Hello all,
Been a while. Moving right along with my 1945 ford p/u.
Working on the frame suspension now.
Found a sweet 1979 front stub off of a 79 camaro,11" rotors.
Found a sweet rear end off of a 1980 TA, 10 bolt, 11" rotors.
This will give me all disc brakes now. Cool ! Have to get a portioning valve !

THE QUESTION THAT I HAVE FOR ALL YOU EXPERTS OUT THERE ???

Why can't I reuse the old rear leaf springs on the 45 p/u and just take out 4-6 leafs or what ever springs to get a decent ride,weld some new perches on the 80 TA rear end to narrow it to fit, and use some adjustable shocks. HOW many leafs would be feasible with the original leaf springs?. The original rear leafs springs sets have 10 leafs on them now. I am not going to haul anything in this truck. Would be sweet being able to keep what I have on there and not have to relocate spring mounts for longer springs !

Or would it be better to use the leaf springs that came on the 80 TA rear end? They are much longer and have to relocate the spring mounts on the frame.

Srry this is so long ,but was trying to explain the best I could on this subject.
Thanks all,
Biglee

PS. If you prefer e-mail me at; 45fordpickup@mchsi.com

Yours must be a 3/4 ton. My springs on my 51 has 5 or 6 leafs and rides good. I reused the original springs. I don't know if yours is the same, but the spring ends have grease-able fittings in them. Mine tend to have a bit too much movement in them right now. When it shifts hard, you can notice that the rear tends to flex a bit. I'm going to have to work on this a bit.

I don't know if your truck is the same width as mine, but I had a 76 Nova rear in it, then put in a 57 Chevy rear. Both are about 54 1/2in wide. I would think your T/A rear would be about the same.

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Hello,
Thanks for the quick reply,
Thought this was a 1/2 ton 1945 p/u,but ya got me wondering.
Wheel base is 114 ".

Yes I have the grease zerts also.The longest spring being 44 1/2 inches long,center to center on the frame spring supports.
If it no bother,can you measure EACH spring that you have on your truck so it will give an idea on which springs to use out of the 10 that I have ?

Off the top of my head,I think my old rear end was 60-61 ".
The 80 TA rearend is very close to this.
Thanks,
Biglee

By all means keep the stock spring. Can be tuned to work great. Key to good ride is remove the short leaves. Get the 8 longest ones powder coated and start out with the 6 longest. Add or remove leaves until you like the result. This requires a little arm waiving, taking out and putting in leaves, but it is a half day/half 6-pack job and well worth it. If the rear is a little too goosey on corners, install a pan-hard bar. There is no reason in the world you can't come up with a smooth riding, nostalgia looking, inexpensive suspension that will rival the $$$$$$ coil-over, 4-bar, independent billet, belly button thingies.

For you yung'uns, 'belly button' cars are trend followers that all look the same and bore you to death. In the 70s when I first heard the term that meant Porsche red paint, chrome wire wheels, retro 'stock' looking bodies, 327/350/Jag rear, black or tan tuck 'n roll 'Hyde interior, narrow white wall radialsand a $60,000 for sale sign professionally painted in the corner of one window.

Today it means a pastel monochrome, no chrome, brushed billet aluminum, freaky billet 80" wheels with rubber band tires, TPI 350/350/Jag rear, off-white leather interior, $150,000 for sale sign professionally painted in corner of one window.

Biglee........I cant get at my truck till spring. Its put in the back shed of my shop. Its only 7ft wide and I can't really get around it. I thinkwhat willys says makes sence, about using the longest springs.

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Home Handyman Forum I Shade Tree Mechanic Forum

Thanks all for the reply's.
This will help alot not having to change everything over to another set of springs.
I'll keep ya posted on how it comes out.
Thanks,
Lee

Biglee, good to get a report. I'm with Willys on this. Putting teflon end buttons on the springs make them slide great. You can get all you want from the old 60-70 Fords and all you have to do is pop them out (get about a dozen), drill a hole in the ends of your leaves you are going to use and pop them in. The steel in those old springs are super and if there are no rust pits, you can't beat them. You could probably remove several leaves and you can try many combinations. Take a while to get the hang of changing them out but after a few changes, you get quicker and it does not seem difficult. On the proportioning valve, just get the control block from the 80 TA if its available and it should work fine unless you are puting the master cylinder below the floor. Then you will only need residual pressure valves with the block Let us know what you are doing there and we can help.

Trees

Thanks for the hints Trees.
Will definitely have more questions down the road.
This a great site to post them.
Take care,
Lee

Used the original springs on my 45 and got new pins and bushings for the spring hangers and shackles. You can get them from Bob Drake or Dennis Carpenter at a lot less then new springs and hangers ,etc.(under $100 with the postage)