Rear Suspension

For my rear suspension I have decided on using parallel leaf springs. Originally I had planned on buying a complete setup from and bolting it on. After reading some of the post on the Rodders RoundTable on Dodge Caravan rear springs I decided to give them a try. I saved a lot of money buying these springs that can be used in other small projects on my truck.

By keeping the cash in my pocket I also created a little more work for my self. It also leaves some unanswered questions until later in the project. Once I had the springs I removed all but the two main leafs to help simulate the weighted truck. I then used a jack to load the spring against the frame to see what kind of work I was in for. You can hope for the best but plan on the worst. The best being a simple drill some holes and bolt them on, the worst being an unusable set of springs better suited for a different project. I was in the middle ground with some usable springs but would take a little work.

The first thing I noticed was the mounting pads are wider than my frame rails. That means the original mounting holes are usless for me. New holes could be drilled in the middle but I don't think that would be enough to hold them in place. The mounting pads do fit in good flat parts of the frame making the fit a little easier.
Front mounting pad
Rear mounting pad
It was decided that the front mount would get two new holes in the center to bolt to the frame. A vertical plate would be welded to the mount that could then be drilled and bolted to the outside of the frame rail. This could not be done on the inside of the frame due to the inner frame rail joining the outer rail in this area. A wing plate was cut for this area and welded to the mount. It will then be drilled and bolted to the inner frame rail.

These plates were cut and fitted while the spring mount was clamped in place on the frame, then spot welded to the mounts and final welded off of the frame. That meant I had to measure and align the springs first to get a good fit.

After they have had time to cool the springs were refitted and clamped in place. Mounting holes are drilled next and they are bolted in place. The rear bolt on the side plate is lower to make use of an existing hole in the frame.

The rear mount is going to be a little more tricky and I haven't finished them yet. I want to be able to bolt on the rear mounts but as you can see there is not much to bolt to back here. The lower part of the frame rail is trimmed out for gas tank clearance and does not match the rest of the frame rails.

To give me a good surface to bolt my mounts to I decided to fill this area in and box the frame rails. The rear mounts will be simialar to the front, they will then bolt to the bottom and sides of the frame rail. A filler plate was cut and welded to the bottom rail to fill in the opening. Some scrap plate was then cut and welded to box in the frame rail.

A little bit of grinding and drilling will have the rear brackets bolted in place. I'll add a picture to this page later when I finish this part of he project up.