What is the difference between leaf springs and trailing arms, besides the obvious?

[bulldoze76]

As you can see I am kind of new to the forum, and have recently purchased a 1965 SWB Fleetside with leaf springs.

From looking around I know some trucks have leafsprings, and it seems a larger amount have trailing arms. I found one site about that sold trailing arms for c10 and refered to the leaf spring truck as a light duty. So is it safe to assume that a leaf spring is the lighter duty, as compared to a trailing arm set up?

My truck is totally stock, and I would like to lower its stance all around. No bags just a lowered stance for better handling.

I have seen that you can get a flip kit for the leaf springs to level it out. Is that the only option?

Is it a waste of money, and time to convert to a trailing arm set up? Is it possible? Possible reason for wanting to convert is possible airbags in the future?

Sorry about all the questions.. any info and input appreciated!

Will

[SCOTI]

I believe it's the other way around.... coil suspension is considered the 'lighter-duty' of the two choices. Leafs are further outboard vs. the vehicle centerline making them more stable. There were several leaf pack options for 1/2 ton trucks (lt.duty to HD) vs. only one coil choice.

Coils spring trucks do tend to ride better vs. leafs in my opinion.

As far as dropping the leaf rear, the choices are flip kit (5-6" drop) or shackles & hangers (each is worth about 2" of drop so 4" combined). Is it worth swapping to a coil suspension? If you can do it cheaply, to me it is. The next guy that answers might not feel the same way. I suggest bumming a ride in one of each. Find someone close to you that has the drop your considering (1 coil set-up, 1 leaf set-up) & see 1st hand if you note a difference.

[bulldoze76]

Originally Posted by SCOTI

I believe it's the other way around.... coil suspension is considered the 'lighter-duty' of the two choices. Leafs are further outboard vs. the vehicle centerline making them more stable. There were several leaf pack options for 1/2 ton trucks (lt.duty to HD) vs. only one coil choice.

Coils spring trucks do tend to ride better vs. leafs in my opinion.

As far as dropping the leaf rear, the choices are flip kit (5-6" drop) or shackles & hangers (each is worth about 2" of drop so 4" combined). Is it worth swapping to a coil suspension? If you can do it cheaply, to me it is. The next guy that answers might not feel the same way. I suggest bumming a ride in one of each. Find someone close to you that has the drop your considering (1 coil set-up, 1 leaf set-up) & see 1st hand if you note a difference.

Thx Scoti

[raycow]

A major advantage of the trailing arms over leaf springs is when you are doing a performance build. You don't get any spring wind-up with resultant wheel hop. To get the same effect with leaf springs you would need to add traction bars or some other kind of patch. Maybe this doesn't interest you because your questions all seemed to be about lowering.

Ray

[jimmydean]

As Scoti said, there isn't a much better OE design for performance than a trailing arm setup, at least not for trucks.

If you wanted to do the swap, I bet it wouldn't be tough to find the parts. I for one will likely be giving my stock trailing arm setup away once I go dropmember. All you would need is the crossmember, the arms, and then modify the axle.

Bags will always ride better than springs. I don't like the way a lowered leaf truck rides, but a lowered coil isn't all that much better. But it is better.