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1980 - 1986 Bullnose F100, F150 & Larger F-Series Trucks Discuss the Early Eighties Bullnose Ford Truck

Suspension Query

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Old Jan 22, 2009 | 08:51 AM
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Suspension Query

Hey guys new to site so if this is total newbie material i apologise as i'm only new to F trucks

I have an 81 F350 dually that i need to source a set of F450 springs for to carry extra weight as i need these to pass an engineers report to use a rollback wrecker back over here in Australia

I have looked on ebay and tried doing searches for F450 springs but only thing i have come up with are sets of helper springs so my question is - is an F450 rear leaf springs the same as an F350 but has these helpers attached?

I need to get this all sorted out soon as will take month or two to get to me by time a buy what i need and have shipped over here

Thanks for any help in advance
 
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Old Jan 22, 2009 | 09:25 AM
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How do these "inspector" dudes in Australia figure you need heavier springs? I realize and have heard you guys have very strict rules, but how do they do it? They have some sort of book that is 4 inches thick that has all the specs on all the trucks, and they say your truck is not big enough to be a "certified" wrecker? Are they going by the rear axle weight specs?

What's interesting is over here where the rules are not as tight, putting f450 springs on a f350 will not make it a f450. You have brakes and some other considerations.

I am not giving you a hard time, I am just curious what you actually need and what the officials actually want? I am assuming the helper springs(which would actually work) would not be good enough because you need something from Ford that has a long part number, and they look this part number up and they find out it originally came on a Ford "f450" so that makes it legit?

I am just wondering what it would take to make them happy?
 
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Old Jan 22, 2009 | 09:47 AM
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Dave - I'd love to lnow way these guys think also, i actually need to go see an engineer this week to get more of an idea of what truck needs
Has something to do with trucks payload that it can actually carry, think it needs to be around 4.5T from memory but will be able to answer all your questions in around a week once i speak to engineer to find out what i need and why it's needed

Didn't think you were havin a go at me at all mate
No hard feelins here
 
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Old Jan 22, 2009 | 11:34 AM
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Could someone also actually list the differences between F350 and F450 for me also please

As we don't have F450's over here there is no info around here on them so any help would be much appreciated

thanks
 
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Old Jan 22, 2009 | 12:45 PM
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Is your truck a cab and chassis dually(frame narrows behind the cab) or a pickup dually?
If it's a pickup dually the 450 springs won't work, they're only 2.5" vs the pickups 3" wide springs. If your truck is a cab and chassis, they will.

The 450/Super duty first came out in 88, and is a substantially different beast than a F350, they run 10 lug wheels, a Dana 80 rear axle, very large disc brakes on all 4 corners, the parking brake is a driveline unit on the transmission. They only came 2wd, and have a leaf sprung beam axle under the nose and were 460 or diesel power only.
If memory serves, they run heavier spring hangar brackets on the rear too.
The rated GVWR on them is 14,500 LBS(6575kg or so) compared to an F350, which maxed out at around 10,000(4535kg) or so.

Just bolting a set of F450 springs into your truck is definitley not going to turn it into one.
 
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