new rear spring

Art Bjornestad

Art Bjornestad

Senior Member
I am planning to buy a new rear spring for my'31 ccpu as the truck had the leanies pretty bad. My question is should I put a 10 leaf spring in or can I go with an 8 leaf? I never haul anything and would like as smooth ride as possible. Thanks, Art
 
Are you absolutely certain the rear spring needs to be replaced?

It's been my experience that the front sprint is the cause of a body lean. I can't recall a rear spring being the cause of of a body lean.
 
You can put an 8 leaf spring in place of a 10 leaf but you will have to use different spring brackets. This is the part that goes under the spring that the U bolts go through. The brackets that are used with the 7 or 8 leaf spring are 1 1/8 tall and the brackets used with the 10 leaf spring is only about 5/8 tall and won't reach the 8 leaf spring.
 
It's been my experience that the front sprint is the cause of a body lean. I can't recall a rear spring being the cause of of a body lean.
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I thought the same but after replacing the front spring, it still leaned. After taking measurements along the length of the car comparing the driver's side to the passenger side, it was evident that the whole side leaned and not just the front left corner. Upon closer inspection, I noticed the rear spring had a couple of leaves slightly canted on the driver's end. I thought about reversing the rear spring and about flipping every other leaf. Knowing it was going to be a miserable job and I only wanted to do it once, I opted for a new spring. After the installation, I rechecked right-to-left measurements and they were equal. I'm a believer................
 
Remove and disassemble the spring. Inspect, take to a spring shop (usually large truck/spring shop), replace any broken leaves, have them rearch and then assemble. Should be cheaper. JMO
Paul in CT
 
Get out your cclamps and take the original spring apart. Grind out the indentions that have worn in the tops of the leaves and put a nice bevel on the bottom of the ends. Add some high pressure grease and put it back together with a new center bolt and clamps. After a little paint dries and you get it bolted back in, the old truck will ride like a champ -- if you have good shocks.
Get someone to tell you the Henry Ford story about shock absorbers!
 
If you want to eliminate leaves you can take the top ones and cut them shorter, just be sure to leave them longer then the width where the U-bolts clamp

this will let you use the stock U-bolts but soften the ride some

Smoothing them out and putting a slight radius or bevel on the bottom edge like Bruce says will help alot!

Zach
 
I have already replaced the front spring last year and this move did not help the lean at all.
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This sounds like what happened to me as mentioned above. The advice of grinding out divits and tapering leaf ends is good when the spring is ok. It is not going to do anything for a spring that is fatigued on one end which is what happened to me and most likely to you. I have had springs re-arched or re-arced and they eventually went back to the fatigued set. Since the rear spring is much larger/stonger than the front spring, it controls the whole frame when the side leans and not just a front corner. When replacing the rear spring on an assembled car, it is not fun. While a new spring isn't cheap, what is your time, stress, etc. worth?
 
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