Adding leafs for lift.
Thread Starter
|
Postmaster
Joined: Aug 2008
Posts: 4,092
Likes: 0
From: Olympia
Adding leafs for lift.
Say I want to gain lift, couldn't I just pull some springs off some other ford, get some longer center pins and u-bolts and throw those springs ontop of my current ones.
Kind of like an add-a-leaf plus several other leafs. :P
Wouldn't this work out? Besides throwing my ride quality down the toilet?
Kind of like an add-a-leaf plus several other leafs. :P
Wouldn't this work out? Besides throwing my ride quality down the toilet?
Postmaster
Joined: Oct 2008
Posts: 3,026
Likes: 0
From: Renton, WA
Yes kinda, I've done it.
But it's not a good idea to take such a simple aproach. You would need to more or less build yourself a custom leaf pack.
Start with the mainspring the one with the eyes. Does it have enough of an arch when relaxed to come close to the lift your after. If not you at least need a main leaf with more arch. The rest of the pack just supports the main leaf, and you can use as many or as few as you like. I did this on my Jeep pickup, I had a bunch of springs from a Jeep CJ and built myself some custom spings by mixing up the peices. But it needs to be done right.
The main leaf should always be on top, use as many of the longest peices as you can to support the main. Use alot of those metal spring straps or U bolts to hold the pack together. Try and get some or use the old spring slider pads. You will need a big strong bolt to use as a center pin, and to hold the pack together, I used a big allen/socket head bolt. Anyway I managed thru alot of trial and error to get a pack that gave me both a good lift and a soft ride that twisted up nicely. Worked out pretty good and I just spent a few bucks on the center bolts. Need to do it with my Ford next.
But it's not a good idea to take such a simple aproach. You would need to more or less build yourself a custom leaf pack.
Start with the mainspring the one with the eyes. Does it have enough of an arch when relaxed to come close to the lift your after. If not you at least need a main leaf with more arch. The rest of the pack just supports the main leaf, and you can use as many or as few as you like. I did this on my Jeep pickup, I had a bunch of springs from a Jeep CJ and built myself some custom spings by mixing up the peices. But it needs to be done right.
The main leaf should always be on top, use as many of the longest peices as you can to support the main. Use alot of those metal spring straps or U bolts to hold the pack together. Try and get some or use the old spring slider pads. You will need a big strong bolt to use as a center pin, and to hold the pack together, I used a big allen/socket head bolt. Anyway I managed thru alot of trial and error to get a pack that gave me both a good lift and a soft ride that twisted up nicely. Worked out pretty good and I just spent a few bucks on the center bolts. Need to do it with my Ford next.
Thread Starter
|
Postmaster
Joined: Aug 2008
Posts: 4,092
Likes: 0
From: Olympia
Use alot of those metal spring straps or U bolts to hold the pack together. Try and get some or use the old spring slider pads.
Postmaster
Joined: Oct 2008
Posts: 3,026
Likes: 0
From: Renton, WA
You will need at least two per spring pack but as many as six could go along way to make it easier to hold the pack together. That's really all these things do in the long run is keep the springs parallel. So use them at the end of the shorter spring, at any major gap between spring lengths. Does this make sence? I ended up with 4 per spring on the truck but used more when getting the pack together.
Thread
Thread Starter
Forum
Replies
Last Post
Thefarmerism
1987 - 1996 F150 & Larger F-Series Trucks
11
Aug 10, 2013 12:38 AM
Jayme Duty
Pre-Power Stroke Diesel (7.3L IDI & 6.9L)
36
Mar 6, 2010 01:29 AM
dwayne162003
1967 - 1972 F-100 & Larger F-Series Trucks
2
Jul 6, 2003 10:49 AM
