I want to drop my front a little for now, so I reversed the eyes of the main leaf and took the second longest leaf out. Which other one should I leave out to drop it, and not get it too soft. I currently don't have fenders on it, and later I plan on a dropped axle, but just want to get it down a little for now. And after taking two leaves out, how do you fill the space from two less leaves, use a spacer on the bottom? By the way, I'm running a stock blocked banger in it.
Check out the link in my signature for what I did with my Dubble A spring. Personally, I'd leave the second longest spring in and take out every other one as needed. I had the second longest leaf get bent somehow on my RPU and cause it to sag an inch on the driver's side.
If you are working with a Model A, put the second main spring back in...................then start from the top. I started with 9 and now have 5 (and I have a 4" dropped axle). Remember you will need to put a spacer between the top spring and crossmember.............how big depends on how many springs you take out. This will give you the best ride, but leave the main springs in. IMHO
I don't agree with this suggestion of putting a spacer on top of the spring. That kinda defeats some of the getting it lower he's after. I weld a spacer to the top of the tie-clamp-bar. The spacer of course has to have a big hole in the center to clear the spring bolt. You will most likely also have to cut the 2 holes in the back of the crossmember bigger to allow the tie-clamp-bar to not bottom out. I also would put the big leaf back in. Make sure it's short enough to not bottom out on the reversed eyes. Then start removing evey other leaf from the top.
Mike & Corn-Fed, I am wrong and you are right.....................guess I shouldn't have had those 7 Tequila shooters tonight. When I first mocked everything up I did use a spacer on top, but eventually went with a SS spring clamp made by The Duece Factory; others sell it also, maybe Spreedway.......but it has a raised pad unlike the factory original. The pad is about 1" tall and does have a hole drilled in it (and will fit the stock holes in the crossmember). I had 9 leaves, and now I have 5................and it fits perfectly. If you do use the original and add a spacer (with a hole for spring bolt), at least tack weld it on, don't leave it loose...... Sorry, when you get some liquor in a 60+ year old brain, it does do some strange thinks to those memory cells.
The general rule in removing leaves from early Ford springs is to keep the main leaf(#1, duh) and the one on top of it(#2), remove the odd numbered leaves, 3,5,7,9 etc. as required. Many times you'll have to dismantle and reassemble the spring several times to achieve the ride you need and height you want. When mocking up the car use only the main leaf, this simulates the ride height when chassis is loaded.
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