Leaf springs

[Cubey]

I suspect I'm going to have to sink some coin into new leaf springs for the RV within the next 6 months.

When parked in high wind, they creak a bit. It might just be the bushings, but it's almost as much labor to replace the spring as it is just the bushing.

In my opinion, the leaf springs it has now seem undersized at what appears to be 5 or 6 (5/1?) leafs.

One of the clips was broken and I patched it up with a square U bolt back in February.

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When looking up new ones, I see there are 2 styles. One is the 5/1 at 2900lbs and another is 10 at 3500lbs. What's the difference exactly? What is the separate flat leaf on the bottom of the 5/1 for?

It seems like the 10 leaf would be the better choice for only $10 more and 600lbs better capacity per spring, but is there a reason it seems to have come with weaker springs when it was built?

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[79jasper]

"Bare minimum."
Also, they do wear out.

Sent from my SM-N960U using Tapatalk

 

[Cubey]

"Bare minimum."
Also, they do wear out.

Yep, I'm aware they wear out. Hence expecting to have to replace fairly soon.

I had a 78 Dodge Class B (single rear wheel Dana 60) with a massive 10 or 12 leaf pack. They didn't skimp when they built it. The same can't be said for this Class C.

 

[Cubey]

A shot from when I was having new tires put on. What a wimpy leaf pack for a 27ft Class C!

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This 19ft Class B had this. I'm counting 10 leafs in the pic.

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[franklin2]

The springs with the flat leaf are progressive springs. The curved springs on top are thinner and give a good ride when there is no load. When the vehicle is loaded down the curved leafs flatten out onto the thicker leaf below and give weight carrying capacity. That is why most vehicles have a rake to them with the rearend being higher. So when they are loaded down they come down and hit that lower flat leaf and they are not sagging so bad in the rear.

The noise you are hearing may be from your clamp you added. Those leaf springs slide over each other continuously as you are going over bumps. If you have that clamp tight, you are fighting the springs, they are having a hard time moving if the clamp as them pressed tight together.

They make lots of different spring helper systems and airbag systems if you wanted to do that rather than replace what you have. Helwig makes pretty nice helper spring systems.

 

[Cubey]

The springs with the flat leaf are progressive springs. The curved springs on top are thinner and give a good ride when there is no load. When the vehicle is loaded down the curved leafs flatten out onto the thicker leaf below and give weight carrying capacity. That is why most vehicles have a rake to them with the rearend being higher. So when they are loaded down they come down and hit that lower flat leaf and they are not sagging so bad in the rear.

The noise you are hearing may be from your clamp you added. Those leaf springs slide over each other continuously as you are going over bumps. If you have that clamp tight, you are fighting the springs, they are having a hard time moving if the clamp as them pressed tight together.

They make lots of different spring helper systems and airbag systems if you wanted to do that rather than replace what you have. Helwig makes pretty nice helper spring systems.

Due to the broken clip (you can see a piece of it there by the clamp) I feel replacing with bigger springs is the better choice. Plus the bushings are overdue for replacement.

This motorhome is ALWAYS loaded so it baffles me that they put such wimpy springs. The grey and black tanks were put in the very rear, after the rear axle. The black tank is current gone, but grey isn't. Typically I don't drive it much with a full grey tank.

The 43-623HD - 10 leaf, 4000lbs heavy duty springs are $250 here:
https://www.sdtrucksprings.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=7435

The 43-623 non-HD version costs much less, $188:
https://www.sdtrucksprings.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=7433

I would probably opt for heavy duty though. Their shipping for a pair is almost $200 though except to commercial addresses, then it's $150. I could probably get a RV shop owner guy I know to let me ship them to his shop to save the almost $50.

When I'm in a big city, I will stop by a spring shop and have them eyeball them for me and see what they think. Odds are replacement is in order.

The creaking sound seems to be coming from the driver's side. That appears to be the side I put it on from the picture, so it's possible i suppose. It's been 8 months so I can't remember for sure. It's 22*F with 26mph wind this morning, so I don't care to go outside to check right now.

