De arching the springs is probably a better bet if you have access to a good spring shop and your current springs are in good shape.  This essentially changes the initial zero load postion of the spring but does not materially effect the spring rate.  Your can also add a full second leaf under the main leaf to increase the spring rate and still lower the truck.

Have you considered using monoleaves?  I asked on this site earlier about monoleaf springs but there was not too much relevent experience forthcoming.  The other sites I checked had mixed opinions and I was not persuaded to try them or not to try them. 

When the springs are fully compressed and hard on the rubber bumpers, the shocks should be at the full comprerssed point of their travel no matter what springs you have.  

Try a search on Goggle . There are 1000's of " How To" articles on the web . Lots of tech ideas in Classic Truck magazine as well  .I have found a lot of interesting info ,a lot of it is on early F trucks .Hope this helps.

Lon

                                       Michael

I would be interested to hear about your experience with monoleaf springs and I think some others would be also.  If you have a moment could you please open a new topic and let us know what you did;  buy a kit,  have a good instruction article from a mag or other source another guy did it on a similar truck,  problems benefits etc etc.? 

Also are you coming to Columbus this year?

I currently run the axle on top of the springs to get as low as possible.  It resulted in about a 4 1/2" drop with stock springs and no interference with the pan.  When I reversed the eyes on the main leafs to lower it another 3", problems started to develop.  I did have interference with the pan so I raised the front motor mounts.  I had very little axle travel left before bottoming out on the bumper stops and that required me to "C" notch the frame and cut the bumpers in half.  The drag link looked like it was shooting for the stars and had to be made parallel with the ground while in the straight ahead position.  The normal fix is to heat the steering arm and bend it down (not for the faint of heart).  With the axle on top, it would not bend down far enough without the drag link touching the axle.  I "Zed" the drag link and now it has no interference.

It took a lot of work to get this thing to go down the road straight and I am still modifying it.  I have since installed a panhard bar and an extra set of shocks to get it stabilized at speed.

I have talked a few guys through this process because they were stubborn and cheap like me.  If you only consider about $.50 per hour for your labor, it is very inexpensive, but for the street, I would consider the mono leafs or reversed eyes on the main leaf for a medium drop.  For a wild drop I would use a mild dropped axle with a mono leaf (or reversed eyes on the stock main leaf).  Either way extra wide wheels deteriorates the quality of steering, so tire and wheel selection starts the "steering tuning" process.

You would still have to deal with the drag link as mentioned above and if the caster isn't addressed, you will have nitemares with the resulting bump-steer.  When lowering a truck in the front, you have to imagine the king pins tilting forward developing negative caster.  The stock specs for caster is 0 to +3 degrees.  After I put the axle on top of the springs, the king pins were -7 degrees.  You wouldn't do what I did, but I rotated the axle back to +8 degrees to run more true at speed. 

57F100 there are many ways to drop your truck and most people will have different opinions but as long as you are happy with the final product that is all that matters.  I choose the following methods.  Front: reverse eye main leaf, 3" inch drop axle and removed 2 leaves.  Rear: reverse eye main leaf, 2" drop shackle and flipped the front hanger.  Final drop was about 6" all around.  I am happy with the stance but can say it is a pain in the ass to do any work under the truck as it is to low to slid under.  Different strokes for different fokes.

Bing

Before  Drop

After Drop

     Charlie,

             You might move it to this and that, but definitely keep it public. A lot of us didn't realize the amount of work and thought this required. Another question, have you considered an article on "my Yellow Truck" for Legendary Ford. I'll bet Colin would be interested.

 http://www.eatonsprings.com/monoleaf.htm

If you go to their home page you can also download a discussion of springs and some of the considerations for non stock selections.

I think for the front of my truck I will be using springs with a stiffer rate than stock, reversed eyes, and some de arch. This kind of work can be done by local spring shops, so I am hoping that this will be pretty economical also.  I have a HD truck pan that is a little deeper than a pickup pan which limits how close the axle can come to the frame.  I hope to add a antisway bar and maybe a Panhard rod to keep the axle centered under the truck.  I take Charlie Burns concerns about keeping the steering linkage as nearly horizontal as possible very seriously.

BTW I think this kind of discussion is very appropriate for the Y block site since it will ultimately keep more Y powered vehicles operating.

Thanks for the comment about a potential article in LFM.  I have sent Colin a file of info and shared a willingness to write something.  We are talking about it, but it may be a while.

Bing,

Love the truck, love the stance, you should be proud.  Are you still going to Columbus?  I know everyone there would love to see the truck. 

I just read an article in the July 2009 issue of Hotrod & Restoration Magazine (a trade mag).  It reminded me of the need to make sure the pinion angle is where it should be to keep the needle bearings spinning properly in the rear u-joint (especially when you drop it 6 inches).  Traditionally the engine/transmissions are mounted with a 3-degree downward angle and the pinion must be adjusted with leaf spring shims to a 3-degree upward angle.  This keeps the driveshaft level and those bearings spinning.  I lowered the rear axle in mine, but I didn't give it enough upward pinion angle.  I needed to change that as the u-joint bearings got a little flat last season.

57f100

In your last question about just leaving 3 leaf springs and leaving everything else alone, this is what the stance could look like.

I ran this 57 (I used to like 58 grilles better) on the street for 20 years like that.  It did fine with only 3 leafs left, but make sure they are the top three.  It could get a little bouncy, but new heavy duty gas charged shocks will help.

As I mentioned before, I always got the stance I wanted, but not the performance I needed.  There are many areas for gremlins to show up and rob you of the ride and steering quality that was experienced by owners when the trucks were new.

No matter which way you go, attention to a few small details will help.  Charlie Mc mentioned that he purchased new bushings and shackles, very important.  Anything to tighten up the axle will help (I currently use a panhard bar).  Another thing to look for is worn bolts and bolt holes in the spring hanger.  Attached is a picture of the egg shaped holes that were in mine.

Before...............

After welding the holes and redrilling.............

As a final note to this post, all your hard work may still be disappointing without a trip to your local front end alignment shop.  Modifications and repairs may only be half of the job needed, new shocks and a proper alignment including toe-in is easily the other half.