Does anyone have any experience with the mono leaf front springs on these year trucks? I'd like to lower the '64 a few inches and they look like a good way to do it... I don't use the truck for hauling anything round, it's just a toy (the 63 can handle the hauling chores). I've seen a couple of threads refering to binding problems with the pivots when using them on the rear, is this true of the front also? (I'm too lazy to take it apart just to see if it has the machined pad they are talking about in there...)

I guess I could pull a couple of leafs from my pack, but it's kinda heavy already with the Cleveland/C6 in there and I don't want to loose the the travel from the extra sag... there isn't a lot there as it is. I'm thinking re-arching them would do the same thing.

I kinda like the solid front axle just 'cause you don't see them much these days, so I don't want to do the conversion thing - Besides, everyone else is swapping in IFS front ends these days and I like being part of the dare-to-be-different crowd! I've already done a power-disk conversion, and all my playing is in a straight line; I'm not looking to win autocross events or anything... To which end all the unsprung weight under there isn't really all that bad for reaction times with the right set of shocks...

 

Well, my 3" drop monoleafs are on a brown truck heading this way, so I will give you an update around the end of the week. I'm still considering removing a couple leafs in the rear then to level it out.(I really don't haul anything-if I did, air shocks might work). 63 F100, see gallery.

 

Cool - keep me informed! Where did you order them from? I was looking at the 3" drop ones from Classic Performance...

I haven't decided what I want to do about the back yet; again there isn't a lot of travel to play with and I'm afraid pulling a couple of leafs will eat that up. I'm toying with the idea of flipping the axle on top of the pack and having the springs re-arched to gain a couple of inches back ( I don't want it THAT low...), but at that much work the rear mono's are sounding more attractive...

 

Yep, thats where I ordered them. Not a bad price, considering bushings and shackles are included. I may end up flipping the back, but you have to C notch the frame, and I've always imgined the bed has to come off for that, so I could drop a leaf or two right in the driveway and try it out. You can also re-drill the frame and move the front spring hanger up (in the rear end), but the travel question looms. In any instance, if you drop much you end up having to shim the rear to maintain pinion angle, and possibly moving the rear axle forward to keep the same driveshaft lenght.

 

I don't really want it in the weeds, I'm just looking at 3 or 4 inches. With a 3" axle tube, flipping the axle to the top of the pack would give 3" (1/2 the tube diameter twice...) plus the spring pack, say another 4 inches, for a total of 7". the tape measure says it would only leave about 1 or 2 inches of travel on top of the axle, but since I only want 3 or 4 inches of drop I could recurve the springs higher to gain another couple of inches back, and I'd still have about a 4" drop.

Which still sounds like a heck of a lot more work than just swapping the spring pack for a monoleaf! figure it's going to run $150 or so to get the springs re-curved, I still need new bushings and perches, have to weld the perches on, a day's work or so etc... compared to $385 for the rear monos and all you have to do is just swap them out in a couple of hours...

As a side note - anyone out there have an opinion about whether or not there is a difference in wheel-hop due to spring wrap-up by having the axle on the top or bottom of the pack? or with the mono's? (this is kinda moving to the back and not the front, but oh well...)

 

Well, I've had my 3 " drop monoleafs on the front of my 63 F100 for a week now, and they went in just fine. Took me about 1 1/2 hours in the drive, would have gone faster if I had snugged down the locator pin via the u-bolts first, then the shackles. Live and learn! Truck sits nice, doesn't look "dropped", but, then, it was high before...now the rear looks too high. I'm gonna try removing a couple leafs in back before I buy the rear monos. The front ones made my truck ride softer, but "bouncy". I need stiffer shocks. The wheels want to chatter over bumpy road sections they handled fine before, but no big deal, really. My shocks are gas units in good condition. I hate to put down $100 for the CPP shocks, without knowing if they are going to cure that problem for sure. I'd like to put KYB's all around for the same money, but they don't make them for our trucks.

 

Hmmm... I'm not sure what the 'bouncy' front end would mean for my truck; the 351 Cleveland I have in mine weighs a heck of a lot more than your straight six. Swapping the Cleveland in place of the 351 Windsor that was in it when I bought it dropped the front end 1 1/2" already - I'm a little afraid now that I may have too much weight up there for the monoleafs... Please let me know what kind of luck you have with changing the shocks!