My dog is refusing to go out as usual when it's nasty cold. Thank goodness she is excellent at holding it. She was nagging me (a few barks) to go back to bed too.

I guess this is what I really need instead of the u-bolt, which is all I could find at the time:

https://www.oreillyauto.com/detail/...ford/e-350-econoline?q=leaf+spring+clip&pos=1

 

[u2slow]

This motorhome is ALWAYS loaded so it baffles me that they put such wimpy springs.

RV manufacturers are cheap. All its got to be able to do is drive off the lot comfortably before folks pile all their gear in. They'll happily hit you up for upgrades and other accessories later.

I think the Ford springs are 3" wide and dodge is only 2.5". May also be a different in leaf thickness.

I would get the stronger replacement springs, and if it needs more help, airbags and/or swaybar.

 

[Fixnstuff]

Several observations from me:
1) The leafs on your Class C springs look and probably are considerably thicker than those on the class B and th thicker leafs make a big difference on weight capacity.
2) I DON'T think it's a bad spring design from Ford or the RV manufacturer for the intended use.
3) I think what happened is that a previous owner had the rear of the RV significantly overloaded (extra weight) for an extended period of time, and really doesn't take very long or many miles at least to flatten a set of leaf springs under that load condition. I would guess some heavy tool boxes maybe, and possibly some additional heavy items, possibly even stored in the RV.
As far as driving it that way, overloaded to the extent of permanently flattening or ruining the springs, I did that with my 1982 21 Ft. 1-Ton Toyota Dolphin Class C. It had an excellent looking set of springs with that thick flat leaf at the bottom and a NEW re-designed Toyota 8 lug 1 Ton rear end, (dual bud rims) that was replaced under a factory recall in about 1999 I'm pretty sure it got new springs at that time and they looked new when I bought it in 1992. I FLATTENED those springs after about 6 to 8 trips of 750 miles each, travelling over several mountain ranges and including a couple hundred miles on some tight winding narrow forest service roads in remote mountain areas with lots of tight turns and sometimes bumpy.

I was hauling some heavy gold dredging equipment, the heaviest being winching equipment for moving BIG rocks up to 40 tons plus some tool boxes. It was all at and behind the rear axle location. I won't bother to list all of the items but trust me it was very heavy and probably close enough to twice the weight it would take to flatten the springs.

The trips were from Seattle to a remote area in N. California. Later I built a 4x8 trailer to pull most of the heavier stuff.

Here is the key point of this story: I took it too a spring shop South of Seattle to get a price quote for installation of new springs. They inspected it and told me that they could re-arch the springs that I had and they would be just fine.
That was in about 1997, the springs still appeared to be in very good condition. Considerably better than yours appear and not all rusty. As I recall they appeared to be a dark grey color, maybe they were powder coated or something.

THAT is what I think happened to your springs, not a bad or stupid design from the factory.

You SHOULD take the RV to a good spring shop to be inspected, one that CAN re-arch springs (call ahead) so you will then get a fair analysis and recommendation as to whether or not they are good enough to re-arch or require new springs, regardless of what your final choice is - rather than taking it to a shop that only sells and installs new springs.<--- Probably most spring shops now days are just that. They only replace springs with new ones, they actually don't do any real spring work. A good experienced shop that actually does do spring work can probably assemble any kind of custom spring set that a customer may need.

Assuming that I was correct about the springs being overloaded by a previous owner, that's another thing to consider in you choice of leaf springs. It's not that the springs you had were poorly designed for that application but they were at some point way over-loaded and lost their full capacity.

10 leaf springs might result in a bumpy ride which is not very pleasant if you are driving long miles without enough extra weight inside to compensate for it and especially on bumpy roads In any case I would prefer the smoother ride no matter what the diving distance is. Stiff suspensions can wear a person down faster than soft suspensions.

