Has anyone in here stacked their springs for a lift kit??
On my 82 F150 the rear springs seem weak and I have a second set of leaf springs off another truck a F250 the springs are the same width
I was figuring on combining both sets of springs and that would give me the lift and cure my weak spring problem. Has anyone else tried this before I don't care about a stiff ride it doesn't bother me at all.

 

Never did myself, but sounds like you may have something here. I think you may have to grind a little from the ends of the leaves though. You may be able to match them for length in the pack, but not sure what, if anything would happen. All that I have seen were cut and tapper ground to ride slightly inward of the leave above, about an inch on either end.
You may want to try two or three near the bottom for starters, these are the heavier load carring ones, the top springs generally dictate ride quality, I know-you don't care how stiff it is, but just the same, I think your looking for lift with a just a little articulation left.
You may also try just the top leaf if the above doesn't suit, cut on the ends and slid into the pack just under your top leaf, with a new centering bolt and re-bent keepers of course. This would be the easiest for lift and should gain you at least an inch or two in height, depends on the condition of the '250 springs. This would make for a little choppier ride, but would compress under heavy load, like one wheel off the ground and all the weight on the other or from catching air.
Let us know if you go ahead with this and what the final outcome is, I know I would be interested!

 

[updated:LAST EDITED ON 22-Jan-02 AT 10:31 PM (EST)]I'm interested too....Chuck, can you explain how simply adding a leaf of the same arch adds height?

 

I did this same thing with my 79 F150. I found some spring packs out behind a buddies shop, took them to the garage and cut them apart. Then, I found the leaves I wanted to use, cut them to length, ground them smooth and installed them in the stock spring packs. The stock spring packs had 5 leaves including the main, they now have 8. I didn't experience any adverse effects from this (rougher ride) and I gained about 3" lift. I was able to take out one of the lift blocks from each side(the truck had stacked blocks when I got it) which would explain the broken main leafs on both sides. The extra springs I installed had more arch to them than the stock ones, which would account for the lift. A safety note when working on leaf spring packs, before you remove the center bolt be sure to clamp the springs together with a couple of c-clamps. If you don't, you will have springs scattered all over at the least.

 

By adding a leaf or three to a spring pack, you are increasing the lbs/in measurement on the whole pack. What that means is, it will take a higher load (because the extra leaves add stiffness) to deflect the spring pack the same distance. So...the vehicle rides higher because the weight of the chassis hasn't changed, but the springs have gotten stiffer and doesn't deflect as much.

 

Hey Weldman, what Jeremy said! And to add a little, the springs each have different rates from top to bottom, the top being the "lightest" and the shorties on the bottom the "heaviest" in lbs/in. When you add one of the top ones of the same length, the effect is a spring pack that can carry more weight before defecting or compressing (what Jeremy stated with the weight not changing). When you pull a spring pack apart, the top leaves tend to arch very tall compared to being in the "loaded" position on the truck. This "extra" arch of the same leaf will in effect give you a slight lift because your splitting the load between two instead of carring it on just the one, thus creating more arch (in the pack) due to less actual weight being carried on each leave. For the bottom ones, you won't notice this as much except for the actual height of the spring, usually they are thicker than the upper ones and two or three together will also lift somewhat due to that thickness, however, the ride won't be effected as much except when carring a heavy load, then instead of smoothing out the ride, it will make it stiffer because these won't deflect anywhere near as easily.
Most I have seen done used the old top leave and cut it at the wear points on each end, the place that the second contacts will usually wear very hard into the top one if you don't have the teflon pads in 'em (or a military wrap), due to the fact that this is were the most movement takes place within the pack. This modified top leave was then placed in the second from the top with the stock leaves used for the rest of the pack and would yeild appx. 1 1/2" of lift depending on the condition of the springs, with a little trade off of ride quality when unloaded. Hope this helps!

 

Becoming clearer, chuck and jl!

How would one gain height (2-3inches) and make ride quality when unloaded better without reducing load capacity?

