? about spring rates

[ERASER5]

I just finished doing the drum-to-disc swap using part from a 73-to-87 parts. I was sure the donor was a 1/2 ton, but am not sure what exact year. I used the newer spring because a) there were out and available for sand blasting and painting, and b) when I pulled the original spring out, they looked exactly like the nice shiny painted ones.

Looking at the truck today, I noticed that the front was 1 to 2 inches higher than before. ??? I took great care putting the springs correctly into the pockets so I am guessing it is the spring rate.

Any guesses if it will settle back down? I would rather keep the additional hight and match the rear with blocks. Bigger tires are next.

[Custom 68]

I dont know how the spring rate compares and that would be interesting to know but I bet your original ones just had settled some. These may set in some too but my guess is not much.
Drive it like this a little and that will probably be all you see.

[kcjones]

Special-K, one of the board members, often points to saggy springs as a reason some drop conversions don't come out as expected. The way they look uncompressed isn't a very indication of their actual spring rate - chances are, 30+ years holding up more than a ton of weight will degrade the performance of the spring. Just a thought.

[ERASER5]

OK. I'll run it for a while and see what happens. The truck is definitely nose up right now. The "new" springs are still rather old as they came out of a 73-87 truck, I am not sure what year.

In the mean time, I will be looking for something to lift the rear to level. Maybe blocks, but I am leaning toward a set of 6 pack leaf springs to replace to existing 4 pack springs.

[kcjones]

Do you know if the donor truck was a big block truck? There are differences in bb, sbc, and 6 cyl front spring rates. Also, when installing springs, they often need to be driven on a bit to get them seated right - you'll hear a loud noise when they're all settled in.