LASTLY, post #5 by franklin2 is an excellent post explaining the 'progressive springs' That is what I personally would prefer for the comfort. As far as the 'spring helpers and air bag systems' he mentioned, in my experience, these systems are pretty common with long time users of motor-homes,(or in Europe called 'caravans'). I think especially with old timers who like to pack way to much stuff in their RV's.

I've met old timer RV owners with lots of experience and they had excellent advice. One had been a professional long haul truck driver and he used a vacuum gauge in his gas powered class A motor-home to prevent overheating and cracking of exhaust manifolds when climbing mountain grades and that was a fascinating lesson! Cracked exhaust manifolds in big block gas engines
was a common problem in bigger motorhomes, especially class A, mostly after climbing grades, pulling over to a rest area or whatever at the top of a long grade and shutting the engine off before it could could slowly cool down enough.

Another old timer gave me a set of inflatable air bags. I had never seen those before, they were very well made and strong but they looked so odd to me, not being familiar with them, so I didn't use them. MY MISTAKE. They would have saved the Springs in my Class C Toyota Dolphin when it was over-loaded. When not driving with an excessive load they can be deflated.

IN FACT, since franklin2 brought it up in post #5, I am seriously considering getting a set of those air-bag overloads for my 87 F250 which is already the 8800 lb rated truck and includes the factory tow package. The Title says the truck weighs 6,080 lbs empty. I am planning on making one or maybe two long hauls, including over a number of mountain ranges probably around 2000 miles one way to destination with lots of weight in the truck plus pulling a 5 ft. x 10 ft. utility trailer fully loaded. With the air bags I would feel very comfortable putting my heaviest stuff, a roll away full of tools, a slug of other tool boxes, and other heavy tools and equipment in the truck bed, protected by a canopy with tinted windows to help prevent theft and the bulky stuff in the trailer. That would also help much to prevent my springs from taking some excess abuse and getting ruined. I LIKE THAT IDEA.

 

[Cubey]

Several observations from me:

Is it possible that bad rear shocks could flatten leaf springs? Lack of good shocks had it bouncing up and down a lot on bumps/dips. It had the original 1985 USA made Motorcraft shocks until May 2019. Now it has Monroe RV shocks that I put on it. The rear end drags fairly easily, but thankfully it had skids for the purpose of being dragged. It has to, because the sewage drain pipes are back there. The 3" ABS pipe still scrapes sometimes but it hasn't broken the pipe, just roughed it up on a coupler part that's thicker than the OD of 3" ABS drain. I'm guessing the sagging shocks are part of the dragging problem, it still seems to bounce downward more than it probably should. But the Monroes have helped a lot with sustained bouncing that happened when it had completely useless shocks with no rebound at all.

I have my eye on this shop. They mention "leaf spring repairs" and "add a leaf" so it sounds like they do true leaf spring work, not just remove and replace: https://www.twsprings.com/parts-and-services

This is the best pic I have (after zooming in and brightening the heck out of it) of my 87 F250HD's rear springs (HD=full floating 1 ton rear end on a 3/4 ton truck) and it looks like it has either the same number of leafs, if not MORE. It's an extended cab, 8ft bed, RWD, IDI. A roughly 19ft pickup got the same springs as a 27ft Class C? Seems crazy to me... but, I'm no suspension expert.

I'm guessing Ford put the stock F350 rear shocks on the F250HD to match the rear axle. It's entirely possible the truck's leaf springs got upgraded, modified, or replaced for heavier carrying or towing weights by a previous owner at some point. It's highly unlikely on the RV, given the leaf spring condition and the original shocks it had.

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[Fixnstuff]

RV manufacturers are cheap. All its got to be able to do is drive off the lot comfortably before folks pile all their gear in. They'll happily hit you up for upgrades and other accessories later.

I think the Ford springs are 3" wide and dodge is only 2.5". May also be a different in leaf thickness.

I would get the stronger replacement springs, and if it needs more help, airbags and/or swaybar.

