[oldguy829]

I'm looking at a 53 F100 pickup, for hauling and towing. It is solid and clean, but tall. PO did it up to WORK. 500 ci. caddy motor, th400 trans, 9 in ford rear end. Power disc brakes and power steering. (He towed a 2 car enclosed trailer) It sits very tall. Suspension looks massive. It has 9 leafs in front, 7 in the rear plus air bags. It rides like a tank and barely moves when I jump on the bumpers.
I'm thinking of reverse eye leafs in front and maybe taking out 3 or 4 leafs.
Anyone know how many it had originally? Any experience with running 4 or 5 leafs?
Likewise in the rear, with the air bags to help when needed, I'm thinking of taking 3 or 4 out, and maybe changing the shackles to drop the back.
I'm not trying to slam it, just loose the 4 inch gap between the tires and fenders.

Any other suggestions, that won't break the bank?

[aosborn]

Sounds like you are on the right track. When removing leaves from a stack, I usually remove the shortest one and then every other one going up the stack until I get the ride I am after. Removing say the two longest ones next to the main leaf right off the bat can leave the main leaf largely unsupported out on the ends.

Test drive a little bit without the shocks hooked up. When you like the spring rate, re-attach the shocks and see then if it is overdampened. If so, go with softer dampners.

Sounds like a nice rig, have fun.

Andy

[oldguy829]

Got an OOOPs. The pan on the Caddy engine will interfere with the linkage and straight axel. A dropped axel might work, if I modify the linkage, but then I have to worry about bump steer.
Dropped spindles would work, but I can't find any.
suggestions anyone?

[oldguy829]

Took another look at the truck today, crawled under it. It is not a rear sump pan, it is a center sump. The rear dropped portion of the pan is only 1 inch over the axel (more as it slopes up). Depending on the size and location of the oil pump, I may be able to modify the pan to get enough room to drop it.
Does anyone make modified pans?

[redlightning]

Here is stock rear springs.

http://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j4...d/DSCF0411.jpg

And stock front.I had to go out to the scrap pile,since I replaced the front clip.

http://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j4...d/DSCF0413.jpg


http://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j4...d/DSCF0414.jpg

[oldguy829]

Thanks for the pics. based on that, looks like I can pull at least a couple of leafs front and rear, just to get back to stock. Took it to a spring shop today. Very helpful. They will make a reverse eye main spring, then I will pull individual leafs until I get the ride/height I want. Fronts first. Same deal in the rear, plus those springs have a lot of arch, so they can also flatten them a little if necessary. It will never be low, but much better than it is now.
So, the first step is to get the right wheels and tires on it, and go from there. PS, turns out the caddy had 3 different pans. Front, center and rear sump. Need to do some yard crawing and measuring, but one of them is bound to give me the clearance I need.