66 leaf spring

[John F.]

I'm in the process of restoring my leaf spring, and after I got it off the car, I noticed that the spring had only 8 leaves vs. the specified 9. Apparently the spring was replaced at some point in time. Does anyone have any idea what application this spring is correct for?

John Farren

[Gary B.]

Re: 66 leaf spring

John,

Can you describe the top (shortest) leaf? Is it completely flat with no upturned ends and is it the same length as the mounting surface on the underside of the rear differential cover? If so, then it's a spacer plate and not a leaf. If it's not completely flat as I describe, then I suspect that someone has removed a leaf from a 9-leaf spring and that's what you've got.

Gary

[John F.]

Re: 66 leaf spring

Gary - It is not flat - it does appear to be a leaf - it's 10 1/2", and the curve fits snugly on the leaf below. The the mounting surface on the differential is around 6 1/4". I thought that a leaf must have been removed also, but based on the length of the leaves, there doesn't appear to be a leaf missing.

John

[Gary B.]

66 leaf spring

John,

I don't know what you've got there, but there is no such 8-leaf spring that I know of. If you send me the measured length of each leaf I can do some more checking to see if indeed one might have been removed.

Gary

[Joe L.]

Re: 66 leaf spring

John------

If you have an 8 leaf spring of single stage design (all leaves curve downward; no "flat" leaves), then I suspect that what you have is an aftermarket replacement spring of some sort. Does the spring have end bands?

[John F.]

Re: 66 leaf spring

Joe - you're correct - no flat leaves, all have a downward curve. There's also two bands on each side of the spring.

John

[Gary B.]

Bands indicate it's an aftermarket spring

John,

Aha! What Joe is getting at is the fact that with the exception of the 80-82 heavy duty springs GM never used bands on their springs in the 63-79 time frame. So, you must have an aftermarket spring.

Gary

[John F.]

Re: Bands indicate it's an aftermarket spring

Thanks to all for the comments. As usual, you all are a wealth of experiance and information.

John