In the first paragraph you are writing about two different entities. The first sentence about 'RV manufacturers and the rest is about RV dealers.
RV manufacturers generally never do any work involving springs, chassis, engines and drive trains, except for drilling some holes and installing some mounting brackets to the frame and a few other places.
They order either a complete truck chassis that includes the engine and drive train, steering and suspension to build a class A, (the big long ones) or a complete cab & chassis for the Class C and B. The class B could be ordered as a complete extended van, I'm not sure about that one.

They may have ordered the 350 series with the lowest weight rating and normally the RV designers and engineers of reputable manufacturers would be very competent to design and build in accordance with the Ford specifications for that unit.

HEY, I just noticed something important! I just looked at the full photo of Cubey's 27 ft. Class C, in his profile. It's obvious to me that the RV manufacturer ADDED at least 3 to 5 ft. to the back end of the frame, probably 4 or 5 feet to make it a 27 foot rig. You could probably crawl under it and see where they did that. I have seen that done on Class A motor-homes and probably some other classes to increase the length. THAT'S where the issue originates in my opinion. That's a lot of 'overhang' from the rear axle.
They should have added a couple more leafs to the leaf springs or installed a different set of springs, OR ordered a longer cab and chassis or at least one with more appropriate springs for this RV design. My non-professional opinion.

The designers / engineers at RV manufacturers are usually very competent, enough so to create good designs within the specifications of the cab and chassis, axle/spring ratings etc. That is very basic engineering but in this case that looks suspicious to me! That company was apparently not very conscientious at the time that was assembled. It may have been modified from the original design by someone other than the original designer to add some length. I looks like someone cut some corners somewhere!

In this case I would be temped to go with the 10 leaf BUT I would look for a higher weight capacity rating 'progressive style spring' first.
I don't think your dog would like long bumpy rides either but I really don't know how that particular 3500 lb. rated 10 leaf set up would perform in your specific RV. I would still recommend having an actual spring specialist look at it to give you an opinion and ask a few questions. They can tell you a lot just by looking at the springs. Spring shops that just swap out springs (I think I recall those kinds of spring shops in the Seattle area) will just look on a computer or in a book for whatever is available from their suppliers.

If I remember correctly it was an old timer who recommended re-aching the springs and I had to find a shop that could actually do that as part of their business. The ones I called prior to that one did not.

What's the name of the RV manufacturer who made that one, Cubey? Im not suggesting at all that it was or is a bad company, nor a poorly made RV at all. It looks very nice and I would make an informed guess that it was made in Riverside, California by a big manufacturer that owns a number of different brand names. I forgot the name of the factory, '
'National' or 'International' RV might have been the name but I've been there in their offices. Someone just made a slip-up and inadequate decision somewhere along the line. I could be wrong, maybe the springs were adequate for normal use.

As far as "Cheap build quality" I think that nearly all of the low end and "affordable" range RVs are like that, and like most good quality companies that make high end products, now days it seems all of them have products for the budget and affordable range markets. I worked in an RV factory in Oregon for awhile building straight and fifth-wheel travel trailers. I assembled the cabinet work before it was attached to the walls but I know how everything in those was assembled and I had done quite a bit of structural repair work on aluminum shelled motor-homes and travel trailers so I know how they are built, how to take them apart and put them back together again. I can't do that kind of work any more.

I really like the looks of your rig, Cubey. That was not a 'cheap' one. Keep it from ever leaking is most important. Passively dehumidify the inside during the winter. (calcium chloride salts like Dri-Z-Air or DampRid).

Sorry this was so long, I haven't posted in a forum for so long I thought I had a lot to say.

 

[u2slow]

RV manufacturers generally never do any work involving springs, chassis, engines and drive trains, except for drilling some holes and installing some mounting brackets to the frame and a few other places.
They order either a complete truck chassis that includes the engine and drive train, steering and suspension to build a class A, (the big long ones) or a complete cab & chassis for the Class C and B.

That's exactly how I viewed it, even if it sounded different.

 

[Cubey]

They order either a complete truck chassis that includes the engine and drive train, steering and suspension to build a class A, (the big long ones) or a complete cab & chassis for the Class C and B. The class B could be ordered as a complete extended van, I'm not sure about that one.

