Can rear coilover shocks be used in combination with a leaf spring suspention?

When I was a young squirt you could buy coil helper springs to install over your conventional shocks. Later, air shocks became available but I have never used those.

I looking for a way to fine tune the rear suspension stiffness of my '40 Ford coupe project without giving up the advantages of the leaf springs. The front suspension is IFS with adjustable coilovers and a sway bar.

Will air shocks work very well or can an adjustable coilover shock be used?

Thanks for any replies.

don't know much about your application, but i have installed alot of the Monroe coil over shocks on 1/2 ton p/u's with no problems.

Just an idea...

Helper springs (coil) are made for leaf spring applications where more stiffness/load capacity or allowance for weak springs is desired. They have u-bolts that fasten over the axle tube and the top of the spring rides on the bottom face of the frame rail. If more stifness is needed, you can insert rubber spacers to arrive at the stifness you need, or you can also insert AIR-LIFT bags for pre-loading the rear suspension.

The helper springs made to clamp over the shock tubes usually wind up damaging the shock valving. Actual coil-over shocks sound good if the coil height is adjustable for differing rates.

Personally, I would talk to someone like EATON SPRING and get the correct springs made for the application and buy a nice set of adjustable shocks.