Posted by Keith in Washington [24.41.55.51] on Sunday, May 17, 2015 at 17:40:12 :
In Reply to: Re: Softer Ride? posted by CSCameron [75.171.2.137] on Sunday, May 17, 2015 at 16:11:15 :
My early '51 PW has 8 leafs in the front and 14 in the rear. Rides OK but definitely not a tank. The springs are original except for the front left top leaf that I replaced as one eye was broken.
My carryall WC53 has 9 front 13 rear. It rides very well but can be just a little choppy over a large bump due to the shorter wheel base. It rides better than my 2013 F350. All springs have been replaced, Front with NOS rear with PW take off springs.
The carryall and PW both have the lower spring bracket welded to the axle. Both have a upper spring bracket that is different than the rest of the truck. The PW is the same as yours the carryall has a different type with a keeper on the outer edge. It is quite common for the spring bracket next to the front differential to be different on most trucks.
What is more important than spring arch is how well it fits on the truck. The key thing is that the swinging shackle is in basically in a vertical position. This allows it to swing freely on compression and extension of the spring. A lot of people will reach the original springs to give the truck a 2" + lift. This shortens the length of the spring and will pull the shackle in line with the spring and will cause the shackle to not swing which results in broken spring eyes. This was done to my carryall when I bought it. The shackles were in direct line with the springs. All spring eyes were broken.
It is common to see the front springs to be flat with the shackles being slightly forward of vertical. This is because the spring has flattened and gotten slightly longer. The stock front springs on the PW should have just a slight arch to them.
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