Nope, that Class B was a heavily custom motorhome. It's door tag said "B30" which was the 'model' for an incomplete "B300", which is what Dodge was calling the 1 ton vans in 1978. (B100=1/2 ton, B200=3/4 ton). The roof and rear end of the body was thick fiberglass. It left Dodge without a roof and tail end. You can see the seam where it changes from the steel side wall to the fiberglass near the rear.

They may have ordered the 350 series with the lowest weight rating and normally the RV designers and engineers of reputable manufacturers would be very competent to design and build in accordance with the Ford specifications for that unit.

The Ford Class C has an 11k GVWR chassis.

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Oddly enough, the GVWR on the conversion tag says 11,700. They are saying "you can put 700lbs more than Ford says you can!". 4200 front+7500 rear=11,700.

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In regards to the 7,500 rear end, that's 3,750lb per leaf spring! Sounds to me like 10 leaf, 4,000lb springs are what's called for. 7500lb is the max for the Dana 70U/70B of the 80s. Sure, 3500lb leaf springs might be enough, unless the rear end is at it's max weight wise under normal full time RV usage, which is possible I suppose. The fresh water tank is between the axles, waste tanks are behind the rear axle. The 60lb propane tank is closer to the front axle than the rear. (Just behind the cab)

HEY, I just noticed something important! I just looked at the full photo of Cubey's 27 ft. Class C, in his profile. It's obvious to me that the RV manufacturer ADDED at least 3 to 5 ft. to the back end of the frame, probably 4 or 5 feet to make it a 27 foot rig. You could probably crawl under it and see where they did that. I have seen that done on Class A motor-homes and probably some other classes to increase the length. THAT'S where the issue originates in my opinion. That's a lot of 'overhang' from the rear axle.

That's pretty normal for class c's. They typically slope upwards to avoid dragging on slopes more than this one does though. They knew it was an issue and put skids to protect the pipe. This is just before the rear bumper (on the right). I was redoing the pipes because if you look close, the valve has a scraped away section where it was dragging on the ground. I redid it so that it's not pointing towards the bumper, but rather out the side like it should.

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Here is a newer one from 1990s or early 2000s. It has a LOT of overhang behind it too. Completely different RV maker. Typically waste holding tanks aren't in that kind of position like mine are.

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They should have added a couple more leafs to the leaf springs or installed a different set of springs, OR ordered a longer cab and chassis or at least one with more appropriate springs for this RV design. My non-professional opinion.

That's my thought, they skimped on the leaf springs. The RV company should have beefed them up. However, they couldn't have gotten any longer of a cab & chassis. It has the 176" wheelbase as it is. That's as long as they made them, a least in E350.

In this case I would be temped to go with the 10 leaf BUT I would look for a higher weight capacity rating 'progressive style spring' first.

An advantage to old Fords like this is there are still LOTS of choices for leaf spring sizes. Dodge is lacking severely.

Have a look at this page, it lists a range of capacities. The largest "progressive" one is 6 leaf (5/1) and 2900lb. The smallest non is an 8 leaf, 3235lb. They have a 4 leaf that is strangely listed as 3300lb. Less leafs but thicker leafs?

https://www.generalspringkc.com/Leaf_Springs_Ford_Van_E250_E350_1975_1991_s/1890.htm

I don't think your dog would like long bumpy rides either but I really don't know how that particular 3500 lb. rated 10 leaf set up would perform in your specific RV.

She sleeps/lays on the passenger seat up front when I'm driving. She doesn't freak out or anything, she's very mellow. She just shivered all scared when the truck's passenger side window busted at 60mph right next to her. Dunno if a rock hit it or what.

What's the name of the RV manufacturer who made that one, Cubey? Im not suggesting at all that it was or is a bad company, nor a poorly made RV at all. It looks very nice and I would make an informed guess that it was made in Riverside, California by a big manufacturer that owns a number of different brand names. I forgot the name of the factory, 'National' or 'International' RV might have been the name but I've been there in their offices. Someone just made a slip-up and inadequate decision somewhere along the line. I could be wrong, maybe the springs were adequate for normal use.

