55.2-59 New rear leaf springs, do these look normal?

[tattooedblue]

I am helping a buddy with an 8.8 swap into his 55 series 2 panel truck.

He bought brand new springs for it, and after putting the full weight on the axle, they go from arched to almost flat.

Not completely, but a lot flatter than I was expecting. I did not see how it sat with the springs he took out, and was just wondering if these look right.
(other than u bolts still need to be trimmed)

This is with full weight on the axle.

[_Ogre]

still have 4" to the bumps stops from the looks of it
looks about right, how does the stance look?

[tattooedblue]

Originally Posted by _Ogre

still have 4" to the bumps stops from the looks of it
looks about right, how does the stance look?

Unfortunately we just put the rear end and springs under it last night.

We were hoping to find out if this looks correct before we measure for the new wheels and offset since this rear is a different width, and bolt pattern.

[dsraven]

like ogre says, check the height to your bump stops, ride height and go from there.
what is the 8.8 from? how much width difference? I put an '99 explorer 8.8 under a 57 and it fit pretty good. I used welder's series brackets and rods, some modified, fabbed up some frame brackets and stanchions to attach the 4 leaf. used a stabilizer bar from a ford ranger (some have the 8.8).
just be careful not to overheat the axle tubes when welding on a new set of spring pads (you can get spring pads from a trailer supply shop). there is also a normal style yoke available for the 8.8 if you wanted a chevy style ujoint back there. can't remember what the yoke is from but a driveline shop could probably fix you up.or see below.
I included a couple of pics of my set up so you can see the ranger stabilizer bar if youre interested in that stuff. there are small ones and larger diameter ones from their sport series trucks. this is a small one because thats what I found that day at the wrecker.
some ideas for yokes, if interested

https://www.jegs.com/webapp/wcs/stor...8+yoke&Tab=SKU

these guys are Canadian so your USD goes further. if you need shock mounts etc

https://welderseries.com/?_vsrefdom=...xoCRnsQAvD_BwE

[dsraven]

sorry, not 4 leaf, 4 link.
you can also drill the axles fairly easily to accept a chevy 5 stud pattern, if thats what you want (mine has the MII front end with chevy pattern so it worked for me). I used the center part of an old rotor, cut out just the flange that bolts up and scrapped the rest, and just marked the chevy pattern on it between the ford pattern, then drilled 1.8" holes there. then you can bolt that up to the ford axle using the ford studs so it is tight and centered, then drill through the pilot holes with a 1/8 bit to mark the axle flange. remove the pattern part and drill the flange for the size required for your new studs. the rotors would also need to be drilled. keep the pattern in the truck in case you need a brake rotor on the road somewhere.
pic shows what I mean better

[dsraven]

sorry, not 1.8 holes. I meant 1/8" holes.
I gotta proof read.

[tattooedblue]

The one we grabbed is also out of an Explorer. It fits well. I tried talking him into a 4 link, but he kept the leafs. Just bought new perches/ubolts, etc.

He is going to be running steelies, so that will allow him to run the same wheel since they are dual drilled 5 on 4.5 and 5 on 4.75.

When I put an 8.8 in my old 66 Mustang, I just used a conversion u-joint, but since he has no flange, we will buy one like the one in your link with the proper size for the u-joint.

[dsraven]

well, that makes it easy using dual pattern steelies. you sure you wanna do that? not the hard way? lol.
one thing to check is the pinion angle compared to the trans output. since the pumkin is offset on the explorer diff it will be more important to have the pinion angle closely matched to the trans since there will be 2 angles involved now, the downward angle and the sideways angle. if you end up with a vibration that gets worse with speed this could be the culprit.