leaf springs

[villacorta32]

how can i check to see if they are shot or not, my rear suspension is still bouncy and i already replaced the shocks and im almost positive its the leaf spring but i dont know how to check them. Rusty if you see this how is your suspension after changing all the bushing?

[RusTy Max]

I haven't done it yet, just on the 'to do' list.

[camoit]

Now when you say "bouncy" do you mean stiff? All that can go wrong on a leaf spring is they break from over loading or they flatten out over time. That makes them a little softer. There is not much you can do with out changing springs. You can always take out one leaf. That will give you a softer ride. You just can't cary crap in the back. To check them all you can do is mesure the arc of them. I know that my truck has always been stiff. In fact I even went and had a leaf added to the rear so now I have 3 full leafs in the rear, and new over sized coil springs that were 1.5 inch taller on the front. Now it’s real stiff. Nearly rock hard. Now when cornering the rear will come loose before the front will. Now with almost nearly every car out there on the road today they "push" in the corner stock from the factory. If you go hard into the corner they want to go straight and not make the turn. If you stiffen up the front then you can corner harder. If you go to stiff you can create an “over steer” and the back end will come around on you nearly every time you get into a corner. What Nascar does is real simple. To build an adjustable front spring you need a large bolt about 1½” dia. by about 8” long. You weld a plate to it and put a cage on it. That’s it. See the pict.


The spring is missing. To stiffen up just crank down the adjuster. Now for the rear on a truck you can order springs to a weight load. Our trucks have about a 1400LB rear spring. If you want a smooth ride go coil over with control arms and a pan hard bar. I had the opportunity to work on Winston West cars and some Nascar Cup cars when working for Coca Cola. Here is Jack Sellers website. http://www.jacksellersracing.com/
He is one of the owners of Sacramento Coca Cola. Better known as back of the pack Jack. I worked for him for over 7 years. The car that I manly worked on was one of Ricky Rudd’s old cars. Jack picked it up after one season on the track. It was eventually stolen by a guy back east that was working on the car then went out of business and disappeared along with the car. Here is what it looked like when I first started working on it.



Under steer, over steer. Sorry it's been 18 years since I worked on Nascars. This is why I own a ready mix company now. It's easy now. I point, and say you,, go deliver concrete. But I still work on the trucks and tractors and drive them when nessary. You just responded to quickly i was still editing. I would have seen it sooner or later.

[LethalEthan]

If you go to stiff you can create an “under steer” and the back end will come around on you nearly every time you get into a corner.

this would be over steer not under steer.

Now with almost nearly every car out there on the road today they "push" in the corner stock from the factory. If you go hard into the corner they want to go straight and not make the turn.

this is understeer and you are correct most cars do this nowadays.

over steer>under steer

[villacorta32]

thanks for the info a bunch man. Yeah its softer than hell and i'd like to stiffen it up, but im trying to keep my truck low, possibly lower another inch. They have flattened and i hate it. Is there any leaf springs that would be interchangeable, or somewhere where i could get new ones without losing anything on my drop, cuz belltech no longer makes them for us

[camoit]

There is a local Company, here in Sacramento. They have locations around California. You are only a short drive away if you are in Reno. Betts Spring Co. http://www.bettsspring.com/index.phpThey made the front springs for my truck and built the spring pack for the rear. They can make any thing you want. Raise, lower, stiff, soft what ever you want. It would be worth a call and a drive to have them look at and measure the truck for new springs. If it is at the height you want they can make new springs and it will stay at that height. It sounds like someone took a torch to your springs to lower the truck. Once they have the measurements you can have the springs shipped UPS to your place so you can install them. They’re reasonable on the prices. Another thing you can do is to pull one of the springs and bring it to them.

[villacorta32]

thanks man. would using the truck to carry a lot of stuff make the leaf springs flatten overtime?

[camoit]

If you have Bets Spring make you a spring pack they won't flatten out. I think you have only 2 spring in the pack in a stock configuration. Just have them add in a 3rd leaf. I have three in mine and she rides tight. I pull a trailer and can over load the truck with out hardly thinking about it. You might want to think about doing the coils also. Call them it's worth the call. Talk to keith in parts. He has 20 years in the spring world.

[villacorta32]

thanks man i appreciate all the good info, I am going to be in southern cal next week so i will stop by there and see