Any know if large ford truck rear leafs are close to 65 F100 rear leafs ??

[winr1]

My 65 rear leafs are 2.5" wide

Looking for 2 main leafs thicker than the F100's

Could make 3" wide leafs work as well

Any main leaf would work I suppose as I could drill the retainer hole where needed


Ricky.

[HarleyJack17]

Not sure on period correct springs. But throwing this out there.....on 73-77 F250 4x4 you can convert to modern (99-04) F250 Super Duty Springs fairly easy. If memory serves those factory were 2" width and Super Dutys are 2.5".  May be of absolutely no help to you BUT Ford kept a lot of things the same over the early years on trucks(drive train wise).  The "Highboys" were a bit unique.  Just some info that may or may not help.

[NIsaacs]

Any main leaf would need to be 2.5" wide or it won't fit your spring hanger/shackles. Maybe LMC truck. I would think a F-250 would be the same only  thicker or more in the spring pack. Older truck parts are getting harder to find with all the crushing the salvage yards do.

[chris401]

My 65 rear leafs are 2.5" wide

Looking for 2 main leafs thicker than the F100's

Could make 3" wide leafs work as well

Any main leaf would work I suppose as I could drill the retainer hole where needed


Ricky.

Those are wider than my 65 F-100 352/3speed/step side//9" leafs. Did your truck come with a Dana axle? Here are some pictures of mine.
Measuring width, pin to front bolt and the leafs bolt to bolt. No bed.

[BattlestarGalactic]

You don't have a springs shop handy?   How about online?

If it was a few years back I scrapped my '67 f100 and you could have had all the pieces you needed.  Heck I even through the spring packs out of the wagon a few years ago when I changed to coil overs.  All that stuff is now made into new Maytags.....

[winr1]

Thanks guys

Chris, same truck as mine, I will go measure my spring width again ( 9" rear )

Thanks, I will check online, places around here are shut down sadly, yards are full of late models, etc



Ricky.

[My427stang]

My 71 is 2.25, I would think yours would be too.

I am planning something similar, I figure getting frame hangers and main leafs for a 75+ with the 3 inch springs would be cost effective.  However, I assume you would have to move the pads on the axle not just drill new holes 

If the main is located on the same inside edge, it would move the center bolt .375 outward on each side, but if the springs also sit wider, you could quickly run off the spring pads.

I haven't decided what to do with mine yet, I have half a mind to 4-link it, but later springs and hangers would be so much easier

[BattlestarGalactic]

I have a complete ladder bar set up for my '69.  The only bad part is due to me wanting to keep it stock height, the front mount would hang down very low and look kinda odd in my opinion(I've seen a few trucks with ladder bar suspension, stock height, and it proves my thought).  Thus I've left it alone and just put on a set of bolt on slapper bars.  It has horrible wheel hop issues with those antique springs.

[chris401]

I have a complete ladder bar set up for my '69.  The only bad part is due to me wanting to keep it stock height, the front mount would hang down very low and look kinda odd in my opinion(I've seen a few trucks with ladder bar suspension, stock height, and it proves my thought).  Thus I've left it alone and just put on a set of bolt on slapper bars.  It has horrible wheel hop issues with those antique springs.

An old drag racer told me they cut a half inch plate the length of the front half of the spring and used U bolts to sandwich it to the spring. It basically made the front half of the spring solid. There was a better set up that they ran again using U-bolts but I cannot remember exactly how it was put together. There was not a whole heck of a lot aftermarket available cor cars muchless a wheel hopping pickup with a 427.

[winr1]

Thanks much guys !!

For the knowledge and helpfulness yall show each other and me as well  :-)

Every one of your reply's gives me something extra I overlooked or such

I will post what I come up with and see what yall think before I screw up ...lol

Anywho, 65 F100 was my daily for 40 or more years, Daddy sold me his 2001 mustang for $1.00 ( has around 60,000 miles )

So, I agonized keeping the 65 mostly stock as my Uncle Robbie sold it to me for $300.00 as it came from Ford


I decided to make the 65 as light as I can, it will only be for cruise ins an car shows

Have some ideas, the bed sides will bolt on, bed floor will be sheet aluminum
Tailgate will be an outer shell ....... and a bunch of other stuff


Would appreciate any ideas no matter how small, 1 lb x 100 is 100 lbs



Ricky.

[RustyCrankshaft]

I have a complete ladder bar set up for my '69.  The only bad part is due to me wanting to keep it stock height, the front mount would hang down very low and look kinda odd in my opinion(I've seen a few trucks with ladder bar suspension, stock height, and it proves my thought).  Thus I've left it alone and just put on a set of bolt on slapper bars.  It has horrible wheel hop issues with those antique springs.

