As some of you know, I've been converting the front springs to "stock" rear 52 inch springs on my '74 Jimmy. *for the extra length, shackel-angle, flex and price (free)*.

I've run into a dilemma.

The original idea;
I used the stock 52" main leaf. Then the 2nd leaf was the stock front military wraped 2nd leaf. I liked haveing the military wrap as a "just-in-case" back-up. But it has caused all kindes of design problems, far-to-meny to list here.
The rest of the leafs were cut/swaped/mixed a dozen times over. It works O.K., but should be and could be much-better.

The current set-up;
I used A.M. 4" lifted rear 52" springs, minus several leafs and some other less-arched leafes swapped in. (3-leafs all-togather). This set-up looks like it is the best yet.......Ride-height is perfect, it's soft, shackle angle is ideal, AND (un-like the original idea) it forces the axle down when dropped.
But,
I lost the military wrap. (My back-up plan if I snap the main) and I'm worried about useing a thin (thickness-wise) main-leaf.

For-The-Record;
A.M., stock length, front 4" lifted spring is about 3/8" thick and 2.5" wide.
A rear 52" spring is only about a 5/16" thick and 2.5" wide. (weaker than the 3/8" thick After-Market springs)

Sooooo, my question is..

Is the 5/16" main leaf going to be O.K. in the front?
Should I stick with the original idea? (and use the less-than ideal military-wraped 2nd leaf)
Is there a company that can "wipp up" a military wraped spring for my application?


I know this question is a-bit odd, but any in-put would be helpfull.

Thanks for your time....

National can make you springs but $$$$. If I was you I'd run what you just created and see how it does for ya. Inspect the "main" leaf after hard runs and see how long it lasts ya. Take it easy......Tim/Shaker

:beer: ;) :beer:

Yeah, I think thats what I'm going to go. It works great, I'm just worried about the steering forces. Snaping the main-leaf on the front axle is the last thing I want to do.

Maybe something will present it's self in the mean time.


Thanks for the replie.

Originally posted by Twiztid
Yeah, I think thats what I'm going to go. It works great, I'm just worried about the steering forces. Snaping the main-leaf on the front axle is the last thing I want to do.

Maybe something will present it's self in the mean time.


Thanks for the replie.

If you're worried about "steering forces" you can do a hydro. conversion and have the ram eliminate the "steering forces" then you have nothing to worry about. Or you can run a "Track Bar/Panhard bar" to keep the axle in its "vertical plane".....:beer: :D :p

Sorry, I didn't mean steering-input forces. I ment side-shearing force, a trac-bar would do the trick, but I really don't want to have to do that.

Don't know till its done, tho.

I think I've got it figured out, I'm going to make my own 2nd leaf and try to "cup" the spring eyes, that should take some of the stress of the main leaf.


Thanks again.

I hit some gnarly shit with my front leafs and they have always hung in there. The latest and worst was a guard rail @ 50mph. Leafs are pretty tough, I think you might be alright. Although sometimes the peace of mind is worth the extra trouble.

Twiz,
did you ever just stick a pair of stock hight rear spring packs on the front? i was wondering what ride hight that would give. i know this doesn't answere your question but i only care about myself and my needs:laughing: :laughing:

i wouldn't think that 1/16" difference would be that big a deal. on the millitary wrap 2nd spring- did it flatten out or de-arch the 52 inch stocker?

Hay buddy!


O.K.
There have been soooooo meny different spring packs under the front, I can't keep them all straght. (it-still-hasn't seen the day light yet)

The first pack was a stock rear 52, with some leafs swapped out, it ended up to be a-little less than a 4" lift.

The second pack had the stock front 2nd military-wraped leaf swaped in. I heated the mil-wrap and bent it back as needed to clear the main leaf. (I know, heating it took the "spring" out of it, but the Mil-wrap is just hanging in the wind, normaly) About 3.5" lift.

After that there was ALOT of different leafs swapped in, cut and shaped as needed, but that 2nd leaf gave me grieff from the git' go. Again, 3.5" lift (about)

Now.. The best pack that I've had yet... (the current set-up, this week-end)
The main leaf is a A.M. 4" lift 52" rear spring. It has a nice arch, and measures 53" long and forces the "droped" side down, unlike the stock 52 idea. The second leaf is from a S10 P/U, (Look for "S10 spring"on this forum, about a page or two back) The other leafs are from the same S10 pack. This one really rocks! About a 6" lif, more than I wanted, but....


If I was to do this all over again, Jason.
I would forget about running the stock 52" rear spring and go for the S10 spring pack. The center-pin is off-set to the front, and is about 52" long aIt's made of thin-ish leaves (about 5/16" thick). The only problem is converting the front 2" dia eye X 2.5" wide front spring eye, to the needed 3.5" spring bucket.

-Deleted- ?

so, twiz, with the s 10 spring do you need to relocate the front hanger?

Looks like POR bumps the messages that are older than two pages, I guess.

Here's the specs for the S10 pack;

From the center pin forward to the front spring eye is about 24.25
From the center pin back is about 27.25
Overall 52ish (about 53)
Front eye dia is -about- 2"
Rear eys is -about- 1.5"
3 leafs+ overload

I think the above hold true to -most- S10s, but I might be wrong.


I'm not sure if the front bucket would need to be moved with -just- the S10-pack, thats not what I did. I would thinkit would be very close to usable with the front buckets as is, but the rear shackle would need to be relocated back. (as is, Mine is kicked back at 30 deg. and the shackle is 1.25" longer than stock) So, the S10 pack, might end-up to have too-much shackle angle (ever-thought you'd hear that?) The free-arch on the S10 pack is steeper than our stock rear 52"s. (I have no over-laod, but I installed the "Lifted" main leaf and ended up to be about 6" of lift)

at 24 1/4" from the front to the center pin that would push the axle back so relocating the front hanger would still be nessesary. but if it gives more lift than the stock 52s then i might look into it. did you make custome shackes or are you running Hills?

Home-made!:D

I used a 5/16" plate, and welded some pipe to the sides for some strength. Then drilled it to 6 inches. Fitted the new springs and bottomed out the rear eye under compression, pulled the shackles out and welded up the old hole (with lotsa-heat) and drilled a new hole a 1/4" lower. Badda-bing.

With leaf-springs, lift is completely adjustable. Start colecting every spring pack you can get your hands on, the lnger and thinner the better.

This new pack really works well. I have a set of A.M. 4" lift 47"long front springs, they are far-stiffer than the pack I have installed now.



Two-steps forward, one step back. (Sometimes I trip and fall back a bunch of steps, but I'll get there. Sooner or latter)