removing leafs to lower rear of car

I have heard of this before but I am looking for first hand experence. I have a 53 chevy with the stock 1 3/4 wide leafs I have heard of guys taking out a few leafs or all leafs but the main leaf and running air bags the idea is using the main leaf to locate the axle but really not carrying the weight of the car. Seems kinda scarry to me but what do I know. the car is open drive line with a mild 350 nothing special. Any help would be great. Thanks

 

I've lowered a good amount of cars over the years by removing leaves in the rear (including a 53 chev) and I've never ran in to much of a problem with just a leaf or two. Once you go past that you run into the problems of leaves cracking, and the rear end pumpkin and drive shaft hitting your floor. On the 53 chev we removed 2 leaves, had 4 inch lowering blocks, a hole in the floor for the driveshaft and pumpkin, and the overall ride was.....ok, with the car sitting about 3 inches off the ground in the rear. I don't recommend the single leaf set up though, seen it done, but I wouldn't mess with it.

 

open driveline needs more leaves, not less. I have posies with blocks. the stock leaves wrapped up horribly, with just a 235. You could have the main shortened 2" and de-arched, then you could use ******* bars to prevent wheel hop and be lower. with lowering blocks, you don't have enough scrub to use the bars.

 

De-arching is the way to do it.

 

I am going to run a four link or 2 link truck arm some time in the future but it may be a year or two before that happens. I realize that the leafs will wrap but was not sure how badly. thanks for the input keep it comming

 

Yep.

I know a couple guys with air-over leaf setups (stock springs)...one has been running around for a couple years, one barely made it back from it's first show.

I'd either hunt around for some used aftermarket springs (I bought a set used of Posies and a set of used CE springs for a fraction of the cost to get 'em new), or just spend a little extra and go for the 4-link or trailing-arms and bags. No matter which route you take, you'll need a notch to get low...if you're already cutting the trunk out for that, I'd suggested putting in the rear suspension that you want instead of nickle and dime-ing yourself with blocks and such when you're just going to change it later.

Bryan

 

I had a 7-leaf pack in my '63. Took out 4 leaves on each side and got an overall drop of about 4". Car rides alot smoother and alot softer in the rear. I've done it since then and I'll do it again.

 

I have a '54 Chevy pickup that I removed a bunch of leaves from to lower it (also used lowering blocks and a Chevy 10-bolt rearend). I wouldn't recommend it. At first it was okay, but the remaining leaves started to sag down worse over time. Now it's too low and basically lying on the bumpstops. I'm going to get some de-arched springs for it someday to make it safe to drive again. Also the rear end twists up too easily with the extra leaves missing.

 

is there a certain order the leafs have to be removed

 

Be careful removing spring leaves. I've seen many car and pickup main leaves bent into an S shape from having the second leaf removed. Watch out for Rust Belt problems, pitting of the spring leaves. Rust even affects leaf springs under cl*** 8 trucks, with spring leaves being 1/2" thick.
One more leaf spring tidbit, if the leaf breaks through the tie bolt hole, the u-bolts weren't tightened properly. New u-bolts can save a lot of headaches.