ALright guys the rumor mill has passed me and struck my curiosity...I heard from a bird that the stock coils on our trucks mine imperticularly (79 F150 Custom Explorer 2wd 302 C6) has the ability on the stock springs to adjust them to an inch or two higher and lower....can anyone put validity to this or bust the rumor? it'd be nice to add an extra inch or two up in the front. and if i had to just adjust it/ it'd be way nice but something tells me that this rumor isnt true....

 

I have a 79 F100 2wd 300-6 rolling chassis in the yard that I took the body off. I'll take a look at it today to see what I think. But I think Ford didn't design any adjustment in it. I see plenty of '70 cars in the junk yard where the coil springs had been extended with rubber spacer blocks to hold the rings apart which lifts the vehicle. It sounds like something JC Whitney would have.

 

well i know i can buy lifting coils fairly cheap...but I was just wondering if what the guy told me was true about lifting the stock coil by adjusting let me know what you find

 

I guess a guy could turn the spring so it didn't seat "right" at the top and so raise the height a little... seems like the spring would settle into its upper seat with time tho? You'd have to stop the spring from re-screwing itself into place.

None of that sounds good to me. :/

YMMV

Here's what i did instead...
http://www.panix.com/~alvinj/file12/spacer1.jpg
http://www.panix.com/~alvinj/file12/spacer2.jpg
Two gears from two air cooled VW transaxles.

The trick tho, is to not go above Ford's recommended maximum ride height.

The installed gears added about 3/4" to the "ride height" as measured like it shows in the shop manual. The loose gears pictured is another set from the same two transaxles but are a little shorter pair.

Anyway, basically what i did was return the lost height to those 30+ year old coil springs.

It's more fun to put 30+ years back into old leaf springs ...and better exercise too. ;)

Alvin in AZ

 

I looked at my chassis today and I do not see any thing that could be called adjustable. On the bottom retainer there is about an extra 3/4" of thread on the 3/4" bolt that holds the bottom of the spring to the I-beam Axle. I was thinking you could gain about 3/4" hieght just by adding a spacer in between the bottom of the spring and the top of the axle. Yep the Exact same thing Alvin did. I was thinking you would need to find some spacers that have about 3-1/2" OD x 3/4" ID x 3/4" tall or maybe some gears out of a VW - Not to mention it looks cool with the teeth. I guess you could go taller if you changed out to longer 3/4" bolts. I'ld stay with a Grade 8.

 

thanks guys...im probably going to get some spacers or something....i personally dont like how much lower the front sits than the back...i want to get a level lift about 2inches or so but right now anything small will be ok..thanks

 

When you lift the front it will throw caster and camber way out of alignment and there is no adjustment for that. Caster and camber are designed into the front I-beam. Bending the I-Beam can be done but can damage the beam.

Buy a lift kit that has been designed and manufactured for the purpose. It is expensive but the only way to do it without scrubbing your tires off, cracking your beams, or looking goofy as hell.

It is much easier to drop the rear by removing a leaf etc. Of course that will change the front alignment but only by a small amount.

 

I lowered my rear;)end with lead. :)

Then raised it back up again (half way;) by re-arching the leaf springs, especially the overload leaves.

The main thing was to get the stock (made almost flat) overload leaves to make contact with the thinner leaves so the rear-end wouldn't be buckin' so much. :/ Also the overloads were always crooked (sideways) and that ain't good.

http://www.panix.com/~alvinj/file12/zerks.jpg

That's the front end of the passenger side spring pack.
See how I clamped the overload leaf in with the rest of the pack?
I have no idea if that makes it act a little like a traction bar or not.
Or even if it ain't just gonna break something. :(

It sez in the shop manual that the leaves need to be oiled ever-so often.
I've never met anyone that did that. :)
After oiling them up a few times, I found out why. ;)

The plan was to add the plastic pads but read just before i drilled all the leaves that they can get sand in them, making them not work together so good (like they're designed to) and even wear into your springs and mess them up.

So I came up with the grease and zerk idea. :)

Does FTE give away prizes for the nuttiest idea? :)

Anyway a 10 pound sledge wasn't enough to re-arch the 5/8" thick overloads.
Had to go to a 16 pound. :) YMMV depending on the "anvil" you use.

http://www.panix.com/~alvinj/file12/clamp.jpg

That's a close up of the clamp showing it's made from 3" (outside) square tubing and that's 3/8" medium(?) pressure oil line slipped over the 3/8" bolt. It's double nutted on the other side, didn't want to tap it for threads ...if the bolt wants to spin, let it. ;)

Alvin wondering when "they" are coming to haul me away in AZ

 

The clamp looks good!

Whenever I build a spring pack I grease the leaves with some old wheel bearing grease that is sticky and fiber like. -No squeaks like oiling them...

Some of the old vehicles had sheet metal covers over the leaf springs with grease zerks.

 

so just putting a spacer on my spring (remember my truck is 2wd) about 3/4" will do crap loads of stuff? or no?

 

It is not worth the trouble and will cause other problems. Invest in a lift kit or lower the rear.

 

Actually as long as you stay within the recommended ride height, it shouldn't cause any problems. Just don't use those coil spreaders. They tend to break or break your coils.

If the springs are original you most likely have lost 1-3" height from stock. Your best route would be to just order new springs. It will ride better to.


One thing to watch for is when you lift the front the back will come down slightly. The slight change in angle redistributes the weight slightly on the rear springs. It’s never much, but if you’re not careful your back may end up sitting a 1/4" lower then the front. Not a big deal, but sometimes it can be noticable.

 

I bought "leveling springs" for a 94 F-150 4x, the bottom wrap of the spring is the same as my 66 F-250, because it too has dropped over time, I have a friend with a plasma cutter, we cut the initial tang off the top of the springs and that was way to high, so I measured and cut some more off, now it sits slightly higher than stock, but not much, I did cut them once with a hacksaw just out of curiosity, took a few beers and a LOT of motion, so I would suggest a plasma cutter if you can. Look in my gallery of my 66, Bessie.
Joe

 

I gotta think that lifting the spring back up is not going to throw the camber or caster out. At least no more than it is out right now due to aging spring sag. I believe the problem is that the old spring is now lower than it was originally. So lifting it back up to where it belongs should correct things not mess em up. Now if we only have 3/4" of natural spring sag due to being 30 years old and we go and lift it 2-3" then where's the boat cuz I'm onboard. Ultimately there is a design distance between the I-beam and the frame. I assume that dimension to be relevent to the specified ride hieght.
Difinately to best solution is to buy a new set of springs. if you do note the dstanse from the frame to the axle before and after, then let us know.

 

from all of this :-) imma just buy a 2" lift kit. or new springs thanks guys you've given a lot of good ideas