well i yanked the bed off and ground off all the bed supports and shortened the frame up to the rear hanger. duct taped the tail lights on and went for a ride. i went out once and only once cuz i thought i was gonna rupture a disc in my back, it was so stiff without the weight of the bed. im running 4 or 5.5" ( i cant remember) all pro 56" rears. i took out the 2 shortest leaves and the ride was better.
question 1: are these the best ones to remove?
question 2: are the springs now more prone to damage without these 2 shorter ones?
question 3: if these arent the best ones to remove, which would?
thanks in advance guys. ps i did search but i didnt find specifics to this situation so please dont flame the newbie
All Pro's official position is not to modify the springs in any way. Removing leafs reduces the support of the spring and may lead to spring sag and failure. If you modify your springs your are responsible for the results.
With that said, removing the shortest leaf(s) is generally the best bet. I strongly recommend installing bumpstops as it's important to prevent the spring from bending too far. There should be no more than 5" of gap from the bumpstop to the mating pad.
Are you just calling the cut back frame a flatbed or do you really intend to build a flatbed? I would wait until the flatbed is built before you did anything with the springs.
well i yanked the bed off and ground off all the bed supports and shortened the frame up to the rear hanger. duct taped the tail lights on and went for a ride. i went out once and only once cuz i thought i was gonna rupture a disc in my back, it was so stiff without the weight of the bed. im running 4 or 5.5" ( i cant remember) all pro 56" rears. i took out the 2 shortest leaves and the ride was better.
question 1: are these the best ones to remove?
question 2: are the springs now more prone to damage without these 2 shorter ones?
question 3: if these arent the best ones to remove, which would?
thanks in advance guys. ps i did search but i didnt find specifics to this situation so please dont flame the newbie
hey i have a small flatbed and thought the same thing about the all pros, but then i shut my mouth and went and bought a 60"x58" peice of 3/16 plate steel for the floor, and these springs do awesome
Re: Re: all pro's rear spring too stiff for use with my flat bed
Ben Holloway said:
hey i have a small flatbed and thought the same thing about the all pros, but then i shut my mouth and went and bought a 60"x58" peice of 3/16 plate steel for the floor, and these springs do awesome
wait to pull springs till you are done with the flatbed. the wieght adds up really quick. i would suggest around and 1/8" walled tubing. i used 3/16" and its heavy. a 4'x10' sheet of 1/8" diamond plate wieghs 250# so i would advise waiting.
Re: Re: all pro's rear spring too stiff for use with my flat bed
Ben Holloway said:
hey i have a small flatbed and thought the same thing about the all pros, but then i shut my mouth and went and bought a 60"x58" peice of 3/16 plate steel for the floor, and these springs do awesome
ok, the gist im getting is put the leaves back on and make the flat bead the equivalent weight. thats all good but i wanted to reduce the overall weight from 4200# to something less. i was planning on makin my flat pretty light, about 150' 1-3/4" tube .120 DOM (borrowing alan at rockbuggysupply.com's design) and maybe some aluminum diamond plate for the bed. with that said, why would you guys want to make the bed heavy just for the sake of making stiff springs flex better.
i agree with you, lose that weight. mess with the springs and see how they do. just install bumpstops and dont blame allpro when/if your springs lose lift and/or settle unevenly--brad
kewl, i thought i was smoken crack with what i was doin and no, i would not blame all pro for what ever lame ass thing i do to my rig. but i will put that smaller one back in just in case. dont want to tempt fate with a broken spring. im front on the other had has settled big time with my bumper, 8274-50 and dual optimas up front may be ill add the longer of the 2 leaves that i take out up front, hmmm
Did not do it for the springs just kept adding pieces and it came out that heavy!!!! The weight has never been a problem for me. I would put the leaves back in, build the bed and go from there with the springs. I also have a 16 Gallon fuel cell mountedwhere the spare use to go and when full that adds about another 112+ pounds behind the rear axle!!!
Not to doubt your mechanical abilities,bbbbuuuutttttttt........
Did you leave your shackle bolts loose or did you torque them down?Also shackle angle will slightly effect the ride.My .02 cents
kula,
i initially did nothing, went for a drive, rode fine, took the bed off, then it rode like shit. as far as did i torque the shackle bolt down after i tore it apart, no id didnt crank on them :flipoff2:
i run the rears minus the small bottom leaf and the fronts with the complete pack, works good enough...my truck cant be much different than yours in poundage??
If my rear AP springs already compress to perfectly flat, then removing a leaf wouldn't increase the flex at all...would it? Doesn't removing a leaf really only help with the compression, not the droop?
If my rear AP springs already compress to perfectly flat, then removing a leaf wouldn't increase the flex at all...would it? Doesn't removing a leaf really only help with the compression, not the droop?
yes, it could increase flex, even more compression. past flat is generally a bad idea cause it will prematurely kill the springs. i'd leave yours as are.
yes, it could increase flex, even more compression. past flat is generally a bad idea cause it will prematurely kill the springs. i'd leave yours as are.
I should have mentioned that I was comparing my existing springs to a spring w/leaf removed and bumpstops added. I was just curious if removing a leaf would help the droop much.
well, i just got 6 sticks of 1-3/4" .120 tube and hope to bend some up the weekend. ill see soon how fast it adds up and will likely endup putting those fuckers back in. oh well, live and learn. ill likely add some 1/8" steel diamond plate and really load it up
You want a rought ride . Try rought country springs . I got them on my truck and empty with a reg. bed is a little rought on the street and real rought offroad empty . The only way to get a good ride is put 500 to 600lbs in the bed .
just in case anyone cares, i found a link that Glenn had in another post that give the relative weight of tubing per foot: http://www.auto-ware.com/techref/tubeweight.htm
i figure that it will take me about 120' of 1.75 x .120 wall DOM for my design and that works out to about 240# which is damn near the same as the bed. just thought id share
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