Leaf Spring Question

[Couper]

Ok....so I made my 28" plywood discs to simulate 28" tall back tires. Gona go 28 rear / 26 front. I'm getting ready to fab my frame kick up pieces and the rails that will run under my bed. It looks like the length of my leaf springs will be aprox 42 or so inches from eye to eye. I'd like to have 5" between the axle tube and the bottom of the bed rail.

I know this has to do with the rate of the spring, and the weight of the truck but I'm guessing that a when you load up the spring it'll settle 1.5" or so??? Does that make any sense? If correct that'll give me 3.5" of travel. Do you think I'm on the right track with these assumptions? I know Bruno is using leave springs and his frame builder fabbed up that nice 4 hole adjuster bracket..... I'm gona do the same. I may reach out to him tomorrow...

Thanks for your thoughts
Couper

 

[28sawrig]

Spring over the rearend or under it ?

 

[Couper]

Spring over the rearend or under it ?

Good question....I have to strip and narrow the rear so I can weld the spring perches on top or bottom.

 

[MercuryMac]

You'll probably want to put rubber bumpers on the frame, to stop the rear-end from banging into the frame on the bad road bumps. Those bumpers will take up an inch of travel. It is good that you compensated for the load on the spring, but I can't help you tell how much travel you will lose. Every spring pack will compress differently.
Keep on tinkering.

 

[Couper]

Good idea on the bumps..... Thanks Merc

 

[05snopro440]

It's anyone's guess how much the spring will compress under your finished vehicle weight. There's no good rule of thumb, especially for a transverse spring as there's a lot of variables on mount distance, shackle length, etc.

 

[28sawrig]

If I was you I’d go to a junkyard and find some springs and save some $ before you build your rear frame kick up, you can figure out your wheel base and the length under the bed and where the front spring perch needs to be.

 

[Couper]

That's a good idea sawrig.....I keep bouncing back and forth between using leafs or a 4 link with coilovers. My estrogen level must be up....I'm acting like my wife. lol