how many leafs?

[pops46]

I have a 2 ton and wanted to soften the ride. It has 9 would just the top 3 be enough?

 

[Skip]

It would be a lot of work experimenting, but I would try just removing half of them (say four) and see how it feels. Adjust as needed from there. A better method would likely be to replace the springs with some rated at say one ton, but that would be time consuming and expensive.

 

[pops46]

Thanks Skip since it is a 2 ton I thought the springs would be stiffer than say a 1/2 ton but I will start with four and see how it works.

 

[donsrods]

Just as important as how many leaves, you want each leaf to slide easily on the leaves next to it. You can improve the ride of a car a lot by simply smoothing the surfaces of each leaf with a body grinder and tapering each end so it slides easily over the next leaf.

It also helps a lot to put teflon or plastic strips between each leaf, or even to put window screen with grease all over it between each leaf and then taping the entire spring with electrical tape to keep the grease in.

You basically do not want any friction between the leaves.

Don

 

[pops46]

Thanks for the tip Don I will make sure they slide.

 

[Blue Eyed Devil]

Don't remove 3 leaves in a row! When removing leaves make sure you remove every OTHER leaf - this keeps some integrity to the spring pack. Take one out, leave one, take one out, etc...

 

[bruno]

Speedway sells leaf spring liners in 1 3/4, 2 and 2 1/4 inch widths in 20 foot rolls. Quality seems to be ok.

 

[bob w]

I've heard it's good to leave the leaf next to the main leaf in place. After that you can go every other leaf.

It's a tough job, but I've drilled the ends of the leafs for teflon buttons.