72 Coils and Leafs help needed

Suspension, steering, brakes, wheels & tires

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Recoil315
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72 Coils and Leafs help needed

Post by Recoil315 »

Good day all!

I have a 72 F100 short wheel base, 4x4, 4 speed, 302 that I am restoring. Previous owner had replaced the front end with a 78 Bronco. I believe that the rear leaf springs are original, however there is a 2 inch lifting block that I would like to eliminate.
The truck sat mostly level prior to disassembly. The front springs, uncompressed stand at 17.5 inches, 5/8" thick, 4" inner diameter. I do not know the spring load of this spring, however, it does have 11 coils with 1/2 coil on each end making contact for 10 active coils.
The rear springs measure 51.5" eye to eye, 24" and 28" from eye to center bolt respectively along the spring and has a 6 3/4" drop.
I would like to replace all coil and leaf springs.

Question, if I want to keep the same ride height as current, what coil/leaf combo would I be looking at? Stock Coils and a +2 inch leaf sounds correct, but if I choose the wrong front coils, would that not make a difference?

Thanks.
cep62
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Re: 72 Coils and Leafs help needed

Post by cep62 »

These trucks sat nose down from the factory.
The lift blocks in the rear should be the factory ones.
If you want it to sit level , I'd get the front springs I want then play with the leaves til it looks right .
a good spring shop should be able to do what you want.
Leaf springs can be tuned for lift and load.
There used to be "snowplow" front spring that gave a little lift with a soft ride.
Try the Bronco Graveyard.

I've also used a lift coil spring for an early Bronco
I think it was a 5 inch lift which brought the truck up 2-3 inches and had a softer ride than a fullsize coil.
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