Rear leaf spring, pulling leaves

[nobux]

I built my car with coil-overs, but mid-build I switched to a Speedway medium arch rear spring. After a summer of driving, I'd like a little softer ride. I'm planning on adding slider buttons or liner to the leaves along with smoothing the ends.
Which brings me to the next point. I noticed recently that speedway has started listing that spring as a 200lb rate, Do you think I could get away with pulling one of the 5 leaves? If so which one? I was thinking of yanking the top leaf. The car weighs 1700lbs with just about a 50/50 split.
Thanks,
Karl

 

[Spanky]

I believe your thinking is correct; try removing the top leaf & see how it rides.

 

[old round fart]

Seems like the short leaves would make the most change. Try different leaves to get the ride you want and let us know what you find!

 

[dan nichols]

i took 3 out of mine in random order and its nice and soft now. you may have to experiment with them such as adding and removing them to get the ride height and ride quality you want.i can push on the bed of mine and its travel is smooth.i dont have spring liners but put lots of grease between the springs and also ground a tapper and radius on the ends of the springs.

 

[butch27]

Total Performance used to sell liners with a lip on both sides. Worked great.

 

[FABPLUS]

Grease attracts dirt. I ground a lead in taper on the ends of the leaves and then powder coated them. I also experimented with taking out leaves until I got the ride I wanted. Nice smooth ride and no dirt accumulation.

 

[guilld]

I have an old rod book that has some Aussie rods in it. Down under these guys took their leaf springs, greased them, and then enclosed the hole thing in shrink tubing. In the book it claimed this would last a couple of years before needing replacement.

 

[nobux]

Well, I got the new spring in. I ditched the top leaf, rounded and smoothed the outer bottoms of the next 3, and installed spring liner in between the 4 remaining leaves. Took it for a ride on the bumpy road to work and it definitely rides nicer.

The final step will be the shocks. I'm currently running 73-87 Chev 1/2ton front shocks for the rear. They are way too stiff. I should've known better. I have some early VW Beetle rear shocks coming that are the right length, and considering that a Bug is about the same weight, should ride better too.

 

[T-Test]

Well, I got the new spring in. I ditched the top leaf, rounded and smoothed the outer bottoms of the next 3, and installed spring liner in between the 4 remaining leaves. Took it for a ride on the bumpy road to work and it definitely rides nicer.

The final step will be the shocks. I'm currently running 73-87 Chev 1/2ton front shocks for the rear. They are way too stiff. I should've known better. I have some early VW Beetle rear shocks coming that are the right length, and considering that a Bug is about the same weight, should ride better too.

I use Camaro front shocks on the rear of mine.

 

[butch27]

Total use to reccomend a shock from a Nash Metropoltan

 

[Spanky]

Total use to reccomend a shock from a Nash Metropoltan

'Love to see the counter-sales person's face at the parts store when they try to look that one up!

 

[nobux]

I actually found them right away. Monroe 33049. Unfortunately, they have a stud for a top connection, which won't work with my set-up.

 

[fletcherson]

I actually found them right away. Monroe 33049. Unfortunately, they have a stud for a top connection, which won't work with my set-up.

You could make them work with an adapter or some modification, but there are many options. I had a friend who used to buy out auto parts warehouses over stock, returns, damaged box, etc and he had thousands of shocks, headers, brake, exhaust, and related parts. Too bad he's not still around, I mis getting a set of headers for ten bucks, or four shocks for ten.... it made trial and error much more user friendly!

 

[nobux]

I got the VW Beetle rear shocks the other day. Monroe 31089's at $18 each. I had to drill the eyelet inserts to 1/2" on my drill press, but other than that they seem to fit the bill. They are a 1 1/2" tube versus the 2" tube of the Chev truck shocks. After I got them on, I could push the suspension down with 1 hand vs the full body effort the old ones took. The proof will be in the road test, but unfortunately a snowstorm rolled in the other day. Oh well, it just gives me a little time to work on my interior.

 

[fletcherson]

I got the VW Beetle rear shocks the other day. Monroe 31089's at $18 each. I had to drill the eyelet inserts to 1/2" on my drill press, but other than that they seem to fit the bill. They are a 1 1/2" tube versus the 2" tube of the Chev truck shocks. After I got them on, I could push the suspension down with 1 hand vs the full body effort the old ones took. The proof will be in the road test, but unfortunately a snowstorm rolled in the other day. Oh well, it just gives me a little time to work on my interior.

I like your fuel tank. How much will it hold?

 

[nobux]

10 gallons.

 

[fletcherson]

It's hard to find one that I like that will hold more than about 10-13 gallons. I may be forced to get creative. The BBC will wear me out at the gas stations with a small tank, lol. I found a really nice polished brass 19 gal, but they want 1499. for it. Ouch! I didn't intend to hijack your thread, sorry. Did you check rock auto for shocks? I order a fair amount of parts for older cars from them. Good prices, watch the shipping.

 

[nobux]

I got them from Amazon. I usually look up the part #'s on rock auto and then look up the number on Amazon. Rock auto's shipping get so screwy with multiple items that it is unreal.

 

[fletcherson]

I got them from Amazon. I usually look up the part #'s on rock auto and then look up the number on Amazon. Rock auto's shipping get so screwy with multiple items that it is unreal.

You have to pay close attention to what wharehouse they ship from. Also anything with a core charge, the return shipping is more than the core is worth, or close to it. I still order from them, I just pay attention!

 

[timothale]

At one time I had an old magazine article on building an old circle track car based on ford parts they had a cut pattern on how much to cut off each leaf to get a softer ride different for each leaf.