Leaf springs

[ddarnell]

Thinking about new springs front and rear. I'll be buying a camper soon and I'd like to be able to carry the weight, w/o sagging. I'm looking at General Spring. they have a stock 1400lb, 3 leaf front and a 1900lb, 6 leaf. At the rear they show a 4, 5, 6, and 8 leaf. Anyone see a problem with upping the spring capacity?
Thanks
David

[Gordon Maney]

Thinking about new springs front and rear. I'll be buying a camper soon and I'd like to be able to carry the weight, w/o sagging. I'm looking at General Spring. they have a stock 1400lb, 3 leaf front and a 1900lb, 6 leaf. At the rear they show a 4, 5, 6, and 8 leaf.

Anyone see a problem with upping the spring capacity?

Thanks
David

No, your only concern, if any, might be ride quality. But if load is your concern, then you don't care.

[74w300uteline]

rides like a brick

77 M880 has 5/4 ton rating overland. Drives like a brick when empty , drives like a Caddy when loaded.

[rxinhed]

Why not another avenue? Get some soft ride springs for the unloaded condition and use some air-overload springs for additional load support? Or ditch the leaf springs altogether and use the air springs.

[KRB64]

Air springs would be sweet. Thats what I'd like to put on my Cummins some day...

What about a set of overloads? That way the ride would be the same when unloaded.

Whats the vehicle?

[ddarnell]

The spring change is for the 76 W200 (Bud). It's a crew cab, long bed so it's sitting right at 6,000 lbs when I leave the dump. With 2,000lbs of camper on it I'll be nearing the GVW. The fronts have sagged to about an inch between spring and bumpstop, the 300lb bumper probably doesn't help that! LOL. The rears get close to bump stop with about 2500lbs in the back. Ride quality is of little concern, as we don't use it much. When we do, it often has a load of some sort. The bed is lined with diamond plate steel, removing that could give a few hundred pounds of payload, as well as the battering ram front bumper.

[KRB64]

Dang! I'd like to see that thing.

If it was mine and I had the money I'd leave the stock springs alone and add air bags all the way around. Then I could adjust for load.

[oldmopar]

I have used the loadlifter 5000 supports on 2 of my trucks works well takes a little time to install but seems to hold up have had a set on my 76 d100 for about 5 years

http://www.airliftcompany.com/produc...oadlifter-5000

[ddarnell]

KRB64, It's a big ugly beast. What did you pay for the air bag system, oldmopar? I can go with HD springs all around with new hardware for under $800.

[USN78W150]

springs

My '77 M885 truck has factory 4 leaf overload springs in the rear, in addition to the stock 6 leaf spring. The Chrysler literature states the 4 leaf overload spring is an option on D and W 300/400 series only, and D and W 200 trucks have an optional single leaf overload spring, but the military got the 4 leaf overload option on the W200 M885. That setup would be perfect for your truck. The overloads do not come into play until the main 6 leaf spring has been squashed down over 3 inches or so. The 1400 lb. front leaf spring you mentioned is the stock spring. There is a 1740 lb. 3 leaf front spring available from the factory. Perhaps NAPA can get the heavy duty 3 leaf front spring for you.

[ddarnell]

The stock rears on my truck are a 5+1 setup. General springs lists those as 2500lbs. The 6+1 are rated at 3250 and the 8+1 are rated at 4000lbs. I"m leaning toward the 6+1 config with some sort of overload setup. That gives me an added 1500lb capacity at the rear, before overloads. Thinking about the 1900lb 6 leafs in the front, that should get it back up to some travel in the suspension and maybe keep the Honda crushing front bumper.
Looking at the SuperSprings and the Roadmaster Active Suspension setups for overloads.
**** by the time I get it all ready for a camper I won't be able to affaord a camper.
David

[KRB64]

Whats the +1 mean?

[ddarnell]

KRB64, General Spring describes their spring packs as (how ever many full length) springs + 1 shorter spring on the bottom.