60 leaf spring bracket orientation

[Greg L.]

I regards to the front leaf spring mounts that attaches to the frame with the four bolts, I'm trying to figure out which way to mount it.

If you look at it's side view the spring perch hole is offset to the four bolts meaning that if you flip it upside down you will change the ride height of the rear of the car. I don't think it's possible to get one right and not the other because the nut side has to go outboard but to me you could swap them both thus raising or lowering the spring attach point so I'm wondering if they should be installed with the spring perch above or below the center line of the bracket?

I looked in the assembly manual but the pic doesn't show the bracket with an offset so it isn't much help.

I hope this makes sense.

[Mike E.]

Re: 60 leaf spring bracket orientation

Offset to the bottom--makes the car ride higher--is correct. The old racer's trick is to flip them side to side so the car would sit lower.

[Greg L.]

Re: 60 leaf spring bracket orientation

That's good to know, thanks Mike.

Now what about this.... The car has new replacement springs on it now and it sits an inch or so higher than it should as per the AIM so I'm thinking that maybe I should now install the brackets like the old racers did and that should bring the ride a bit lower and closer to original spec. What do you think?

[Joe M.]

Re: 60 leaf spring bracket orientation

Are you going for NCRS judging? If you flip bracket over, an eagle-eyed judge may notice this and deduct, but would also deduct if bracket was mounted correctly, but ride height is incorrect. If no judging, suit yourself. I would think the new springs would relax some ove time. I did not measure ride height on my 1960 when I installed new springs 15 months ago.

[Greg L.]

Re: 60 leaf spring bracket orientation

That's good advice Joe but this car is a driver and won't be judged as long as I have it. Actually it would be interesting to see if it would make a third flight...hmmm

I've had the car for about two years now and I'm not sure how long before that the springs were install so I'd think they should be settled by now but maybe not. They're not repop grooved springs, they are run of the mill replacement ones made in Maylasia so they are probably not to GM spec.

The reason I got into this job is because the front left corner of the car is low. I measured the suspension as per the AIM and found the rear left side to be low as well(about an inch) so I'm swapping the leafs side to side to see if that helps.

[Bill M.]

Re: 60 leaf spring bracket orientation

Greg:

If you install the brackets upside down, the car may feel more unstable in a corner. I would go ahead and try it if it were my car...

(The factory would have made just one part for both sides if it didn't matter.)