Wagon rear leaf springs/front coils

[Jeff Norwell]

How many leafs did wagons have compared to reg. pass. cars? Were the front coils a heavy duty application?... was there a shock difference too?
thanks guys

[RICH MUISE]

Jeff...from what I remember when we  had this discusion a while back.... Rear leafs....my Custom had 4 leaves in the springs. I think I remember Lou saying the Rancheros, wagons, and police cars had 6, but I think he also said some of his factory regular cars also had 6. McVeigh Springs I believe only sells the 6 leaf,(220. plus ship). That is what I was going to get for mine. Hopefully it'll give it a tad bit of lift in the back without giving me too rough of a ride. If not, I figure I can always remove a spring or two.
I think the front springs were determined by the engine, tranny, and other weight factors. When I ordered my front springs from Detroit Spring (Eatons), they calculated the weight of my new 4.6 dohc/4R70W with air and everything else to be within 60 lbs of the original 6 with a manual 3 speed. I figured I'd rather go soft on the front springs for ride comfort, and I could always beef it up with air shocks if needed.

[Jeff Norwell]

Thanks Rich!

[Frankenstein57]

I remember reading that rancheros came with 5 or 7, mine has 7. Alot of the ranchero and wagon stuff is the same, Mark

[Ford Blue blood]

The rear shocks for the wagon and Ranchero differ from the regular passenger car.  The top mount has a heavy tab that goes through an "eye" and two bolts hold the tab to the cross member.  Fronts are the same.

[Zapato]

Way back in 2008 friend was searching for a set of rear shocks for his 57 wagon, this is what the guys came up with.

KYB Gas GR2 #343131

NAPA NR (Monroe) MA708,  believe these are gas assist

Advance Auto carries a Japanese brand JPG? number crosses over to Monroe Matic Gas

It was stated then that if you asked for them by vehicle it came up blank, but given the number they were available. Anyway if you do a search for ''shocks'' and specify Zapato the original thread will come up. Hope this helps.

Zap-

[Jeff Norwell]

Great info. thanks fellas

[Jeff Norwell]

Rich. the link to McVeigh's seems to go no where.... the site is up for sale.. just a heads up.

[RICH MUISE]

Thanks for the heads-up. It was working when I put it on there. I just saw an ebay ad I think was his not to long ago. I'll check it out and see what's going on.

[RICH MUISE]

It keep going to a generic site that isn't theirs. He is Springking0001 on ebay..here's a link to his ebay store. I'll call him monday and find out if his website has been closed down.
http://stores.ebay.com/McVeighs-Truck-Springs?_trksid=p2047675.l2563

[Jeff Norwell]

Looks like it is for sale(his site)

[RICH MUISE]

That site the link goes to has his name up top, but if you look below that it's just a bunch of diferent sites that sell springs..jc whitney, etc. I've run into similar webpages when I've misspelled something.

[hiball3985]

Rancheros, wagons and skyliners use 6 leaf springs. I had new springs made for my F100 at a local spring company, they will make them to any spec you want and they were only $80 each but that was about 10 years ago..

[Jeff Norwell]

The McVeigh's are roughly $270 shipped... add in the front and rear bushing kit. another 100 bucks.... so.really after the dust settles...400 bucks.
The cost is not a real biggie.... I just want a heavy duty spring package for my 57.I will source out a shock set up for the rear as well...following Zap's lead on the Monroes.

[Zapato]

Jeff, those numbers are all for wagons and as has been mentioned are different from coupes etc...

Zap-

********** UPDATE ***********

On the HAMB there is a social group    1952-59 Ford Social Group    within that group there is a  FAQ Sticky thread that is not really a sticky but you can search for it by just searching sticky once in that group.  Like most social groups on the HAMB very little or none of the ''egos'' found at times on the main board. That sticky is full of part numbers and links to suppliers etc,,, worth a look.

these numbers are from there

49-59 Gas-A-Just KYB   KG4503 (F)  KG5517 (R)  lowered  , doesn't say how much lowered

Bilstein lowered front  55-R230    available from RCD Classics , no info given for them.

My guess and its only a guess is that the KYB # given for fronts is probably for Aerostar lowered fronts as that seems to be the most frequent and affordable way to lower the 49-59 Fords.Also on that thread there is a post referencing 3 different shocks and giving specific info on them.

Like I said its worth a look.

Its seems from what this thread says that other than station wagons, rancheros and some convertibles they all ride on the same shocks for many years. So here's another that worked for me First upgrade to my 51 club coupe was swapping a Maverick rearend for the stocker. Car had a very rusty pair of Monroes on my shelf was a pair of KYB shocks bought but never installed on my  74 chevy LUV pickup, don't have number handy but it was a straight bolt in and remains there today. So if someone has a KYB catalog we can add another number.