F-1 spring flip?

I tried the search function and could not seem to get where I wanted to go. Anyway, sometime ago on here i read where a guy removed the second longest front leaf spring in a F-100, flipped it over and put on top of the rest of the springs and this lowered it around 2 1/2 inches. Does this really work and will it work on a '48-'52 F-1? Thanks!

 

Front or rear springs? Never tried that.......seems like it would make it ride kinda stiff. De-arching your springs or even removing some leaves might work better....

 

There have been several tech posts about inverting and rearching main leafs. just keep plugging spring into the advanced search function.

 

I had reversed eye front main leafs made for one of mine, and removed several of the rest. In the back you can also drill out the spring mtg. bracket rivets on the frame and move them up by the vertical bolt spacing (you'll have to fab threaded tabs for the top of the frame though). That'll get you about 2 1/2" in the rear.
My .02$

 

I inverted the two shortest leaves on my '38 Chevy rear springs and moved them to the top of the spring pack. Smoothed out the ride and lowered the rear about 2".

 

Thanks for the info so far!

 

Did you end up doing this spring flip? I want to try that on my truck vs getting the eyes reversed.

 

Exactly what I did to my 48 , drove it over 150 K miles not one issue

 

So you flipped the main spring by itself, like reversing the eyes?

How much did it drop it? Thanks

 

dirtracer
Member, from Jacksonville Florida

dirtracer was last seen:

Sep 18, 2013

Note that the last powt before yours was 14 years ago on Dec, 27, 2009.

Yes but you have to take the spring apart, rearch the main leaf and on the Chevy modify the spring hanger at the back of the spring for clearance. That is do a lot of grinding for clearance for the spring that you will able to see what you need to do when you take the spring out.

 

So you did this spring flip on your truck? Also, this is for my International. I found a few YouTube videos on this method of lowering.

Thanks!

 

No but I know these trucks quite well. If you slide under the truck behind the front wheel and look at the spring support on the back of the spring and look close you see that the casting/forging somewhat circles the eye of the spring. If you put the main leaf in it as it sits it will stop the main leaf at about a 30 degree and maybe 45 degree angle rather than letting it go up above level.
I'm 76 years old and have been working on these things for 60 years and have owned my 48 for most of 50 years.

 

A somewhat related mod is what the PO did to my '46 frame:

chopped off the framerails just above the axle where the frame curved down
swapped left-to-right sides - inverted 180 degrees
moved perches back to the underside
re-attached the stock spring
steering, etc remained unchanged
boxed