Impossible?

note: I've added two leaves over the past few years, load capoacity is fine, but height is sinking and ride could always be better.....this is a 78 f250 4x4!

Sorry for taking over the post, but it is related!!
Matt

 

HA-HA, nothin' is impossible! Some things just take more effort and $$$$$ is all! For the ride/load, my thinking is a dual pack set, basically a heavy overload type set-up. Then you could have very soft main springs along with the overloads that would only come into play when you have the rear down several inches with weight. To get the lift with these softer rate springs, they would have to be arched pretty tall, this usually won't last for the long haul and will start to sag before very long. The other thing you may want to do is get the longest spring that you can, this requires moving the spring mounts out an equal distance from the stock postions (keeps the arch reasonable for the lift). The shocks also play a big part when using custom rate springs, the shocks have to be valved a little (or a lot) different to compensate, the stockers/replacements just won't really control the movement as needed for both rebound and compression. Larger tires will also play a part in this, the larger they are, the more unsprung weight the springs/shocks have to deal with......you still really want to do this? Sure you don't want a nice four or five link with coil-overs instead? Just jesting, of course! You could just drop the spring mounts for the lift also, this would take that job away from the springs (arch thing). Another option would be some type of air-bag system, either "full" or most likely a "partial" system, the "full" being some type of link design with all the weight supported by the bags. The "partial" would work with the very soft main pack and bolster these as needed, you could even get some type of auto-leveling system rigged if you want. The easiest, however, not without it's own limitations, a very soft rate stock spring with little or no lift to 'em, stock type overload pack mounted above the main pack that only contact after several inches of sag (custom mounts required with the lift) and taller blocks for lift. Now the problem that will plague all except the link/air bag system is axle wrap. This will be a problem with just about any type softer riding system. The longer/softer rate will allow the spring to wrap much easier and more violently than stock or aftermarket lift springs (these are usually a little heavier for larger tire/taller center of gravity). The cure is traction bars, even kicker shocks may not be able to control the movement. Now, the problem with traction bars is they limit articulation depending on design. I use a single bar with rod ends from the top of the axle housing to a crossmember placed after several "string-between-tests", which was two bolts, one tacked to the crossmember and one to the axle with the string painted and tied between them were used to determine the exact mounting height/distance on both ends to make it match the movement of the rear suspension, took quite a few tries before I got the locations correct but had lots of fun flexing the suspension for testing! So far, works like a charm. the combo of ride, lift and weight capacity just don't mix very easily. I think the reason your see sag and not diminished carry capacity is that the upper leaves are losing the arch, these give ride when unloaded and will drop the back quicker until you get on the heavier springs on the bottom even during non-loaded cruisin'. You can get just the top or main leaves by themselves, this may restore some lift as well as a better ride, you won't be on the heavier bottom springs as much so it should flex/cycle the suspension a bit better. Sorry to write a book of rambling thoughts, just sort of happened! Hope this gave you just a little bit more to chew (or snooze?) on!

 

 

i would say yes from experience cut the eyes of the extra main leaf and throw it in first that will help in load caring and a little lift another thing i have done on my 79f150 that i know works is to flip the rear spring hanger and shackle first get them apart or get replacements cut the rivots off the hanger flip it 180 bolt it up and if i rememder correctly you will need to spin the shackle 180 also bolt it all back together and you should get 1.5-2 inches of lift this also helps alot if the truck is already lifted in restoring the pinion angle as you only lower the back heck it even pushes the driveshaft back in a little on a lifted truck Andy

 

wildcat I took your advice I flipped the spring shackle 180 degrees and the shackle itself that raised my truck a good 3" and my springs finally have some arch to them like they should heck it only took me about 1 hour to do the whole truck. It was a very simple mod.
now for this weekend i am going to try to lower the coil spring towers 2 ". Thanks again for the idea of the shackle flip it worked great now I just have to get my 2" add-a-leaf and get more lift