ElDorado Motor Corp. They don't exist anymore, but neither does the company that made that nice ol Class B I had, Xplorer. RV makers get bought out/merge a lot. Shasta is a good example of one that did. I'm not sure of El Dorado got bought out or just closed up.

As far as "Cheap build quality" I think that nearly all of the low end and "affordable" range RVs are like that, and like most good quality companies that make high end products, now days it seems all of them have products for the budget and affordable range markets.

This thing had to have been expensive new. Okay, so it has the IDI engine obviously, so someone custom ordered it that way. Typically on diesel RVs, they put a LP powered generator since gas ones typically run from main engine's tank. The Xplorer Class B I had was that way, a single 36 gallon gas tank for both. Well nope, on this Class C they put a GAS generator and put a seperate gasoline tank, complete with a gas gauge for the generator. Plus it has a 60lb LP tank for the stove, fridge, water heater, and furnace. So yeah, it's built to carry gas, diesel and LP all at the same time. The fact that the RV company even had a seperate gas tank for the generator as an option tells me they must have had a big enough diesel market to do that. Unless all their Class Cs they made fed the gas generator from it's own gas tank, which is possible I suppose, just not the norm.

I really like the looks of your rig, Cubey. That was not a 'cheap' one. Keep it from ever leaking is most important.

It already has a lot of water damage unfortunately. It's usable but needs a lot of attention. I was too broke to give it any after I bought it. I plan to this late winter/early spring.

 

[Fixnstuff]

Is it possible that bad rear shocks could flatten leaf springs?

That's an interesting question. I don't know for certain, but it seems possible with a moderate load, (not overloaded) and over working the springs. I would seem equivalent to a heavy use condition so I think that's possible. Good to think of that because my rear shocks are shot..

Lack of good shocks had it bouncing up and down a lot on bumps/dips. It had the original 1985 USA made Motorcraft shocks until May 2019. Now it has Monroe RV shocks that I put on it. The rear end drags fairly easily, but thankfully it had skids for the purpose of being dragged. It has to, because the sewage drain pipes are back there. The 3" ABS pipe still scrapes sometimes but it hasn't broken the pipe, just roughed it up on a coupler part that's thicker than the OD of 3" ABS drain. I'm guessing the sagging shocks are part of the dragging problem, it still seems to bounce downward more than it probably should. But the Monroes have helped a lot with sustained bouncing that happened when it had completely useless shocks with no rebound at all.

That rear end dragging was a very common problem in the 1980s. Most often occurring when pulling into a driveway with that ramp up from the street to the lot level Going through dips in a roadway sometimes too. The rear wheels would sink into the dip and the back end might get low enough to drag on the pavement. That would tend to be an indication of worn shocks and or flattened springs.
I noticed that sometime between 1984 and 86 the Toyota Dolphins began angling the bottom of the rearm overhang upward at the back to correct that problem and then by the 1990s I began to notice that remedy on a lot of the class A motor-homes. I have not been out travelling around in so many years I don't know what they look like now but in the 1980s people were buying industrial type wheels with solid rubber, probably 6 inch to 8 inch diameter similar to caster wheels that didn't turn (probably exactly what they were) mounted to the frame to prevent the back ends from scraping the ground. The mounting part that held the wheel came in different lengths.
I think that is a good idea if you have that issue.

I have my eye on this shop. They mention "leaf spring repairs" and "add a leaf" so it sounds like they do true leaf spring work, not just remove and replace: https://www.twsprings.com/parts-and-services

WOW, that is a much bigger and fancier and probably more expensive shop than I went to! The one I went to was approximately like an automotive shop with about 4 bays and a parking lot for vehicles waiting to be serviced or to also do some work on them. It reminded me somewhat of a steel fabrication shop. Smelled a bit like a welding shop so they were probably doing some welding and I noticed that because I used to be a welder.

