Free Arch of Factory Springs

[CUDA JAS]

Wow, very unusual spring packs. Not all the leaves taper on the ends. Some are square cut and thick, some are tapered. Looking at those pictures, the second leaf under the main is one they added.  I can tell because it comes all the way up under and past the eye centerline. Factory springs did not do that. There are a few other odd replacement pieces in the pack as well. Maybe the other flat tipped ones were added to match the 2 units listed on the receipt. Factory leafs tapered in thickness towards the ends and had sliders between each leaf except for the bottom half leaf. You have an odd mix. The differences in ends, tips, and material thickness also means they will have an inconsistent rate

You could try removing the second leaf under the main and see what that does for you. Doesn't cost any money to try it.

When you stand on them, how much do they deflect? That is a quick rate assessment. Divide your weight by how much they deflect and you can approximate the rate. If you have an exceedingly high rate, you can give up some rate by removing a leaf and possible get a flatter installation as well. If you rate drops too much by removing the extra leaf, then you may want to get the whole thing de-arched.

Originally 318 cars have 4 leaves, so you've had it stepped up by going to 5 full plus the half leaf.

If their re-arch job was good, you may be able to dump the two added leaves and get were you want.

hmm interesting....nothing on these old cars is ever straightforward is it.

I am thinking about just pulling the extra leaf and see where that gets me.  Of course, the center bolt will probably snap, but I guess that is easily fixed.

My hesitation is the decrease in the spring rate.  I am assuming of course that the added leaf added some spring rate.  I am not sure how taking it out will affect the ride etc. of the car.  I like to put my kids in the car and go for a spin, last thing I want to happen is for that to bottom out the suspension.  I guess if that happens I pull it all apart again and put the added leaf back in and have them de-arched.

I am hopeful the springs are not worn out and are only being held up by the added leaf.  Like I said, in the 20 plus years I have owned the car it has not dropped in the rear at all.  So I am guessing they did something right.

Well now out to the garage and check the spring rate as they sit and see if I can figure out how to disassemble the springs!!!    (not really, I am at the office right now and have at least 4 hours of work to don in the next 2 hours...maybe later tonight!)

Jason

[HP2]

Until you pull them apart, its hard to know what you will run into. Obviously they are pretty stout if they haven't settled in 20 years.  Once you have them apart, you should be able to see if the arch is coming from a single, extremely high arched spring or if the pack as a whole was re-arched. A single high arch leaf is a common 4x4 trick to get modest lifts and slight rate increases in off road vehicles.

So it sounds like you need a pack that has stock arch, slightly firmer spring rate, but a higher load rate. I'll have to see if I can find any of the info on arch, check, load info on these.

[CUDA JAS]

thanks for the input guys...I went ahead and had the springs de-arched.

I like the idea of having the increased spring rate with the car lower (my guess is around 190 lbs for each spring). 

The spring place was able to take 4 inches out of the springs.  That should give me a bout a 1 inch arch once the springs are back in the car.

Jason