Picture of leaf springs 64 imperial

[Ross Wooldridge]

I agree with @Big_John - however, you can determine which are factory springs and which are aftermarket by examining the ends. The aftermarket springs typically don't have the nice tapered ends that the factory springs have, and will had a squared off edge to them.

Keep in mind that you will need to replace several items that should not be reused when dealing with leaf springs:

1) Center pack bolt and nut should be replaced.
2) Spring pack clamps - there are a number of styles, and those that involve bending over tabs can't be reused. Replace the rubber liners that are in the clamps as well.
3) Likely the inner liners will be corroded away. While many will say replace, just clean up the springs and spray them with black graphite.
4) End tip plastic inserts may need replacing. Easy to get at any decent spring shop.

A good spring shop can re-arch your originals and provide you with suitable clamps and centre pack bolts and nuts.

I did my springs myself this way as a cosmetic cleanup.

 

[detmatt]

I haven’t personally had any success with re-arching weak old springs. Might be good for a short time after they’re done but I have found they end up turning back into clapped out old springs before too long. It’s a lot of work, just buy new if you have to.

 

[patinated_imperial]

This thread is interesting - as I have just added a tow hitch to my '66 crown coupe. I only plan on towing a small (European) caravan with low tongue weight a few days a year. So I didn't even think about the leafs before seeing this thread.
I am assuming our cars would have about the same original spring setup although 2 years apart. Mine has 6 leafs. I think the non-original ones on your car are #2 and #3 from the top, based on the comparison to mine. Look how far from the shackle the second leaf starts.

 

[Imperial dude]

This thread is interesting - as I have just added a tow hitch to my '66 crown coupe. I only plan on towing a small (European) caravan with low tongue weight a few days a year. So I didn't even think about the leafs before seeing this thread.
I am assuming our cars would have about the same original spring setup although 2 years apart. Mine has 6 leafs. I think the non-original ones on your car are #2 and #3 from the top, based on the comparison to mine. Look how far from the shackle the second leaf starts.

View attachment 441652 View attachment 441653

I agree after seeing the pics you and dematt posted
I'm not a big guy (160#) but I can't get the back to bounce up and down at all, almost like its got jackstands on the frame, defiantly needs loosened up

 

[garyh]

3) Likely the inner liners will be corroded away. While many will say replace, just clean up the springs and spray them with black graphite.

Please tell me more on the "Black Graphite" ,where can i get some ? Thanks

 

[Ross Wooldridge]

Amazon.com : black graphite spray lubricant

https://www.amazon.com/Blaster-Grap...raphite+spray+lubricant&qid=1614346071&sr=8-6

 

[CBODY67]

In the FSM, I believe it mentions that normal rear leaf springs had the snap-in anti-friction/anti-noise inserts at many of the leaf spring ends. But on the HD springs, it mentions "zinc interleaf" items instead? As the snap-in items deteriorated on our '66 Newport, I noticed no real increase in ride harshness or noise. So when they deteriorated again, they weren't replaced.

Enjoy!
CBODY67

 

[Ross Wooldridge]

The ends had snap in plastic tip liners, and between the leaves they had zinc sheets. The tip liners are easy to find at most spring shops (at least they were for me), and the zinc liners are in reproduction, but are a pain, expensive, and from what I understand, don't last long and are unnecessary according to the spring shop guys, who advised me on the graphite spray instead. From what I've seen, some of the zinc interliners were a sort of metallized fabric...

The spring shop guys also mentioned that the zinc interliners can trap water and dirt, leading to pitting type corrosion that can hurt the springs.

 

[patinated_imperial]

I agree after seeing the pics you and dematt posted
I'm not a big guy (160#) but I can't get the back to bounce up and down at all, almost like its got jackstands on the frame, defiantly needs loosened up

Yes, I have only driven 200miles in my Imperial, but the springs are so soft, you feel like you are in a boat. Yours must have been prepared for a huge tongue weight. Over here max. advised tongue weight for a car is typically 165lbs (75kg) and 200lbs (90kg) for truck/van.
I apologize for bringing the thread off topic, but I am very interested in the design of the tow hook -as I designed my own?
Also are there any factory/advised tow weight for a trailer with brakes behind a 60's Imperial? I have been unable to find any.
Since I did not have any factory documentation, my car went under the general rules for vintage cars, which is max weight of trailer with brakes = 90% of the dry weight. They estimated that was 4500lbs, which is what I can now legally tow.

 

[Imperial dude]

Yes, I have only driven 200miles in my Imperial, but the springs are so soft, you feel like you are in a boat. Yours must have been prepared for a huge tongue weight. Over here max. advised tongue weight for a car is typically 165lbs (75kg) and 200lbs (90kg) for truck/van.
I apologize for bringing the thread off topic, but I am very interested in the design of the tow hook -as I designed my own?
Also are there any factory/advised tow weight for a trailer with brakes behind a 60's Imperial? I have been unable to find any.
Since I did not have any factory documentation, my car went under the general rules for vintage cars, which is max weight of trailer with brakes = 90% of the dry weight. They estimated that was 4500lbs, which is what I can now legally tow.

