any thoughts on replacing my stock springs with those new reverse eye single springs from sac vintage ford...i am on a budget,cant really afford fancy ifs...springs supposedly drop front 5 inches,back 5.5. inches,and have better perfomance than stock...whats the down side??????

 

am interested in doing the exact same thing. Was just speaking to a fellow from a rod and custom shop in Minnesota regarding the same topic and he was recommending going to modified springs if I didn't want to go the IFS route. Good luck, please keep us posted, like to see some before and afters in your gallery.

 

If money is a concern get a set of reverse eye main leaf replacements and take out every other leaf spring for a better ride.

 

Welcome to the forum!
Christopher2's suggestion is right on, best option for the stock style suspension is replacing the main leaf in your current spring pack with a reversed eye one, remove every other leaf of the remaining and install the plastic slide strips between. This is far superior to and less expensive than the monoleafs. Try doing a search here on springs, monoleaf, reversed eye, etc for a number of in depth discussions of the pros and cons.
Order yourself a catalog from Mid Fifty, www.midfifty.com it contains a lot of very useful info besides the best collection of parts and prices. Can't say enough about how great and helpful the ladies there are, they really know and love our trucks!

 

i have reverse eye main leafs on my 53 with every other leaf removed.i installed the polly liner in between the springs and added new spring clamps.it is fairly easy to do i dont know how much drop i have yet my u-bolts hasnt arrived,mid 50 said shipping was slow they had a sudden death by a co worker that sent them in a shock.slowing things down a bit.

 

I need to replace my main leaf on the front and will probably go with the reverse eye springs. I think I have been procrastinating because everytime you replace something on the suspension such as springs, the ride height changes also. It would be nice to just install the springs and have the truck sitting at the same height or a hair lower. I spent enough time getting my truck to sit the way it is.

 

I pulled 1/2 of the leafs out all four corners of my 51 F1 and installed the plastic strips that John's F-Fun Hundreds in Burna Park CA. sells. It lowered the truck down to where the running boards are 10" off the ground. And the truck rides much better now, it does have a little more wander at freeway speeds than it did before. I know the shackles are worn out and I can deal with that for now. If you look in my gallery the pictures there were taken before the leaf removal, there is also a couple there with just the front done.

 

The wander may also have to do with the alignment. Lowering the truck also removes caster from the front axle. You may need to add a tapered shim or two to each side between the spring and the axle to tip the top of the axle back more to increase caster.

 

I agree with AXracer as to the possible wandering condition. The caster was likely decreased as a result of the spring swap and now the axle is less prone to self-centering than before.

 

got my front u-bolts today and put them on my front suspension.after getting it all bolted up and the tires on my measurement revealed a 3-1/4" drop this is with the motor in and no front sheetmetal on yet.i am guessing all the front end sheetmetal will yield another 1/2" drop.this is a economical way to drop the front of your truck.

 

Ole Red, who did you purchase the reverse eye springs from? Any problems installing them?

 

got them from mid fifty it is the mainleaf only i used my other springs well every other one of them.the installation went well, the polly liner is the trick from what ive heard.you do have to cut the ends of your last spring about 1 1/2" from the spring end mine had one end that went around the original mlo spring eye.i am very pleased with the results.

 

Ol Red,how did you do the discs on front of your ride? What was the donor car? Will that work on mine??????HMMMMMMMMMMMMM

 

There are plenty of DB conversion kits on the market. Try www.mpbrakes.com here in NC. Good peeps!

 

Ok guys, Last chance, just pulled out my Dana 44. updated a few pics in my gallery. Any final thoughts? Going to Sac Vintage next week to get reversed eye leaf spring kit. Gonna drop her 5 in in the rear. Still up in the air about what to do up front.