Rear Suspension ?'s

[low&slow]

I've been on this site for a little while now and I always get confused when you guys show pictures of stock rear suspension. Some of you have leaf springs and some of you have trailing arms with springs. I have another '69 that has leaf springs, but what stumps me is. Why does my other '69 have both leaf springs, springs, and trailing arms?

[sjarrett71]

The leaf spring you are refering to on your coil/trailing arm rear suspension is probably the overload spring. It's not actually a full leaf.

[low&slow]

That's what I was told to by a friend, but thought I would ask anyways.

So is the overload spring with the coil/trailing arm good, or is it just good for towing?

[5150.4.67]

Mostly for payload, but won't hurt for towing. You typically don't have near the tongue weight when compared to payload.
Typically............

[low&slow]

So I'm racing it. So do I need all that under there? Which should I leave?

[PGSigns]

Just leave the trailing arms. In racing weight is power. Reducing the weight is free power. The trailing arms with a good set of shocks will be fine until you want to hook up massive power. Then a good 4 link is needed. Not sure how fast you want to go and assuming you plan to drag race it but these old trucks flex a lot in the back and stiffening the frame by boxing it can do a lot to reduce the flex and to aid in tuning the suspension.
Jimmy