I read Kenny's post above about suspension alternatives, and saw where the front monoleaf was out of favor due to ride. There were many choices in the early build up of my 1/2 ton that could have been better, but I feel like the front monoleaf was one of the good choices, at least based upon the vehicle's first few miles.
My rear springs are a stack of 6 new leafs (I removed the shorter ones) that are like ridgid. The rearend might as well be welded to the frame. All pins and bushings are new.
I'm getting close to ordering rear monoleafs from Sacramento Vintage Ford. They say that for monoleafs with reversed eyes installed in F-1's, alteration in the rear spring hanger is required. Does anyone have experience with this? Is the alteration simply one of grinding away some material or more involved?
My truck is a 46 1/2 ton, but the rear suspension for it and the F-1's is identical, so that is why this post is here. There are a lot more F-1s than 46's. Mike

 

Mike,

The general view held by many in this forum is that they are not convinced that mono leaves are any good and most of those folks aren't familiar with anyone that has had good results with them. Not saying they aren't any good - most of us simply don't have any experience (1st or 2nd hand) with them. You may be the first person on this forum with any experience with them (and even your's is admittedly brief).

It would be a great benefit to the population of this forum for you to get some further driving experience with them and to give us an in depth evaluation. While it doesn't always stop us here, we do prefer to know what we're talking about, so you'd be helping us....

SOME of us more conservative guys (yah, old farts Mr4spd) like the adjustability you can get from multi-leaf springs....take a few out, put a few back in....

With regard to the modifications required to fit mon-leaf springs on the back of our trucks, I did some reading on this a few years back when I needed new rear springs (see, my mind was open to considering them). Apparently...
look inside the frontmost rear hanger where the the coil on the end of the main leaf goes. You'll see the surface is somewhat machined to give the side of the coiled end of the main leave something smooth to butt against. you'll also see that this milling only comes up from the bottom about 30 degrees or so. (What I mean is that it only comes all the way out to the outer edge about that many dgrees (working from memory here and all those chemicals in the 60s can do funny things to the old brain cells). You can also see that this milling could come up further without any problems...maybe 45 to 50 degrees. My understanding is that you need to do this (extend the milling) in order to enable the mono leaf spring to go through the full arc of movement that it does.

Now maybe I'm all wet, but that's what I remember. Of course, maybe I did a poor job of explaining it and you don't have a clue what I said. (In that case then - I'm definitely exactly correct on this whole issue) ...One of the websites or catalogs of one of the suppliers of mon leafs had a fairly coherant explanation of this whole thing....

 

Monoleafs are not progressive springs. To me, that means you have to get it exactly right, or you're still in for a stiff ride. The truck rear is so light, there's little room for error. That's why I prefer multi-leaves. You can play with the stack and tweak the spring rate. Once they are disassembled, cleaned and reinstalled, it's a fairly simply matter to experiment. Yours are new, so all the better. Six leaves is a lot if you aren't using the truck to work. I'd pull the second or third longest and see what you got.

Many of us here are running 4 or 5 leaves.

 

Thankyou very much for both responses. Ferguson, armed with your description I'll look at the hanger and hopefully be better prepared to talk to Sacramento Vintage. Fatfenders, good information. I wondered if the longest spring next to the mainleaf could be removed. I figured that these new springs don't have the scalloped out area like the originials, which I think was for the purpose of allowing grease to move between leaves (not sure about that). The extra material was making them stiffer. Anyway my mind is made up and rear monoleaf it is. In addition to the ride issue, I have a severe rake. The rear is way up there and it seemed to be causing problems with the carburetor. The front has a 4 inch dropped axle along with the single leaf, so it is fairly low compared to the back. Weight on the rear wheels will be somewhat increased with the battery mounted behind cab inside of rale, a fuel cell in the bed, and a 50 pound bumper. But it won't be carrying any load other than that.
Hopefully later this summer I can give a report about how it has all worked out. Thanks again. Mike

 

Mike -

I run standard eye monoleaf springs in the rear of my 56 effie. I installed them 1 1/2 years ago. Being standard eye, I didn't have to modify the hangers. However, you should know that these seem to "break in" over time. When I first installed mine and drove it, I thought I had made a huge mistake. They seemed very stiff. However, after running them for a while, they seemed to season and now ride very nice. I do notice that when I haul a load (200-300 pounds) in the bed, they ride REALLY nice. So maybe the weight you are adding to the rear will improve the ride for you too.

Good Luck!

 

I had Mono Leafs on a 63 C20 once.. After the first 200 miles.. two of them snapped off the eyes and cause me to wreak.. it was a totel nightmare.. After 2 years and a Crash analysis expert came in and did his job I won a court case for parts failure.. I will never use them agian.. Found out that if U drive on a smoth road every day.. there ok.. but if U use a uninproved road ( Dirt road ) thay will fail.. and fail fast..

 

There are many options to lowering your read end without spending $400. on rear monos -

Here's several https://www.ford-trucks.com/article/...ial_Swaps.html

Bottom half of the article.

 

ferguson, I appreciate the direction, but I am on a course of action. This truck needs to get to the road. At this point in time I don't want the hassle of putting the axle over the springs, and the idea of jockying around leafs doesn't seem realistic for me.
Not much in the truck is conservative, but at the same time it is fairly simple. On a side note, I've been trying to shave pounds on the truck where I can (excepting the heavy rear bumper), and it should come in close to 2900, even with the normally heavy Y-block.

 

Mike

I didn't realize you had already made up your mind before you started the thread. Not a problem though, just make sure you come back and share the results after a few months of driving. I don't think we have many here running monos on all four corners.

And getting the truck well under 3000# is pretty impressive with a Y-block. My truck just keeps getting heavier and heavier as time goes by.

 

'fenders,

Are you sure it's the truck and not just the driver?