72 J2000 Broken Rear leaf spring

[kettles1998]

Got it up on the lift last night and found the left rear leaf cracked all the way through. Any ideas on replacement? Don't want to lift, just replace / repair.

[tgreese]

Got it up on the lift last night and found the left rear leaf cracked all the way through. Any ideas on replacement? Don't want to lift, just replace / repair.

Post in the WTB forum here and at IFSJA. Should be able to find a good takeoff.

[Tad]

Main spring?
Or more?

[Stuka]

You can buy stock height springs, which will probably give you about an inch of lift dues to your old springs being sagged.

If it's not a main leaf, it's not too hard to find another spring that works. Depending if your truck is a short bed or long bed determines what leaves will work.

If it's a main spring, there are some GM springs that will work with the right bushings. But it's less work to buy new stock height ones if you can. Hell Creek should have them, and there is an FSJN discount in the vendors area.


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[kettles1998]

Talked with Hells Creek, they only sell a 4" lift spring set for the 70-73 J truck model. Dont how that would look with the new 31"x10.5x15 BFG KM2's i just put on it. Any ideas on which GM springs would fit. I've got the short bed. Any help is appreciated.

[Tad]

Still not sure if you only broke the main spring or are needing others but this is what I found in my yard.
It's the main spring from my '72 J2000, it has the bronze bushings typical of that era.



It measures 50 3/4", eye to eye, all by itself with no weight on it.



The rear bushing has a 7/8" ID.



The front bushing has a 1" ID.



The front bushing is worn all the way through to the spring but just in that one area, spring looks untouched.



I'm not sure if those bushings are available or if that is even what you have, I could ship it to you FedEx for the cost of shipping and some beer time and tape. It probably would not be that bad for just the one spring.

I do have intact the entire other spring pack, it's very heavy and I doubt it's worth the cost of shipping but I could look up a price if you think it would work for you. Front bushing is in the same condition.

[kettles1998]

Spring1.jpg

truck.jpg

Yep looks like the main and the spring below (8 springs total). Looks like rubber bushing. Still on the truck so haven't measured it yet. Included a pic of the truck, wondering if a 4" lift would be look too high. Its at a friends house and im out of town.

[Tad]

Ouch, ok that looks pretty bad.
Looks like the top 2 springs and the lower overload broke, then they put that clamp thing on to keep things from moving around.
It looks like the rear is pretty sagged so a 4" lift will probably look more like 5" or so to you, at least for a bit.

I'd bite the bullet and go for new springs.
I know it's pricey but the other springs have had the same abuse for the most part.

[kettles1998]

Thanks, thats what i was thinking. Now to find somewhere to get new springs.

[Tad]

Do you have a decent spring shop local?
Prior to abandoning my J2K project I went through all sorts of pain just trying to find 1" and 7/8" bushings to fit 56" GM main springs (this was for a SOA/SF on that '72).
I hooked up with the spring shop down the street and he located the rubber 7/8" ID version for the front but could never find a 1" version for the rear to keep the original rear shackle.
We went with a 9/16" bushing in the rear and I used (they are in the last pic) longer aftermarket shackle with a drilled out poly bushing.
It was going to work but then I found frame rot and cut it up for scrap.

That does not really apply here but I mention it as there are always things around the typical "not available" response we get from many sellers.

I'm rambling a bit now but don't give up.
Just a week ago I was in Industrial Metal Supply here (Tucson) and saw they had bronze impregnated tube that was dam close to those bushing sizes.
It was larger on the OD and smaller on the ID but it hit me that I could just buy some and have a machine shop make it the correct ID and OD.

[Stuka]

31's with a 4" lift don't look horrible. 33's look better sure, but I drove for about 2 years with a 4" lift and 31's. on my J10.

[72j2000]

Im sure if you posted an ad on here, there are plenty of guys who have lifted their trucks and will sell you their old springs.