Help with leaf spring selection,

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cpearce

cpearce

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Hello all and Happy New Year,

Since my car has changed focus slightly from more drag oriented to street and handling oriented I will be removing my Cal Trac split leaf mono springs, bars, and shocks. (2000km on this set up, will be selling). What would be a good leaf spring choice?

The suspension now consists of boxed LCA's, reinforced k frame, adjustable strut rods, 4 Bilstein shocks, PST 1.03 torsion bars, flaming river manual steering box, delrin LCA bushings, new ball joints, moog offset upper bushings, Hellwig tubular sway bar. I am looking for rear springs to compliment the front end.

I live in Canada so currently shipping and exchange are quite costly, I have good friend who is the parts manager at local Dodge dealership and gives great pricing on Mopar stuff. I have heard horror stories of xhd springs, perhaps they have improved? What about Mopar circle track springs.

Any comments welcome, I'm not opposed to shipping from US but I've already spent a fortune on this thing this year so if I can save a bit it will help.
 
Your best bet just might be to get your local spring shop build you a custom set, that is what I did, or scrounge the local scrap yards.
 
My friend got a set and he said the same thing too high so he took them to the spring shop and they flattened them out. now it is stiff low and handles great.
He still needs bigger bars .960 I think is what he has and he said there to stiff.
 
So I spoke with my buddy at the dealership. I can get Mopar Performance P4510269, and 68 for $180 Cdn each, or P4529415 for $98 CDN each. I might go with the circle track p4529415 springs with the 120lb spring rate. At that money even if they are not good it is no big loss. I understand this will move my axle rearward about 1/2", and will require different rear bushings. I see ar engineering makes a front hanger to properly orientate axle again. Does anyone have a photo of their car with these springs. I'm curious what ride height will be like.
 
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cpearce said:
Any pics of ride height?
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These pics are on a pitched driveway and the rear tires are 275/50/15's.
 
"Hotchkis Sport Suspension 24385 1967-1976 Dodge A-Body" going on my A Body to go with Hotchkis F&R sway bars and 1.03 PST TB's.

Have ESPO Springs HD stock height springs on my E Body.
 
cpearce said:
Looks great! How did you fit those tires? What size rim? Mini tubs or offset hangers?
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No tubs, narrowed 8 3/4, offset hangers, 15x8 rims with 4.5 backspace. The lips were modified to accommodate 295/15s which still rubbed but have never rubbed with this set up. Might not have needed to modify if I'd gone with 275's originally but you know....wider is better...lol
 
Is there an issue with the CalTra s? Height OK?
Ride OK?
Handling OK?

I'd leave them in there until further notice.
 
rumblefish360 said:
Is there an issue with the CalTra s? Height OK?
Ride OK?
Handling OK?

I'd leave them in there until further notice.
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No issue other than ride is horribly harsh. I've been told it could be a bad mismatch with new front suspension.
 
stock height espo hd springs with all new hardware and bushings as well as q 1 inch lowering bracket, pst 1.03 tb, front and rear hellwig sway bars, adjustable strut bars, offset ucas, reinforced k member, and reinforced lcas. every bushing is brand new rubber, except poly in the sway bars.

i love it
 
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72Valiant4Door said:
stock height espo hd springs with all new hardware and bushings as as 1 inch lowering bracket, pst 1.03 tb, front and rear hellwig sway bars, adjustable strut bars, offset ucas, reinforced k member, and reinforced lcas. every bushing is brand new rubber, except poly in the sway bars.

i love it
Click to expand...
Any pics of the stance? What size wheels and tires?
 
I run AFCO 20231M's on my Duster. They're identical to the Mopar Oval track springs as near as I can figure, same rate, forward and rear section lengths, etc. AFCO stopped making them at the same time Mopar re-issued the Oval tracks, so they may actually be the same and are no longer distributed by AFCO due to licensing. That part is speculation, but all of the published specs between the 20231M's and the oval track's are the same.

