Rear Leaf Springs

dunc92 · Post by **dunc92** » Sat Jul 11, 2015 11:43 am

I know the leaf spring thing has been beaten to death but what I have seen it is all for lifted broncos. Mine is stock height still but I want to improve the ride. I dont have the money yet to do a lift and the typical selection of deavers. I have spoken with Alcan in Colorado and Deaver about a stock height set up. Both had great customer service but the deavers were almost 900 bucks, the alcans were 700 shipped. I also called National and have not heard back yet. Anyone have any suggestions about spring manufacturers or set ups to stay with stock height or a little taller?

Mojo · Post by **Mojo** » Sat Jul 11, 2015 1:05 pm

A stock bronco, at least a 92-96 rides just fine as a daily driver. They are not stiff at all. Possibly yours has an add-a-leaf. I don't know how experienced you are with suspension but you should know if you have an add-a-leaf by looking at them or posting a pic on here. So if by "improve the ride" you mean improve the performance offroad, then that will take money for good springs or at least you could start with a good pair of shocks.

dunc92 · Post by **dunc92** » Sat Jul 11, 2015 6:35 pm

How many leaves do they have? I dont think I have an add a leaf because of the height. I have 5 leafs right now. Part of the reason I want to change them out is the truck has 240k miles on it so i dont know how much they are sagging.

PaulW · Post by **PaulW** » Sun Jul 12, 2015 6:58 am

Answer for spring replacement without any other mods is get springs as close to stock as possible. Question the spring guys as to if they even know what is stock. The result will be stock ride height which no doubt will be higher than what you have. After doing that then new stock valveing shocks will complete your restoration and back to stock ride comfort.
PW

dunc92 · Post by **dunc92** » Mon Jul 13, 2015 8:28 pm

What about q80 springs with longer shackles? From what I can tell, the Q80's are a 3(ish) inch lift and with a 2 inch longer shackle it will only be 1 inch over stock?

PaulW · Post by **PaulW** » Tue Jul 14, 2015 7:08 am

dunc92 wrote:What about q80 springs with longer shackles? From what I can tell, the Q80's are a 3(ish) inch lift and with a 2 inch longer shackle it will only be 1 inch over stock?

==
Now you at talking about non stock . Be ready for other mods. Start a new thread about Bronco improvements to the suspension or move over to the existing threads on that subject.
Paul

toddz69 · Post by **toddz69** » Tue Jul 14, 2015 7:42 am

dunc92 wrote:I know the leaf spring thing has been beaten to death but what I have seen it is all for lifted broncos. Mine is stock height still but I want to improve the ride. I dont have the money yet to do a lift and the typical selection of deavers. I have spoken with Alcan in Colorado and Deaver about a stock height set up. Both had great customer service but the deavers were almost 900 bucks, the alcans were 700 shipped. I also called National and have not heard back yet. Anyone have any suggestions about spring manufacturers or set ups to stay with stock height or a little taller?

And you won't hear back from National because they're out of business and closed up shop a few weeks ago.

Todd Z.

birdco85 · Post by **birdco85** » Tue Jul 14, 2015 9:06 am

toddz69 wrote:And you won't hear back from National because they're out of business and closed up shop a few weeks ago.

Todd Z.

No kidding? Damn they were right by me.

dunc92 · Post by **dunc92** » Tue Jul 14, 2015 8:14 pm

Update on the National thing, I received an email from them. Their prices almost doubled since the last time I checked with them. The q80 idea has been squashed as the pair I was looking at sold. Looks like I will keep saving for the time being.

PaulW · Post by **PaulW** » Wed Jul 15, 2015 5:26 am

National has a history is issues that were mostly to do with finance. The doors would close and a new foreman or shop manager would appear and good stuff came out the door. Then they moved probably for better rent? Of course each time they lost good customers that lost their loyalty. Not the customer problem, but when you need springs all you can do is find another source. Then there was a shortage of good spring steel and the industry survivors stocked up and left National with steel shortages. This happened several times and the non participant owners continued to struggle with how to make profits.
Its a tough world out there for a small business. To bad because they always strived to make a good product.

philofab · Post by **philofab** » Fri Jul 17, 2015 4:30 pm

I Nationals I have are great springs, but that company leaves a lot to be desired.

5 spring packs are not stock. You have an add-a-leaf or something else.