i wanna drop my truck from the front i have a 57 f100 with leaf springs up front a friend of mine told me to pull out some leafs and that should drop it but i started wondering if that would put to much stress on the rest of the leafs left another friend of mine has a 63 van with the same suspension as my truck and he had his van dropped what they did was unbolt the leafsprings and they put them underneath the axle and bolted the u-bolts back on everything seems fine he dosent complain about the ride and says he hasent encountered any problems would you guys recommend i do that is it safe also i know you can get dropped axles but due to money issues im tring to do everything the safe non expensive way what would you guys recomend

FORD IS LIFE OIL N GAS IS MY BLOOD

I tryed taking a leaf out and it seemed dangerous.the axel on a 57 will almost hit the pan.You can put the axel on top of the spring with a custom mount.The axel on my 60 seems to have a drop in it to give extra oil pan clearance.either way its a ride compromise.just make sure you can put it back when you get tired of bounceing around.

55 fairlane gasser 312 /c4, 57 f100 292/c4, 52 mainline gasser 302/t10 4speed

lol i get you i dropped my truck from the rear put the plates under the diff and it dropped my truck 5.5 inches i need to c-notch my frame and put smaller shocks its real bouncy right now but thats cause my shocks are compressed all the way in right now so would you recommend me put the axle ontop of the leafsprings make a custom bracket and put everything together n put smaller shocks of course is it safe or what would i have to worry about

FORD IS LIFE OIL N GAS IS MY BLOOD

also if move the leaf springs under the axle would it be safe like road worthy or would i have to reinforce everything

FORD IS LIFE OIL N GAS IS MY BLOOD

youll need to do something about the shocks,either shorter ones or move the mount upwards to gain more travel.it probally wont be bouncy if you keep all the leafs in place.A custom mount is the way to go,but make sure its made by someone who knows what they are doing.I have made one for a customer of mine in the past.The only issue was the pan clearance.you can also get dropped springs from speedway motors that are a lot easier to deal with.I think they run under 400 bucks for a set.I think they drop the truck about 3 to 4 inches which is better for pan clearance.thats the way I would do it now.

55 fairlane gasser 312 /c4, 57 f100 292/c4, 52 mainline gasser 302/t10 4speed

iv heard of d-arching the leaf springs is that safe or would that put to much stress on the leafs

FORD IS LIFE OIL N GAS IS MY BLOOD

Although it is done a lot and mostly people get away with it,  just removing a leaf or two is not a good idea.  Leaf springs are designed with a certain span between the ends of the leaves and this is doubled by removing a leaf, therefore the stress in the remaining leaves  is increased a lot.   It lowers the vehicle because it also reduces the effective spring rate.

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.  

Doug T

The Highlands, Louisville, Ky.

so what would you recommend i do safe and none expensive way to lower the front leaf springs under axle with custom brackets or d-arch them

FORD IS LIFE OIL N GAS IS MY BLOOD

57 F100 ,

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

yblocksdownunder

With the exception of a dropped axle, and assuming that a solid axle is retained, won't the axle move closer to the pan, regardless of the method used to lower?



I've been using monoleafs up front for a while now. They provided about 2 1/2" drop. Good so far. The main argument I saw about them is if the spring breaks, you might be stranded. But aren't you in the same boat if the main leaf of a multileaf spring breaks? Didn't seem like a significantly valid argument to me.



Oh, the most cost effective way will probably be to have your springs de-arched. There will be a limit to how far you can drop it by de-arching, however.


Lawrenceville, GA