[Tractor-Holic]

I had a '71 GMC K1500 that had 10 leaf rear springs,surprisingly,it didn't ride all that harsh empty,and you could put firewood in the bed as high as the cab and it wouldn't sag an inch...it only had 2 leaf front springs too,and when I lifted the 7.5 foot Fisher plow up ,it would bottom them out against the rubber snubbers on the frame--with no plow on it,there was only about 2" clearance between them,but the ride didn't seem to change very much ..

My current plow truck ,a '82 GMC K2500,with a diesel engine,has the same 2 leaf front springs and only 4 or 5 leafs in the rears...it rides smooth,but it doesn't take much of a load to get the rear end to sag,and I noticed when I put a small crane hoist on the passenger side ,which weighs maybe 100 lbs,it dips and sways when going over bumps now...I want to add a coil helper spring to that side or maybe a shock with the "load leveler" spring on that side to offset the weight difference...

I've had a few K5 Blazers with 4,6,and 8 leaf springs,and they all seemed to ride about the same...had one with the "heavy duty" 3 leaf front springs and in my opinion,they were weaker than the 2 leaf ones,they may have been sagged badly from age and abuse though...