this design and make the truck look even worse when it's loaded.
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From: Virginia
Duh, I have been rattling on and on about f150's. I just looked at your first post and you have a f250. Let me look up what the f250's had. They still used the thinner and thicker progressive spring like the f150's though.
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They DO show a 6 leaf spring for a 82 f250. Sorry about that.
Main Spring, 2-1/4" wide (Chassis Cab)
Main Spring, 3" wide, 4 leaf
Main Spring, 3" wide, 5 leaf
Main Spring, 3" wide, 6 leaf
Aux Spring, 36-5/8" long
Aux Spring, 38" long
Main Spring, 2-1/4" wide (Chassis Cab)
Main Spring, 3" wide, 4 leaf
Main Spring, 3" wide, 5 leaf
Main Spring, 3" wide, 6 leaf
Aux Spring, 36-5/8" long
Aux Spring, 38" long
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I think I would scope out a truck with the 4 leaves on it. Either in the junkyard or someone you know that has one. You could then eyeball what it looks like and which leaves to take out if it's possible.
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