Rear Suspension Woes. Need Advice.

In my '50 Stude, I'm running a stock SBC with 200R, S-10 on stock Studebaker springs with 4" blocks. (Start of problem, I know) Well, I was screwing around last weekend and ended up breaking a leaf. My question is, being quite broke with Uncle Sams payday around the corner, should I get custom leaves made to fit and incorporate the 4" drop into the springs, buy stock replacements, or should I wait (and not drive the car) and do a whole new rear suspension. i.e. 4 link; triangulated, etc? I'm figuring at least $500 to buy the four link parts and am not worried about doing it myself. Just need some others opinions. Basically a what would YOU do thread...

 

I personally like the idea of the triangulated 4 link. Just my 2 cents

 

If you were planning on the 4 link eventually, may as well step up and do it now while the car is down.

 

I would find a good truck spring shop and get one leaf made and the rest re-arched. The 4 links are pretty but the conventional leaves are reliable ,easy, and cheap. The 4 link will get you into installing coil-overs or bags and a lot of work.

 

I'm in the leaf spring camp.... fix what you have. Leafs ride well, are zero maintenance, and are adjustable in that you can add or subtract leafs for ride quality. Traction and spring wrap up a problem ? Address that seperately. I have 3 roadsters... one is triangulated 4 bars on air bags (I tow a teardrop with lots of tongue weight), one is triangulated 4 bars on coil overs, and the last is parallel leafs. I like the leaf spring car the best, and it's the most trouble free and bullet proof.
Just an opinion.... tell me what you go to in a pm. Thanks

 

On my 48 stude (50 fenders and nose) I'm running original springs (I had 2 full sets to use so finding enough good leaves was not a problem) de-arced by a local blacksmith who made one new leaf for each side running the full lenght. I relocated the mounts to the inside of the frame rather than the bottom and I'm using 1" blocks and air bags over the leaf springs. It sits pretty low and I can add air for load.
Gary

 

unless you broke the main leaf you should be able to do this your self. find a used spring leaf the right width cut it to length and arch it your self.i made a jig from square tubing and use a hyd jack and dearch my own. got the idea on the tech site here. years ago this was done with a big hammer over some rail road rails.

 

Think about how you will change a flat tire and scrub line issues.

 

What do you mean "broke a leaf?" Are you running just one leaf and it broke? Did the main leaf break? Did you just break one of the leaves and this is a good excuse to put in a 4 link?
Here's my 2 cents:
If you just broke one of the supporting leaves, remove it and it's twin to make it simmetrical and call it a day.
If you broke a main leaf or the only leaf, find a pair comprable at a yard and run em. It'll be a lot cheaper and less time consuming than putting in a 4 bar. 4 bars are wonderful, but they are expensive and time consuming to put in and it's springtime. If you take your car out of commission now, you might not get it back on the road till half way through summer. 4 links are expensive, not just the raw material, but bushings, springs/bags, shocks, etc.

 

You should just step up and do the 4 link. If you don't you're going to break it again, don't try and tell me you won't.

 

Thanks for the advise guys. Sorry Tyler, I think I may just be putting leafs back under it. The local welding shop can make any kind of spring I want. I'll incorporate the 4"drop into the leafs and get rid of the block, (Which I beleive is just acting as a fulcrum under power.) We'll see how far that gets me. I'll keep you posted.