1300+ lbs ... wow!

[454HO]

The wife and I went and bought 540 sq-ft of laminate flooring for the living and dining rooms this afternoon. Took the truck and loaded it up... all 32 boxes of flooring, plus the underlayment and a few other supplies. I knew it was going to be a heavy load, so I had pumped up the air shocks to 90PSI before we ever left the house. But even with that, having 3" drop control arms and 5" flip kit in the rear, the truck was sagging pretty low. I scraped the exhaust pipes at least a few times. Anyway, we got home safely... it was only about 8 miles... and out of curiosity I weighed one of the boxes. It was exactly 40 lbs. Yikes! I was thinking maybe 25 to 30 lbs... oh well.

So don't let anyone tell you a lowered pickup can't haul a load!

But, this little episode has convinced me that I definately want to put the heavy duty rear leaf springs I have on there. But since this is a short bed truck, that means I will have to re-locate the rear spring mounts, correct? Are the holes aleady in the frame. Anything else I need to be aware of?

I think I also want to replace the 22 year old coil springs in the front. They were originally for the 305 small block, but are now supporting an all iron big block. Where can I get a new set of OEM big block springs? I know LMC has a listing for them, but I would prefer to just go to the local auto parts store. I found a listing for a Moog part number 6454, but that number seems to be used for all engine sizes. Also found a TRW number CS6454, suspiciously similar to the Moog number. Anyway, it listed these specs -

INSIDE DIA.= 3.676 in.; BAR DIA.= 0.83 in.; FREE HEIGHT= 13.61 in.; SPRING RATE= 1060 Lbs./In.; LOAD= 3841 Lbs.; LOAD HEIGHT= 10 in.; END 1= PIG TAIL; END 2= TANGENTIAL

Does this sound like a big block spring??