[Alaska_Man]

I have a 85 Chevy 1/2 ton 2-wheel drive truck. It is a short bed with coil springs in front and leaf springs in the rear. The front is fine, but the rear rides real stiff. Have gotten the soft'est shocks I can find locally. Am thinking about taking a leaf out of the rear springs. Am going to lower it this summer, so not to worried about the height. It has 4 leafs with one over-load leaf. Not sure which one to take out or if it will mess things up to do anything to them. Anyone have any thoughts on this or if they know of another way to soften the ride without having to have a whole new set of springs made up. Bob

[matts37chev]

what kind of "overload" spring is it? does always touch the other springs, or only when loaded?
you can probably start with taking out the shortest (bottom)
does the second from the top go full length?

[Alaska_Man]

Originally Posted by matts37chev

what kind of "overload" spring is it? does always touch the other springs, or only when loaded?
you can probably start with taking out the shortest (bottom)
does the second from the top go full length?

The over-load spring is only used when there's a load on the truck. The second spring, from the top, is shorter than the top one and they get shorter as you go down.

[matts37chev]

i would start with the bottom, shortest spring then, and see what that does.
keeping the overload for when you do haul or tow

[Alaska_Man]

Originally Posted by matts37chev

i would start with the bottom, shortest spring then, and see what that does.
keeping the overload for when you do haul or tow

That's kind of what I had in mind too. Thanks.

[poncho62]

Before any of that, I would try and force some oil in between the leaves of the springs.....They may be just binding from rust and the oil will allow them to slide more and soften the ride. Just a thought

[matts37chev]

Originally Posted by poncho62

Before any of that, I would try and force some oil in between the leaves of the springs.....They may be just binding from rust and the oil will allow them to slide more and soften the ride. Just a thought

this is a good point
i personally would still remove the bottom spring, but while its apart i would wire wheel and/or grind off any rough spots.
allowing the spring ends to slide smoothly in and out as the spring packs travel up and down
you can also put Teflon type friction pads put at the end of the leafs
but that requires you to put holes in the end of the leafs
(very hard to drill, a hole punch type machine is almost needed)
a spring shop or some machine/metal working shops can punch the holes

[Alaska_Man]

Originally Posted by matts37chev

this is a good point
i personally would still remove the bottom spring, but while its apart i would wire wheel and/or grind off any rough spots.
allowing the spring ends to slide smoothly in and out as the spring packs travel up and down
you can also put Teflon type friction pads put at the end of the leafs
but that requires you to put holes in the end of the leafs
(very hard to drill, a hole punch type machine is almost needed)
a spring shop or some machine/metal working shops can punch the holes

Yes, I know of the Teflon strips and will check for them when I take the springs apart and will also clean the springs. Thanks guys. Bob