If I run my A spring on my 30 coupe without removing any of the leaves, will it be to harsh. I was planning on removing a few just to set it a little lower but I don't think I will have to now but just concerned about the ride.
It's going to be a rigid ride with the spring with all the leaves. That's where shocks will help out. I would think you would have more bouncy-ness with leaves taken out. The spring would be less supported. What exactly do you mean by harsh?
Elrod, stiffness is what I was concerned about. I would'nt think it would be too bouncy with a few leaves out on something so light.
67 Imp - I used a '41 ford spring in the rear of my T, and after a lot of trial and error it's down to 6 or 7 leaves (don't remember). Play with the leaves before you install it by stepping on it to get the bounce you think will be right, using different lengths together. I don't use any shocks on the rear, and it rides great.
On my bone stock A coupe with no shocks, the rear bounces like crazy. my head hits the roof hard enuff to break the roof ribs!
Mutt, I thought about useing a 40 spring but decided to keep the A spring and crossmember. I do plan on running shocks.
By harsh, I mean make your back hurt. Make you glad you've got seat belts because that's the only thing that keeps you in the roadster when you hit a bump. And that's with shocks. That's harsh. I've already removed three of the short leaves on my '31 and plan on taking out the longest leaf, next to the main leaf this winter. Maybe that'll tone it down a little. warbird
As you remove each spring the total spring rate goes down meaning that it is less harsh than before. Removing springs lowers the car by increasing the deflection of the spring if the car's overall weight does not change as well as by the 1/4" thickness of each leaf. In addition to making the spring softer it also renders it more in need of shock damping because of the reduced number of leaves sliding against each other that provides some "natural" damping in this type of multi-leaf spring. There's also more of a likelihood that the suspension will bottom out on the frame with big bumps. Early Ford leaf springs have a pronounced "rising rate" meaning the more they deflect the stiffer they become. Removing leaves reduces this effect so if no shock is used then the more leaves removed means progressively more uncontrolled boing-boing down the road. This phenom may be what Elrod referred to as "bouncy-ness". Original As were designed to run on fairly primitive and very rough roads so they needed lots of travel and a fair amount of stiffness to handle them. Removing a leaf or three helps matters quite a bit on most cars driven on paved roads but asking any spring, A or otherwise to work well and safely without good shocks is expecting an awful lot. My friend Richard has removed three leaves each front and rear on his full-fendered Tudor and is fairly pleased with the results. Another friend of ours actually removed four leaves from his Tudor and although it did ride better it would occasionally bottom out. These leaves were all removed from the top of the pack so I can't speak to mixing and matching leaf order.
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