Inliners International Forums General Discussion Truck Talk Coil springs questions

My new (to me) 66 C20 has an extra set of coil springs welded on the back. Seems like a bad idea to me, but I don't know enough about it to say for sure. Any comments?

They were done in a rather sloppy fashion, as they are close enough to rub the originals. Also, the one on the passenger side is broken. I would like to take them to someone and just have the extras cut out (I'm assuming it's way too much work at home with a hacksaw), but I'm a bit concerned that the original on the drivers side may need the extra help, and/or may have been damaged.

If I do need to replace them, would there be any dis/advantages to going with C30 (or otherwise heavier duty) springs? Would they even bolt up? Tips on where to buy?

JC Whitnet used to sell, maybe still do, some bolt-on coil helper springs. Without seeing it, I can't say if its screwed up or not.

New springs are redily available. I checked http://www.napaonline.com and found four listings for a '66 C20. I also looked here http://www.classicparts.com/searchprods.asp?searchstring=springs&pagenumber=2&val=0 and found some more. I suspect most any aftermarket truck parts vendor will have what you need.

It sounds like someone put a set of homemade and not well made helper springs on it. If they are welded on just have them cut off and then clean up the scabs that are left. You may end up replacing the stock springs as they may be so worn out that they won't hold the truck up level.

edited 1/3/09: One thing that no one considered at the time of the post is how you intend to use the truck. If you intend to use it to haul heavy loads or tow a heavy trailer the bigger .springs may be the way to go. If you are building it as a driver/cruiser that will occasionally haul a load I'd go with new springs close to load capacity of the original spring specs.
There are plenty of vendors who can sell you new springs with a rating that will fit your needs

C-30 springs will ride rougher. Also if the truck is jacked up in the back it will throw off your alignment. Some big cities may have a SPRING SHOP that specializes in both leaf and coil springs.
The things to be concerned with are Outside Diameter, so it will sit in the mounting location... and the height of the spring.
You might could use C-30 springs and just cut off one or two coils. It all depends on how High you want the vehicle to set.
When you are done, check the alignment of the front and rear tires.

My '54 GMC had helper coils, rather crude installation and I took them off for a better ride and just to clean up the installation (it looked pretty bad). Also someone in the past had put in a passenger car rear end that had a Panhard bar which I also took off as a useless item on a parallel leaf spring rear suspension. Now except for the car rear end it looks almost factory.