72 F250 spring replacement/upgrade

[ChrisB]

My right spring is sagging pretty good. I think it's just worn out as I can't find any other obvious problems. I'm getting ready to start loading the rear pretty good and need to correct. Can you recommend a good widely available or custom manufacturer that makes a spring I can pick up or have delivered. I am looking to upgrade to what would be probably be considered a 'one ton' spring.

There's a good chance I'll upgrade the Dana 60 to a 61 or Sterling at the same time (in hand and I am positive the Sterling will handle more of anything, and I'm near certain the 61 takes larger D70 style wheel bearings. The tubes are certainly larger) and switching to a 3.08 gear from a 3.54. Power is a 5.8L diesel with manual tranny and Eaton divorced OD.

I'm not sure of the origin of my current springs but all indications are they are the factory originals. Will I need to measure width length, thickness, for the individual bars for background info on this project or just know the application and what I intend for the springs to handle load wise?

I am in the Los Angeles area, San Dimas to be exact, which is about 30 miles east of LA proper.


Thanks

Chris

[fordman]

san dimas do you know bill and ted?

[ChrisB]

No, but I hope getting springs turns out to be an excellent but relatively quick simple adventure. Any ideas? I've never dealt with leafs, only coil stuff.

[fordman]

i think you measure the mounting holes straight across and that will give you the length. and then how many leaves you have probably 5 on a 1/2 ton. but i don't know where to shop around you but try a web search there was site posted on this forum that gave a place that sold springs or custom made them. try search the forums here

[spartman]

Could try alcan spring at www.alcanspring.com

[ChrisB]

Alright, I'll look into it.


Thanks

Chris

[spartman]

You could also try this place:

http://www.espo.com

[Faithful Old Road Dog]

They've got to have local spring shops in SoCal. Check out the yellow pages. A spring shop can make a custom stack for you or they can re-arc your old ones and add a leaf or two.

[ChrisB]

I'm running into some stuff without even searching locally. Went to an off roaders club meeting for the first time. A guy got up talking about getting volunteers for a monster truck show in Anaheim. The guy works for a spring place! Funny how things happen that way.

I hadn't considered reusing by 'rearcing and adding to a set of leafs, but it sounds like a good option. I will be curious to find out how they design something for ride and load bearing.

[Faithful Old Road Dog]

Be careful of what you volunteer for at a Monster Truck Show!

[ChrisB]

Yeah, there was joking about how volunteers could park their rigs on the show floor for visibility......before they get crushed in the finale.

I've been in other motorsports related club activity and haven't run into a club like this. It's true, the 4wheel crowd is a bit more rauckus. The club president gradually worked things up into the kind of subdued frenzy one might find in some churches with a pastor preaching the gospel.
Entertaining but I was a bit surprised.