i am thinking about lowering the truck, i have heard you can turn the leaf springs to drop it,if this is true how much will it lower it ,i would like front and rear dropped 3 to 4 inches.
I THANK YOU ALL IN ADVANCE.

GARY

 

Gary, I don't know what "turned" springs are but if you are refering to flipping them upside down, don't do that unless you want some broken spring leaves. The easiest method to lower the truck is to remove some leaves from the spring pack. If that doesn't lower it enough consider a dropped axle.

 

hi vern,when i said turned i mean spin the leaves 180 degrees so the rear of the spring becomes the front.when removing leaves would that be removing every other one?also do you know how much it would drop per leaf and how many it is safe to remove.

Gary

 

a couple of different ways this can be acheived.

as Gary stated, easiest is to remove springs. Remove every other spring form the pack. not sure on the front springs as i have MII suspension on the front, but it works pretty good on the back.

if still not enough, you can either get your srings de-arched or rework them to get reverse eyes on them. any competent local spring shop can do that or alternatively make new springs for you. just don't try it yourself by heating them.

you can also get mono-leaf springs from most vendors, but i have heard conflicting opinions on them. some people say they work great, others say they are weak and don't allow much weight to be carried.

the final solution is a dropped axle as Gary said.

couple of ideas to look at for you.

rgds
Mike

 

thanks mike i will go for removing leaves, it wont hurt to try the front as well as i can always put them back.

Gary

 

Dropping every other leaf works well and softens the ride, however keep at least 4 leaves in the final spring pack. I have seen a number of Effies with leaves dropped and they looked great to me, having about 8 inches clearance fenders to the ground. If you want to go lower, a dropped axle will be the best way, although it is a bit pricy. If you go with a dropped axle, your steering geometry will get funky and need some work to restore decent steering.

I woudn't de-arc the springs because you'll need to C-notch the frame as all of your clearance to the axle will be gone.

 

hi randy jack, i have seven leaves on each corner so i can remove 3 would this lower it about 3 inches?also on the rear would it be wise to remove the overload leaf as part of the 3 as i dont haul lots of weight mainly beer and camping gear for shows.also would removing leaves have the desired effect. sorry to be a pain.

Gary

 

Gary -

Yeah. From what I have heard, going to 4 leaves should lower it about 3 inches. (Others here can tell you better about that). It seems to be a trial and error type thing and the amount of lowering will depend on how tired the springs are. I would remove the overload leaf.

 

One thing you might want to consider is cutting the rubber bumper down a little if you remove springs from the front. The bumper is on the bottom of the frame just above the front axle. We have 5 springs in the front of our 60 and had to cut the rubber about in half to keep from bottoming out on turns.

 

Having been around here for awhile and having seen this suggestion numerous times I can't believe no one has not suggested the obvious.

Let the air out of the tires.

For more exceptable help look here and you will find my untried and unapproved mumblings.

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

Also try the search engine. It is very helpful.

I'm really not a smart ***. i just couldn't resist.

 

Gary, that's a new one on me. I fail to see how spinning the leaves 180 degrees would change anything???? You can go with a minimum of 4 leaves on the rear but you may find it hard to do that on the front since you do not have as much clearance there to begin with. My stock 49 has only about 1.5 inches before it contacts the bump stop now and I haven't removed any of the leaves. I probably have some tired springs up front and your's may be tired also. See how much clearance you have first before you start removing leaves in the front. Also, if you dissassemble the spring pack be sure to remove as much rust as you can from the leaves and grind the ends to keep them from digging into each other. Get some teflon liner to put between the leaves and they will work better than new.

 

vern thanks again i am hoping to tackle the job saturday morning,i am still willing to listen to suggestiond.

Gary

 

WALSTON if you read this thread do you have any pictures of your truck lowered if so can you e-mail some so i can get an idea of how mine may look and also how many springs you have on the rear. e-mail:garyelleandaaron@aol.com

thanks gary

 

I think that DF was actually refering to reversed eye main leaves. These are replacement main leaves that have the eyes rolled in the other direction from stock, not flipped end for end. By rolling them so they are under the main leaf rather than over it, the whole spring moves up relative to the frame, thus lowering the truck.
When removing leaves, starting with the shortest one, keep it(#1) remove #2, Keep #3, remove #4, keep #5, remove #6 Keep #7 but cut off the wrap nearest the ends. Replace the main with a reversed eye main (quoted from Mid Fifty catalog). Clean off any and all rust and wear grooves sanding lengthwise not across. Do NOT paint the leaves! add the poly strip material between the leaves for smoother softer ride.
Be sure to put a couple LARGE HEAVY DUTY C clamps on each side of the center bolt before taking off the nut and then SLOWLY and carefully release the pressure. The centerbolt is under a lot of tension and serious injury can result if it is released suddenly. You will need shorter centerbolts and U bolts to reassemble so be sure to have them on hand before starting. replace the eye bushings and any worn shackle bolts while everything is apart. Removing leaves in the front will reduce the steering caster angle so add a tapered shim between the axle and spring with the thicker end towards the front of the truck when reinstalling the front axle. There is a real nice chart of how to achieve different amounts of drop from 3-5" front and rear with springs in the print version of the Mid Fifty catalog. They also carry all the other parts I mentioned. www.midfifty.com

 

Axracer Why can't you paint the springs?