I thought I was done with my front suspension rebuild and converting to power disk brakes from a 78 donor truck, until I got the truck lowered down off the jack to notice it looked like a gasser with the front of the truck up way higher than the rear. From the top of the tire to the wheel well arch was almost 5 inches. You can probably see in the picture looking at grill that it was so high the wheel camber was completely out of whack with the wheels angled in at the bottoms. My first thought was that the completely wrong springs must have been in the LMC box which did show the correct part number for what I wanted (part # 45-2820). However, after taking them out I find them to be nearly identical to my original springs other than being 1/4 " taller. Yes I did have the new springs indexed so they were seated in the spring pocket at the top. The only installation error a know of is not noticing at the time that one of the new springs had a sticker that said "driver side" and I had it on the passenger side. I can't imagine this alone would result in the front being at least 3 inches too high?? I am hesitant to just reinstall with them on the correct sides wasting the effort when the truck is still nose up afterwards. Anybody else had a similar issues with coil springs from LMC? Any other thoughts on what could be wrong here?

Thanks in advance
Nate.

 

What motor do you have?

 

Looks like Tow-Mater from the front. You need to drive the truck before you can judge the effects of the new springs. Just rolling it will take the side load off the tires from coming off the jacks and the springs should settle noticeably with a week or two of driving. If you cant drive it or roll it easily, jack up the front end and put a couple of folded-up trash bags under the tires, this will let them slip and take the tension off so you can get a better idea of how it sits. I have no experience with LMC springs, won't buy from them if I can help it. I used Moog springs on mine, got them off Amazon for $120

 

Christmas - Truck was originally straight six, but now has a 351 Windsor.

Thunderkiss 1965 - Truck was moved out of the garage and driven around the block before taking the pictures so it had some movement to settle. After looking again I can see that switching the springs to the correct sides (driver side vs passenger) should lower it some so I will probably do that and see how much it helps. It still bugs me that LMC and a couple other sources show the same spring will fit 65 thru 79 truck, but I have read at least a couple of places that the 73 -79 springs are slightly taller. This is confirmed by looking at my original springs compared to the new LMC springs and also the springs that came out of the 78 donor truck. In both cases my original springs are about 1/4 to 1/2 inch shorter. Can anybody confirm the 65-66 springs were in fact shorter than the 70's trucks?

 

Lesson learned? LMC are the last placeI would shop. Really. Find out what the consensus best parts are for a given task, and find a way to afford them.

 

I'm not in love with LMC, but they are located in Kansas City area where I live and replacing the coil springs was a last minute decision so I got them from LMC in order to be able to pick them up same day. Update however, I just finished switching the springs so the one labeled driver side is now on the driver side and that made a much bigger difference than I would have thought. Brought the front down about 2 1/2 inches. It looks okay now, a little higher than it was with the 55 year old originals, but doesn't look like a gasser anymore. Lesson # 2 learned, pay attention to what the little sticker says on the new spring.

 

I'm amazed that switching the springs to the proper location would make so much difference but good for you!

 

Just wanted to update this post as to not leave it with bad information. Maybe wishful thinking in combination with a particular spot in my driveway which is not very level in multiple directions made the truck seem lower after my last post, but after driving it again and checking in a very flat parking lot, the LMC springs still had the ride height at least 1.5 inches higher than stock. Besides appearance, the big problem was this put the tire camber way off with tires angled in at the bottom. To rule out an issue with the donor I beams out of the 78 truck, I put back in my original springs and problem solved. I'm going to try and return the LMC springs and get my money back, but later on at some point I would still like to get new springs for the front. Can anybody recommend a source that sells the CORRECT springs for a 65 - 66 2wd? Thanks.

 

Above, Thunderkiss says Moog, so,I would guess any dealer, or perhaps ThunderKiss ( I just love saying “Thunderkiss”) can give you the correct part number, then see if you can source them on eBay like he ( Thunderkiss) did? Heh heh heh . . .Thunderkiss . . .

 

https://www.moogparts.com/find-my-pa...ults.html?type[value]=2&type[label]=Light%20Duty&year[value]=1965&year[label]=1965&make[value]=54&make[label]=Ford&model[value]=665&model[label]=F-100&subBrand=bcch

https://www.moog-suspension-parts.co...il_springs.asp

 

If the original (or 78) springs give you the correct ride height...why not just use them?? If they exhibited any problems, it would be settling, so apparently that didn't happen.

 

I got the Moog part number from their website and bought them from Amazon. I'll go digging at lunch, Amazon will remember what I bought, but waaay down the page LoL

 

Moog 8228. Fit my 65 F100, 352 three on the tree (originally) long bed custom cab. AND they are $85.88 today on Amazon. They will be delivered tuesday, but they only have 2 in stock, order soon!

 

You can cut a quarter or half a ring off at a time to get it down to the height you want.