swisherred
Senior Member
Which side has more leaves? I have my newport sitting here next to the polara body and the heavy side is opposite from one body to the other...thinking someone put them in wrong on one of them.
Leaf spring orientation
- Thread starter swisherred
- Start date
68_fury_ragtop
Member
The passengers side will have the extra leaf or half leaf. It is there to offset the torquing on the motor.
If you have any doubts of which spring is which, check the FSM for details. The FSM might not say how stiff the spring is, or what weight it's designed to hold, but the number of leaves (including the half leaves) are noted for each side, by model and suspension type (std. or HD).
CBODY67
CBODY67
swisherred
Senior Member
The polara has 1 more leaf in each side than the newport...and rides higher which makes me think HD springs. They are just opposite of the newports. I know mine had the axle bearings changed and the polara had brake lines changed...so someone put something on wrong. The polara has the extra leaves on the drivers side.
For those labor ops, no need to remove the rear axle housing from the vehicle. When I had the '66 Newport at college, there was a guy that showed up with a '66 Newport with a 440 and HD suspension. It sat higher in the rear than my unmolested original car did. I was curious and looked under it one day in the parking lot. More leaves on both sides. Which means the front bars would have had needed to be "cranked up" to keep the rocker panel parallel to the road surface.
Look to see that the ends and thicknesses of all of the leaves match on your Dodge. Usually, a "spring shop upgrade" will not have the same thickness of the leaves or how they are finished on the ends, by observation. OR if they were re-arched, that could be an issue, too.
CBODY67
Look to see that the ends and thicknesses of all of the leaves match on your Dodge. Usually, a "spring shop upgrade" will not have the same thickness of the leaves or how they are finished on the ends, by observation. OR if they were re-arched, that could be an issue, too.
CBODY67
swisherred
Senior Member
ok...so I got the springs off and I found that they BOTH have the same number of leaves. 6 complete and one half leaf pointing forward. Is there any reason why these would both have the same number? They look to be original to the car.
swisherred
Senior Member
The book doesnt say anything about an extra leaf on one side for anything....although i have heard for years there was an extra for torque...but the book does say that the springs with 6.5 leaves are either the 440, HD, or (with zinc shims)Police/taxi. These are 6.5 with zinc interleaves. unexpected...but nice. It also says the torsion bars are matched...so i guess Im taking those out too.
Only the high performance cars (hemi b bodies etc ) would have the extra leaf in the passenger side. A c body won't have the staggered springs.
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