I'm thinking he towed one of 2 things, either a good sized tow behind camper, like an airstream, or...... i did some research on the PO (he has passed away) and at one time he had close to 50 various C bodies at his house, mostly Imperials, maybe he used it to pull a trailer to go pick up cars, either way its set up for heavy duty towing, including an aftermarket trans cooler, but either way it only has 56k miles on it so he didn't tow that often
Tomorrow ill crawl underneath it and post some pics of the hitch and how and where its mounted

 

[Imperial dude]

Well I crawled underneath and looked at the hitch, nothing much to see, I'm wondering if it was, or could be, ordered with a hitch towing package?
The hitch is part of the rear frame cross member and bolts up (or is welded) somewhere under the back bumper, I'm not an expert in hitches, but I've never seen one done that way , what I've seen is either bolted to the back bumper (not ideal) , bolted/ welded to the rear of the frame, or a huge H shape welded/bolted to the frame rails

 

[Ross Wooldridge]

Depends upon the designed towing capacity of the hitch.

Sounds like that is a minimum-rated hitch, which is what my 66 T&C had at one point. Not suitable for much over 1,000 lbs total.

I now have a Draw Tite huge colossal thing that came off another 66 T&C, suitBke for towing an AirStream. It bolts on in like 6 places, and has triangulated bracing yada yadda.

 

[patinated_imperial]

Well I crawled underneath and looked at the hitch, nothing much to see, I'm wondering if it was, or could be, ordered with a hitch towing package?
The hitch is part of the rear frame cross member and bolts up (or is welded) somewhere under the back bumper, I'm not an expert in hitches, but I've never seen one done that way , what I've seen is either bolted to the back bumper (not ideal) , bolted/ welded to the rear of the frame, or a huge H shape welded/bolted to the frame rails

Thanks for looking. I doubt, there would have been a market for a towing package for an Imperial? (Assuming the majority of people who bought them new did not have a lifestyle involving towing). Although I did find signs, that my car had a tow hook at some point, as the wiring to the tail lights had been stripped, but not cut at some point. I don't know about US and Cananda, but over here it is not uncommon to tow a small caravan behind your classic to car meets extending over several days.

I made my tow bar in the same style as we typically see: A square steel profile which is usually bolted to the frame rails in each end, and with the tow hook attached in the center. However in doing so, it occurred to me the Imperial's rear frame cross member was basically the same size. I.e. almost a built in tow bar sans the hook. So very much in line with your observations.
Still I did it, so it looked typical and just to prevent any complications getting it through inspection. I only used holes which were already in the frame, so I was curious if these were indeed for a tow bar, or just fixture holes from the assembly line.
Forgive the metric dimensions: Cross member is 60mm x 60mm, wall thickness 5mm (~3/16") and the flat steel plates are all 8mm (5/16").

 

[patrick66]

I towed with my 1985 Dodge D150 when I was stationed in (then) West Germany. The Euro-style tow apparatus always fascinated me. What got my German neighbors was the American-style, which allowed removal of the ball/receiver tube and leaving the receiver itself bolted to the truck. I used to rent an autoanhanger (auto hauler) from the local trailer guy occasionally. I had a wiring adapter I made to accommodate the European trailer lighting. He loved my Dodge! In northern Germany back then, American pickups were never a common sight, like they were in the South, where far more Americans were stationed.

I like what you have on your Imperial. Nicely done!

 

[SGT FURY]

Pic of 64 Imperial 4dr original springs on 73k mile car.
6 springs on each side.

 

[patinated_imperial]

I towed with my 1985 Dodge D150 when I was stationed in (then) West Germany. The Euro-style tow apparatus always fascinated me. What got my German neighbors was the American-style, which allowed removal of the ball/receiver tube and leaving the receiver itself bolted to the truck. I used to rent an autoanhanger (auto hauler) from the local trailer guy occasionally. I had a wiring adapter I made to accommodate the European trailer lighting. He loved my Dodge! In northern Germany back then, American pickups were never a common sight, like they were in the South, where far more Americans were stationed.

I like what you have on your Imperial. Nicely done!

Thanks. Speaking of wiring adapters, that was a rather huge deal as it must have been for you. I have both a relay box (to avoid overloading the old wiring harness) and a Curt converter to make the US blinker system activate the yellow lamps on the trailer/caravan. The mounting plate is just attached in the trunk with some of those very small but strong magnets.

 

[SGT FURY]

On 61 Plymouth furies they had a standard 5 spring leaf pack and 6 on HD suspension cars.
I'm going experiment with some 63 300 HD 6 leaf springs pack and using a 61 fury 5 leaf main spring. The 63 secondary springs are a bit longer than the 61s. By combining these 2 spring packs I'm hoping to get a bit stiffer ride height. I know I can buy new springs,but I want to retain the factory spring look with grooves in center.