[Mat1515]

Can someone explain how to do this and what it acomplishes?

Bonus two cents about the leaf springs: a second set may fit no better than what you have now. I advise either to do the upside down leaf trick, like this:

http://www.mustangmods.com/data/9461/spring_middle_r.jpg

or go to a spring shop and get them to commit to working with you on ride height and have them fab a set.

 

[dodgestang]

Ghetto lowering?

 

[Mat1515]

haha

wouldn't it raise the backend.

The axle is below the leaf now.

 

[Midlife]

He posted before about this. What he did was take the shortest leaf off of another set of springs, turned it upside down, and put it on top of his leaf assembly. What that does is (1) makes the leafs a bit stiffer, and (2) reduces the arch of the leaf assembly.

BTW, the order of axle on top of the springs is generally correct.

 

[johnpro]

Anything you put between the spring and the axle housing will LOWER the car, not raise it.

 

[Mustangfeverrr]

Other than the lowering block being under the leaf instead of on top of it (doing nothing!), I don't see what the question is!
The axle is SUPPOSED to be mounted above the leaf! ::

 

[johnpro]

An added bonus to 7_hubcaps method is that also acts as a small spacer, lowingering the car just a little more.

The down side would be for people like me with 5 leafs in the rear. Yikes, these springs are VERY stiff, so I wouldn't want them any stiffer.

 

[johnpro]

That's not a lowering block under the spring. It's the mount for the traction bars and watts link.

If you look at the picture closely, you can see the small piece of spring on top of the large spring to increase the sping rate, change the arc and lower the car.

 

[Mustangfeverrr]

Ahhh...gotcha. I see that now.
Oops.
Well, at least the axle's in the right place. ::

 

[70_Fastback]

That's not a lowering block under the spring. It's the mount for the traction bars and watts link.

If you look at the picture closely, you can see the small piece of spring on top of the large spring to increase the sping rate, change the arc and lower the car.

how much does it flatten it out? Or how much lowering actually happens? Are we talking an inch - maybe 2 ? or not even that much.

Who did this mod BTW ?

 

[johnpro]

The picture is of 7_hubcaps' car. I can't say how much it lowered it ... we'll have to wait for him to chime in.

 

[7_Hubcaps]

how much does it flatten it out? Or how much lowering actually happens? Are we talking an inch - maybe 2 ? or not even that much.

Who did this mod BTW ?

These springs are Eaton brand, from NPD, 4 leafs standard eye, represented by NPD to be a one inch lowering spring, and rated at 153 lbs/in. When I set the first one that I modified next to the unmodified one, upside down on the driveway, it was nearly one inch lower at the highest point. Plus, as Johnpro mentioned, the extra 1/4" acts as a lowering block too.

The beauty of this method is you can add another leaf -- the next longest one in the donor spring pack -- if you still need more lowering. With ride height and wheel/tire fitment, the ability to tweak can give you a nice feeling of confidence going in.

I speculate that the mod actually decreases spring rate, because the original curve of the helper leaf makes it "want" to push up against the axle tube. So when a bump pushes the axle up into the wheel house, the helper leaf is moved closer to its original shape, where it "wants" to be. But I'll never know, since I never ran the Eaton springs without the helper.

BTW, it was Latamud who clued me in on this mod, I believe in a post to Stangnet. His post included a pic of Opentracker's car with the mod, and he called it the "Opentracker mod." I call it "4 + 1."

Boy, looking at that pic, I sure have got a lot of crap on that axle, don't I?