I run them with 1/2" offset hangers which have the standard hanger length, the relocation of the axle backward is a pretty minor deal. I don't think it was a full 1/2" on my car. That's actually a bonus anyway, as it allows for taller tires. The original axle location forward of center, moving it back a smidge centers it up in the wheel opening. The 120 lb/in rate works well with a rear sway bar, which is what you'll want if your goal is a handling set up. I run 1.12" torsion bars up front, but I also run a larger, E-body rear sway bar. They should pair pretty well with the 1.03's and Bilstein's. XHD's are only 110 lb/in, which will be ok but probably on the light side for handling. The Hotchkis springs, as well as the springs Peter Bergman was having made, are 130 lb/in. And the Mopar XHD's have not gotten great reviews as of late, seems the ones made in Mexico tend to sag quite a bit. The Hotchkis springs seem to lower more than advertised, I know a few members have installed them and then gone away from them because they were too low. Not sure if Hotchkis addressed that or not. I would not run SS springs on a car set up for handling. Even if you run two from the same side so the ride height is equal the ride height is too high if handling is the goal.

Here's my car with the 120 lb/in AFCO's. I have spring sliders installed in this picture as well, so, the ride height is a little lower than it would be with regular shackles. It's less than 3/8" though, and since it's a 108" wheelbase car the ride height might be a little different than on a 111" anyway. You can see the axle location with regular length hangers isn't an issue. With the oval tracks keep in mind there's two versions, P4529414 which is a zero arch spring, and P4529415 which is a 1". I believe the AFCO's I run are zero arch, so keep that in mind when you're deciding on where your ride height will be. I also have a part number for the rear spring eye bushings you'll need, I'll look it up again.

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72bluNblu said:
I run AFCO 20231M's on my Duster. They're identical to the Mopar Oval track springs as near as I can figure, same rate, forward and rear section lengths, etc. AFCO stopped making them at the same time Mopar re-issued the Oval tracks, so they may actually be the same and are no longer distributed by AFCO due to licensing. That part is speculation, but all of the published specs between the 20231M's and the oval track's are the same.

I run them with 1/2" offset hangers which have the standard hanger length, the relocation of the axle backward is a pretty minor deal. I don't think it was a full 1/2" on my car. That's actually a bonus anyway, as it allows for taller tires. The original axle location forward of center, moving it back a smidge centers it up in the wheel opening. The 120 lb/in rate works well with a rear sway bar, which is what you'll want if your goal is a handling set up. I run 1.12" torsion bars up front, but I also run a larger, E-body rear sway bar. They should pair pretty well with the 1.03's and Bilstein's. XHD's are only 110 lb/in, which will be ok but probably on the light side for handling. The Hotchkis springs, as well as the springs Peter Bergman was having made, are 130 lb/in. And the Mopar XHD's have not gotten great reviews as of late, seems the ones made in Mexico tend to sag quite a bit. The Hotchkis springs seem to lower more than advertised, I know a few members have installed them and then gone away from them because they were too low. Not sure if Hotchkis addressed that or not. I would not run SS springs on a car set up for handling. Even if you run two from the same side so the ride height is equal the ride height is too high if handling is the goal.

Here's my car with the 120 lb/in AFCO's. I have spring sliders installed in this picture as well, so, the ride height is a little lower than it would be with regular shackles. It's less than 3/8" though, and since it's a 108" wheelbase car the ride height might be a little different than on a 111" anyway. You can see the axle location with regular length hangers isn't an issue. With the oval tracks keep in mind there's two versions, P4529414 which is a zero arch spring, and P4529415 which is a 1". I believe the AFCO's I run are zero arch, so keep that in mind when you're deciding on where your ride height will be. I also have a part number for the rear spring eye bushings you'll need, I'll look it up again.

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Thanks 72bluNblu I was hoping you would chime in. I think I will go wih the P4529415 springs with the +1 arch to give a very subtle rake, the price is right and no shipping costs involved. For a rear sway bar I would like to go with one that mounts into the spring perches but not sure if one is made for a 1/2" offset hanger set up. Do you know of anything that works with that? My biggest limiting factor will be 15" rubber for my steel wheels and dog dish caps. Fronts are 15x6, rear are 15x8. Any suggestions for rubber?
 
Im running the 120lb circle track springs with the ar front hangers, works great and the steel seems thick enough with the 4 leafs, wish they were constructed a little better but for the price they are a good deal. Weather kind of sucks right now so i cant get a good pic.
 
tanis4457 said:
Im running the 120lb circle track springs with the ar front hangers, works great and the steel seems thick enough with the 4 leafs, wish they were constructed a little better but for the price they are a good deal. Weather kind of sucks right now so i cant get a good pic.
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How is the ride quality?
 
biggest effect on ride quality will be shocks, billstein, hotchkis, etc quality shocks will greatly improve ride feel.
 
When i did the initial upgrade i replaced the leaf springs and shocks (hotchkis) at the same time and it was a huge improvement. Felt very stable and controlled.
 
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