I have a 96 f250 4x4 7.3 with a 175k on the odo. My question regards the front leaf springs. Mine are pretty sagged and the tires actually sit slightly tilted in at the top. I would like to get some good factory ones, but i don't want to fork out the money. My question is if the gas powered leaf springs are the same as the powerstroke, and if the f350 springs are the same or not. If they are all the same. I was thinking of looking at a few wrecking yards around here and seeing if I could find some out of a 351 truck. That way most likely the springs arnt as sagged due to the less weight up front. What do you guys think?

 

From what I am told, the springs from the gas motor wont hold the weight of the deisel motor. I was going to do a swap with a buddy, the guy I traded trucks with but was told that the diesel would severly sag the gas springs. BTW the tires sitting like that is normal on the diesel engines because of the weight. My old 91 did the same thing. I had the WHOLE front end checked and the was nothing wrong. That is normal for the old diesels.

 

hmm, it sits pretty low up front and its a 4x4. I have keeping my eye out for other f250s and mine for sure sits lower than any of the ones i have noticed. Either way, I want to get the front up roughly the same height of the rear. Maybe I will swing by ford tomorrow and see if the springs are different betwee the gas and the diesel.

 

My '97 F-250 4x4 w/ Off Road Package has a 460 and the front leafs are bowed up, I only have 1" of travel between the leafs and the bump stop.






'97 F-250 HD XLT SuperCab 4x4 O/R 460 - 5 Spd
'96 34ft Fleetwood Bounder 460 - E4OD
'68 F-100 Custom Cab on '78 F-150 Ranger 4x4 Frame 390 FE - C6

 

i too only have about 1" of travel. i sometimeswonder if i do bottom out or not.

 

here is a site that sells factory springs and also lifts the new fronts cost I believe 231.00 plus tax and shipping I'm sure Custom Suspension

 

These trucks have the negative arch springs, this is normal, it is suppose to help with the handling of these trucks. The old way get rid of the negative arh springs is an after market kit (at 4"" )

 

I can guarantee that gas springs are way lighter than the diesel springs. That motor is a LOT heavier.

You can only return the truck to its stock height if you want to keep it aligned. If you raise the front of it you have to either install camber bushings or drop brackets to get it aligned again.

 

Yeah I just want to return it to stock height, maybe slightly higher just to match the rear a little better. I don't want an actual lift kit for bigger tires. Has anybody ever just took apart stock front springs and added one leaf to the front. Somebody emailed me and said they have some I can have. So I was thinking of taking his apart and using one leaf to add to mine.

 

Just go to the junk yard and get a set of used leaf's. Just add one leaf from the pack so you will have 3 leaf's instead of 2. This will bring it right up to where you want.