rear leave springs width

[savage]

I need to buy some leave spring clamps ,for my 74 bronco. When I measure them ,I get 2 3/8 inch wide. when I look up spring clamps, the sizes I get ,range from 2 in, 2.25 in and 2.50 in. Do you guys think the 2.25 in will work for my rear springs.

 

[langester]

I went out and measured mine. 2-1/4".

 

[savage]

thanks. I found a leave spring company https://beattiespring.com/collectio...=1&_sid=997af105a&_ss=r&variant=6186262560800, that sells them cheaper than the other companies.

 

[langester]

No problem! That is a handy link, thanks for posting!

 

[savage]

Well, got my spring clamps in today. installed them, looks a lot better than what was on the driver side leaf. First pic shows the home made clamps they had on it, and pics of new clamps a lot cleaner.

 

[Tiko433]

That came out good How was installation?

 

[savage]

That came out good How was installation?

It was really easy, used a C-clamp to hold the two pieces together and a sledgehammer to bend the tabs over ,you want the upper part of the tab to loop open and the lower part flush,the clamps come with a dimple, but you can still use then if you don't have a place for the dimple to sit in, just flatten it.

 

[DirtDonk]

Looks like the springs might be assembled incorrectly too. I could be wrong, and this could be the design of this particular spring set, but that bottom-most leaf looks like an add-a-leaf that was installed underneath the "overload" leaf instead of above it.

Does the rear height match what you want? Changing things around could alter that, but if I'm correct then the springs are not working as they should anyway. Might be riding a bit stiffer than it should, sooner than it should.

Notice how the second leaf from the bottom is not touching the leaf above it on the ends? That looks like an overload leaf. Should be on the bottom.
I can see how people get confused though, since they think they're supposed to keep the individual leaves in a shortest-to-longest pattern. But the overload leaf is not considered part of the main pack and works separately. Whereas the add-a-leaf is supposed to work on changing the arch of all the leaves above the overload leaf. So in that regard, is usually the only time a shorter leaf is put on top of a longer leaf.

Again, might be wrong. But that's what it looks like from here.

Paul

 

[savage]

Looks like the springs might be assembled incorrectly too. I could be wrong, and this could be the design of this particular spring set, but that bottom-most leaf looks like an add-a-leaf that was installed underneath the "overload" leaf instead of above it.

Does the rear height match what you want? Changing things around could alter that, but if I'm correct then the springs are not working as they should anyway. Might be riding a bit stiffer than it should, sooner than it should.

Notice how the second leaf from the bottom is not touching the leaf above it on the ends? That looks like an overload leaf. Should be on the bottom.
I can see how people get confused though, since they think they're supposed to keep the individual leaves in a shortest-to-longest pattern. But the overload leaf is not considered part of the main pack and works separately. Whereas the add-a-leaf is supposed to work on changing the arch of all the leaves above the overload leaf. So in that regard, is usually the only time a shorter leaf is put on top of a longer leaf.

Again, might be wrong. But that's what it looks like from here.

Paul

Paul, you are probably total correct. That's the way I bought the bronco, and after 20 plus year of owning my 74, the rear springs are the last thing I need to replace. The prier owner, also added a extra leaf under the main top leaf on the driver side. So it must have leaned on the driver side. Wright now it sits just wright at 3 inch lift in the rear. Its not to stiff, but do to this covid crap ,funds are tight, but once things pick up ,I'm going to replace the rear springs and that should finish the bronco. I'm not sure which height I want to go with ,since they only come in 2.5 and 3.5 inch. I have your guys 3.5 inch coils in front, and don't want the rear higher than the front. So I'm looking at WH rear springs and Toms rear springs , just not sure which height , I run no top or your spare tire ,so I'm thinking 2.5 inch will make it level. I know shipping is going to suck, but what can you do
Thanks Dave

 

[DirtDonk]

You can run a 3.5 and remove the lower two short leaves for a net loss of about 1/2" or so. I don't think they're exactly 1/4" each, but it's something close to that.
Allows you to fine tune it a bit.

It's a bit more work, but you can even install them as-is and then fine-tune later if needed.
It's true that our springs will typically sit a little high when new, so a 2.5" lift might actually give closer to the 3" that you want. But that's not a universal truth either. Not an exact science in other words. Not until they're installed on the individual Bronco and driven for a bit to settle in.

If you decide on the 2.5" instead, you could always add a slight amount of either leaf or block to the underside of the desired amount.
Every Bronco is different, and you are comparing to an old and probably tired set of springs that have already been customized from stock. So it's hard to gauge just how similar, or how different any new spring is going to be compared to your current ones.

Fun stuff though, right?%);D

Paul

 

[savage]

You can run a 3.5 and remove the lower two short leaves for a net loss of about 1/2" or so. I don't think they're exactly 1/4" each, but it's something close to that.
Allows you to fine tune it a bit.

It's a bit more work, but you can even install them as-is and then fine-tune later if needed.
It's true that our springs will typically sit a little high when new, so a 2.5" lift might actually give closer to the 3" that you want. But that's not a universal truth either. Not an exact science in other words. Not until they're installed on the individual Bronco and driven for a bit to settle in.

If you decide on the 2.5" instead, you could always add a slight amount of either leaf or block to the underside of the desired amount.
Every Bronco is different, and you are comparing to an old and probably tired set of springs that have already been customized from stock. So it's hard to gauge just how similar, or how different any new spring is going to be compared to your current ones.

Fun stuff though, right?%);D

Paul

Since I'm retired now I have plenty of time to figure it out, I know when I put your 3.5 inch coil on, it measured at a 4 inch lift, that was a couple of years ago, and it is still close to 4 inch lift, But do to all my reconstructive surgeries, did not drive the bronco much, so I can see why it has not settle much. I do have a spring company ( gett springs) up here and I'm waiting to see how much it would cost to have them make me a set at 3 inches of lift. I'm figuring what it will cost from you or Tom's, and shipping cost, to see if it's more cost affective to have them made here, we'll see;D
Thanks Dave

 

[DirtDonk]

Sounds like a plan. Be interesting to see what they come up with. Used to be that a local shop could do a good job for a relatively inexpensive price. But lately it seems like the quotes people are getting are crazy high.
Maybe those companies are not getting as much work as the old days, and are just trying to stay afloat.

Paul