I've been reading for a long time here about springs and I finally decided what I wanted to try. My Ex is a 2005, 4x4, Eddie Bauer with a V10, 136k miles and I am running 285/75/16's on the stock wheels. I decided I wanted to buy new Ford springs so I went with V's up front but went with 6C3Z 5 A975 C in the rear (unsure what the code is, some say "C"). I was lucky enough to find all the specs most of the springs discussed here and chose the rears based on it has the most favorable secondary to primary ratio and the transition from the primary to the secondary is later than the B (+~130 lbs per spring). It has a little less capacity than the B but both springs give way more capacity than I'll ever need. This spring comes with an over load spring that I removed (they are for sale along with the spacers and center bolts) and used the Excursion stock block. This gave me 39 1/4 on each front and 40.7"/41.25" in the rear. I have adjustable Ranchos, I put less damping in the front (was 3, now 2) but went up in the rear since the primary rate is less than the stock Excursion rear spring (was 5, now 6). I'll continue to play with the settings. I'm very satisfied with the ride quality but I was a little disappointed that I only got about 1.5" in the front from the V's. If I had a diesel, I'd go W in front, the same rears but with the F250 block (my neighbor is going to try this soon).

I did measure from the ground to the top of the fender opening but found mixed results on different days, the 1.5" I mention above is at the jounce bumper and this was consistent for me.

Oh, in my quest for spring data I did learn that Ford springs vary in ride height by about 20 mm, perhaps that's what some (me included) didn't get as much lift with the Vs. I also created a spreadsheet that compares the various springs out there. I sent it to Stewart_H, not sure if he's looked at it yet.

In case anyone is wondering, the above rear spring is 330/650, ~2795 lbs with a transition at 1781 lbs, the B spring is 320/670, 2995 lbs with a transition at 1650 lbs. based on the spring variance it might be hard to tell the difference between the spring I chose and the B BUT I wanted to try something different. I weighed my truck full of fuel and found the unsprung weights and ended up with 1530 lbs per side of sprung weight, this is partly what I based my rear spring decision on. I paid $360 per rear spring where a B is $295 or $317 depending if it has the over load spring (the B with the OL is cheaper than the non OL, go figure!). Another factor in my decision that modding the rear springs wasn't for me (although many have had success with it).

Thank you to all that have posted spring info, results and comments!

PS here's a link (sorry my truck was dirty) https://www.ford-trucks.com/g/album/edit/

 

When following the link it says the album is empty.

 

Try this one. New Springs! by RobRoss - Ford-Trucks

 

Good for you Rob, you'll be happy with the V/C swap.

 

Thanks Sean! I think it's a good alternative since you don't need 3.5" blocks. I did try htm but the back sat way too high. I feel like this upgrade has given the truck new life!

 

Anyone have any thoughts on a +1" front shackle? Any downsides to it? Driveline angle change or ?

 

Plenty here have tried it and been happy. By far the easiest way to get the front leaf springs off the bump stops. I doubt the angle will change much with a small lift like that.

 

Thanks, that was my guess but I have no experience with them yet.

 

Before you sell that overload spring....one of the members took that spring and added it to his front leaf pack.

Here is a thread where he talks about what he did and it may give you that 1" lift you are looking to add.

https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...-question.html

Tim M

 

I too was looking for more lift in the front than the V codes provided. I have modded S springs in the back with F350 blocks and so I knew I would need more than just the V codes. I originally went with 2" lift shackles in the front with Vs but didn't get enough lift, so I added Skyjacker Add-A-Leafs in front. That whole combo got me the lift I was looking for. I've had no issues with the lift.

You wouldn't need both shackles and add-a-leafs to come up an additional 1" of course.

I have a 6.0 and the 2" lift shackles didn't provide 2", it was more like 1.5".

I have all my measurements in this post if you're interested in seeing the lift progression on the front (or the rear for that matter).

https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...installed.html

 

wrixn, Thank you, I remember reading your thread. I wasn't sure if a 1" shackle would really provide 1" without changing the front hanger. I'll think about it for a while...I guess I have 3 options at this point, do nothing, 1" shackle or as timf150 mentioned, adding the rear over load to the front pack. I'm hesitant to add stiffness but as I said I'll mull it over for a while.

At least what I have so far has helped the truck drive nice again and no wander either! So far I've noticed that on rough roads, there isn't much difference but on semi smooth roads with occassional moderate bumps, it's much more smooth and controlled vs. the original springs. I still need to adjust my shocks more but one of them appears to be frozen (adjuster).


timf150, thanks for the reminder, I thought it about last week but quickly forgot!

 

Yeah I don't know what that rear overload spring does in terms of spring rate for a V code. It might not do much of anything except add some height based purely on the thickness of the overload spring. They are not very thick. My Skyjacker add a leaf is much beefier than the rear B code overload spring.

I've also seen folks do the shackle and then add the front bracket to the V code to lower the front mounting point. I could have tried that but I found a great deal on Amazon on a set of "used" front add a leafs (the box was torn so they couldn't sell them as new).

It does seem some experimentation is the only/best way to get your desired outcome. Luckily the lift shackles are "only" 49.95 on eBay. I'm very happy with the quality of the ones I bought. I was "lucky" (there was some logic to my approach) that the shackles and the add a leafs raised the front the right amount to level the car with the rear setup. Now just some tires...

 

FWIW, I did some calculations for the over load spring from the pack I used and the B spring. Knowing the beginning and end points for each pack and overload, I figured out the new slope and got

B-OL = ~50 lbs/in,
the "C" above spring, ~55 lbs/in.

Seems reasonable.