In fact this is the shop I went to. The front part is a store where they sell stuff and I didn't go in there. I had called ahead and I went to the lot and walked into an industrial workers type of office just behind the store next to the bays.
https://www.yelp.com/biz_photos/auto-spring-service-kent?select=VLj9oAzPbdGewFwgdeBTng

This is what the owner wrote on a Yelp web page:

Specialties

Re-arch sagging leaf springs. Add a leaf to springs for increased vehicle weight. Motor home springs re-arched and a leaf added to eliminate vehicle swaying. Custom main leafs made to customers dimensions. U-bolts, coil springs, bushings, and air bags are all available. Aluminum, stainless, cast iron, steel and portable welding. Steel fabrication, exhaust, catalytic converters and light mechanical work.

History
Established in 1968.

Located at 26460 Pacific Hwy So since 1968

Meet the Business Owner
Business owner information

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Jerry P.

Business Owner

Owner and operator

I'm quite sure that the person who inspected my springs, (which took maybe less than a minute) was the owner and I remember having 100% confidence in everything he said. At that time he would have had about 29-30 years in this business. He's surely retired by now unless he's addicted to his work and loves it so much he won't leave until the undertaker shows up.

I worked for a business owner like that once.

This is the best pic I have (after zooming in and brightening the heck out of it) of my 87 F250HD's rear springs (HD=full floating 1 ton rear end on a 3/4 ton truck) and it looks like it has either the same number of leafs, if not MORE. It's an extended cab, 8ft bed, RWD, IDI. A roughly 19ft pickup got the same springs as a 27ft Class C? Seems crazy to me... but, I'm no suspension expert.

I'm guessing Ford put the stock F350 rear shocks on the F250HD to match the rear axle. It's entirely possible the truck's leaf springs got upgraded, modified, or replaced for heavier carrying or towing weights by a previous owner at some point. It's highly unlikely on the RV, given the leaf spring condition and the original shocks it had.

I have the same truck, manufactured January 1987 in St. Louis, Missouri. I can't go out and look at my springs now for a couple of good reason but I'm quite sure that they are the same as yours. I'm not sure that this can technically be called a 1-ton rear end, I've read posts seeming very reliable claiming that they are the same and another couple of posts claiming that there is a difference. I don't really care, it's going to do the job that I bought it for. It needs a new crush sleeve (or a delete kit) and hope to have that done by a local rear-end specialist, the best in the area who works from his home. I just haven't been able to get over there yet to find out if and when I can have it done.

By the way, I have intended to post to you for a long time regarding the oil sender on your 87 truck and to super simply remove the resistor in the circuit so you can install a real oil sender and the gauge will work perfectly showing real oil pressure. The resistor is plugged right into the oil sender wire just above the sender, unplug it and the wire terminal on the wire is a 90 degree elbow that connects to the top of the oil sender. There is nothing inherently wrong with these gauges. They are essentially the same oil pressure gauge and work the same way as Ford oil pressure gauges have worked since the latter 1950s that showed actual oil pressure. The only difference is no numbers on the face and a resistor in line with a switch type oil sender, and even that is a bit more sophisticated than people claim.

If I didn't post it before, I did just now and if you want a photo or two posted here, I have them.

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[Cubey]

I have not been out travelling around in so many years I don't know what they look like now but in the 1980s people were buying industrial type wheels with solid rubber, probably 6 inch to 8 inch diameter similar to caster wheels that didn't turn (probably exactly what they were) mounted to the frame to prevent the back ends from scraping the ground. The mounting part that held the wheel came in different lengths.
I think that is a good idea if you have that issue.

These days, they make weld-on steel ones for the intended purpose of trailers/RVs. It's another $100 + welding labor I want to eventually spend but it's a low priority right now.

https://www.etrailer.com/Skid-Wheel...ha7K3IuZOPr4sYlxiWqtOon3IunJTsGhoCfY0QAvD_BwE