An old drag racer told me they cut a half inch plate the length of the front half of the spring and used U bolts to sandwich it to the spring. It basically made the front half of the spring solid. There was a better set up that they ran again using U-bolts but I cannot remember exactly how it was put together. There was not a whole heck of a lot aftermarket available cor cars muchless a wheel hopping pickup with a 427.

That was also a trick the 4x4 used to do back in the day. I actually had a local spring shop build me a leaf, but you could just order the material on line. You run one much thicker leaf from spring eye to spring eye on the very top and it helps limit wrap but doesn't significantly affect ride quality.

67-79 truck springs are commonly either 2.25, 2.5 or 3" wide depending on if it's a front or rear.  The Super Duty front spring and GM rear spring conversions are really common, but they aren't 100% bolt in if you want to keep the axle in the same location (some fab work has to be done to hanger/shackles). The longer the leaf the nicer it rides for a given spring capacity. I had a 75 F250 4x4 I did the SuperDuty front springs in (stock height leafs I took out of my 7.3 F350 truck) and 52" Chevy rear springs (I couldn't use an actual GM part, I had the local spring shop make them to the correct measurements). I ended up with about a 4" lift from stock and it rode like a Lincoln!

A lot of spring shops will ship, generalspringkc.com, sdtrucksprings.com, stengelbros.com are all a few that come to mind. If they don't list it on the website call or email them and they can usually build what you're looking for.

Lately I've been buying some stuff online as we are down to 2 shops local and I think they're in a price war to see who can overcharge the most.

[cattleFEeder]

Here is where I am getting my springs for my 65 F100, maybe there chart will help you out.
https://www.generalspringkc.com/Leaf_Springs_Ford_F100_1942_1972_s/1863.htm

[BattlestarGalactic]

I have a complete ladder bar set up for my '69.  The only bad part is due to me wanting to keep it stock height, the front mount would hang down very low and look kinda odd in my opinion(I've seen a few trucks with ladder bar suspension, stock height, and it proves my thought).  Thus I've left it alone and just put on a set of bolt on slapper bars.  It has horrible wheel hop issues with those antique springs.

An old drag racer told me they cut a half inch plate the length of the front half of the spring and used U bolts to sandwich it to the spring. It basically made the front half of the spring solid. There was a better set up that they ran again using U-bolts but I cannot remember exactly how it was put together. There was not a whole heck of a lot aftermarket available cor cars muchless a wheel hopping pickup with a 427.

Way back in 1990 when I first put the 428/4 spd in it, it hopped horrible.  I fought it hard.  I tried spring clamps all along the rear end of the pack to keep them from separating.  It worked well, but being they were cheapo units the bolts never lasted long.  A few weeks of abuse and they would all come up missing.

I bought a set of non adjustable, generic ladder bars and since I had no way to install them I took the truck to a local weld shop and they put it on a lift and welded them in the upside down position so that the front mount was up in the frame to be able to attach to the crossmember.  Wow, it worked well.  Though since the bars were upside down and mounted so high, it really lifted the back of the truck(planting the rearend) when you dumped the clutch.  I ran it that way for decades.  Due to no floaters on the rear end, the difference in travel arcs caused the front spring eyes to beat out.   About 5 yrs ago I pulled the housing out(it was bent bad when they welded it), rebuilt the spring bushings and put another housing back in.  With no traction aides it went back to undriveable.  I gathered up the pieces to do the ladder bar/coil over but as I mentioned the front mount would be so low in the front I didn't like the look.  The cheap slapper bars work well enough to at least drive/enjoy the truck.  Maybe someday I'll do more with it?

[cammerfe]

As I remember, clamping the front half of the spring pack was a great aid in eliminating wheel hop. It did much the same thing as installing Traction Masters. When I first bought my '64 Custom/427, in February of that year, spring wrap/wheel hop was so bad that I changed lanes out on Woodward south of Ted's within a week or so of getting the car. Traction Masters were installed within a few days and everything worked fine.

Spring clamps made of a couple of pieces of bar stock and a pair of 7/16ths bolts should work just fine. I think that you could go to a Mopar dealer and buy them from the parts counter if you didn't mind shopping in the wrong store!

KS

[BattlestarGalactic]

Not so much with my truck.  The rear part of the pack would try to come apart(like a Mopar SS spring pack).  Thus clamping them together kept the rear end from rotating and hopping.

I agree, keeping the front half from turning into an "S" shape is needed, but clamping them didn't accomplish that.
Yes, today I could make something very stout and likely work fine.  30 yrs ago, not so much.