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10forty2's avatar
10forty2
Explorer
Jul 24, 2017

Replacing Front Leaf Springs

I thought I had posted this question before, but for the life of me, I cannot find the thread. Sooo, please forgive me if I repeat things...

I am planning to order new front leaf springs for my coach tonight. The replacements that I find are from SD Truck Springs and are listed for my year model F53, but are listed for a 22,000GVW chassis. My coach is placarded at 22,500GVW. I am adding an extra leaf for each spring, bringing the rated capacity of the new springs each to 4,300, or 8,600 front axle. Front axle is rated/placarded for 7,500.

Couple questions for those who know suspensions....

1) Am I doing anything wrong/dangerous by adding the leaf and getting additional capacity rating over the placard for the coach. Will it cause the coach to ride too high in the front? I also have Firestone Ride Rite airbag helper springs installed on the front and will leave them in place with the new springs.

2) Is replacing the springs a driveway job with the proper jacks and jack-stands, and other tools? I'm pretty handy, "shade-tree-mechanically-speaking", but have done very little suspension work in my wrenching days. It would APPEAR to be a direct bolt-on job. If not, then I do have a local shop that can do it for me....would just want to save the labor costs if I can.

Your thoughts?
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8 Replies

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  • wildmanbaker's avatar
    wildmanbaker
    Explorer
    Jul 27, 2017
    BUTCHPHI wrote:
    The best ride you will get is when your front springs are loaded to near capacity. My 1999 F53 chassis is rated at 7000 pounds and I am able to load them to about 6800 pounds with my wife and I in our seats. It rides very well. I also have Koni FSD's and that helped greatly with tar strip harshness. You can either replace the weak spring or add a leaf.
    If you check, you may be on the "bump stops" now. The jarring ride is from the springs hitting the stops on small bumps.
  • BUTCHPHI's avatar
    BUTCHPHI
    Explorer
    Jul 26, 2017
    The best ride you will get is when your front springs are loaded to near capacity. My 1999 F53 chassis is rated at 7000 pounds and I am able to load them to about 6800 pounds with my wife and I in our seats. It rides very well. I also have Koni FSD's and that helped greatly with tar strip harshness. You can either replace the weak spring or add a leaf.
  • happy-2's avatar
    happy-2
    Explorer
    Jul 26, 2017
    FOR SAFETY ,I just had a extra leaf put in my right rear spring to level the coach, perfect. BUT the UBOLTS had to be TORQUED to 312 FOOT pounds ,that took a five ft torque bar.good luck
  • RRyall's avatar
    RRyall
    Explorer
    Jul 25, 2017
    I think you will find that it's not too bad of a job as long as you can get the bolts out of the spring eyes. If they are seized, I usually use a sawsall on the bolt (inside the shackle against the spacer/eye) and be careful not to cut the shackles. Since the spring is being replaced anyway, it doesn't matter if the spacer is cut, etc. Sometimes I had poor luck getting the U bolts loose, and used the same method and just cut one side of each bolt. Be very careful and make sure your rig is suspended safely, and be aware that cutting the u bolt will allow the spring to become uncompressed instantly. As mentioned, new u bolts are a must, and I had no issues getting the spring to line up as it will move easily on the shackle to align the bracket bolt. I used anti seize on the new eye bolts. Not too bad of a job, thought it would be worse as bigger heavier parts are a bear sometimes. Hope this helps.
  • wildmanbaker's avatar
    wildmanbaker
    Explorer
    Jul 25, 2017
    If remember right, I believe you need to replace the "U" bolts also, as they are Torqued to yield. You will need a 3/4" drive and sockets as these have large nuts/bolts on the springs. The springs are also quite heavy. Think safety here.
  • timmac's avatar
    timmac
    Explorer
    Jul 24, 2017
    It will ride ruff, maybe just new springs at the weight on the chassis now with the airbags.
  • 10forty2's avatar
    10forty2
    Explorer
    Jul 24, 2017
    Thanks for the reply, Matt! To answer you question, I put the airbags on as an intermediate until I could replace the springs. The driver's side has gone into a negative arch without the bag inflated. I do have a couple of 20ton bottle jacks that should do the lifting on each corner nicely, but am just not sure how much of the arch of the new springs I'll be expected to manipulate to get the bolt holes to line up.
  • Matt_Colie's avatar
    Matt_Colie
    Explorer II
    Jul 24, 2017
    I cannot tell you about the ride height change. I do not believe that you are doing anything dangerous, but you may not like the ride with the stiffer spring.
    If you could get the ride height to be correct at load with the airsprings, why didn't you just stay with those?

    Lastly, the only bad part about changing springs as you plan in that the entire weight of the coach will probably have to be lifted by an inch or more to get the new springs into place and yes, it is just a bolt-bolt job most of the time. But be sure you have a good long drift to get the bolts into the springs.

    Matt

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