Steel Spring Rates
Thread Starter
Racer
Joined: Oct 2006
Posts: 396
Likes: 3
From: Buffalo New York
Steel Spring Rates
My '76 has a 9 leaf, 2 1/2" wide rear spring. It rides rougher than my 4x4! Pushing hard on the rear fender, I can barely get 1" of travel. Does anyone know what the spring rate is? All I can find is that it's listed as an HD spring. With the 6" bolts, the rear end is about 2" high. I'm going to bring it down with 8" bolts, but that won't help the ride. I'm thinking of Vansteel's new easy ride spring, which is supposed to match the original spring rate. I'm into around town cruising, so ride comfort is important. Any suggestions?
Le Mans Master
Joined: Jan 2006
Posts: 6,506
Likes: 139
From: Butler Pa
The 9 leaf usually is the standard duty and the 7 leaf is the FE-7 HD spring.
It's possible that Bubba worked on yours like he did mine. Someone added 2 extra leafs to a 7 leaf HD spring. I removed the extra leafs and all is fine now.
It's possible that Bubba worked on yours like he did mine. Someone added 2 extra leafs to a 7 leaf HD spring. I removed the extra leafs and all is fine now.
Le Mans Master
Joined: Dec 2003
Posts: 5,727
Likes: 38
From: Fremont CA
I'm going from memeory but figures are close: 9 leaf 280in/lbs 7leaf (F-41) 330in/lbs and 4 leaf "Daytona" 420in/lbs. The 9 leaf has the most arch and each following spring has less arch to them. Daytona leafs are very thick!
