Do rear leaf springs make my truck a heavy 1/2 ton?

[IT Cowboy]

I guess I could check the door decal for the load rating if there is such a thing. It is the Custom Deluxe model and the glovebox sticker says it came with the rear leaf. Does the heavy indicate anything other than leaf springs and a higher load rating?

[57taskforce]

Does it actually mention heavy springs or just rear leaf spring equipment(or similar)?More than likely it just means your truck was ordered with leaves instead of coils. HD rear spring equipment or similar is the call out for the higher capacity springs. The whole “Heavy half” thing was a promotional thing with the square body trucks. The 67-72’s could be had with upgraded springs front and rear on both 2 and 4 wheel drive trucks, but I don’t think it actually changed the GVW of the trucks. Someone may correct me if I’m wrong. My K20 had the hd springs front and rear but still has the 7600 GVW all the other K20’s I’ve ever seen have.

[Steeveedee]

If it doesn't say any G## codes other than G70 for optional leaf springs, it isn't heavy duty. You can look up the option codes here-- G## is all the rear spring stuff.
https://outintheshop.com/options.html

[IT Cowboy]

Originally Posted by Steeveedee

If it doesn't say any G## codes other than G70 for optional leaf springs, it isn't heavy duty. You can look up the option codes here-- G## is all the rear spring stuff.
https://outintheshop.com/options.html

Yep, my glove box sticker says G70

[Keith Seymore]

Do you have this?

https://www.gm.com/content/dam/compa...olet-Truck.pdf

You need to memorize it.

K

[Palf70Step]

Heavy halfs did not exist back then. Just a (much) later marketing term. You could get HD coil springs or leafs on our trucks. MY old 70 SWB stepside had the HD springs (coil) option. My current 70 has the overload leaf option.

[WorldsCrappiestTruck]

How many leafs came standard for a half-ton? My ‘67 shortbox with a I6 has a stack of 8. Seems excessive…..

[Mike C]

After typing 4 paragraphs, the server said “too busy” and I lost it all. FML

67-68 in 4 wheel drive had different leafs than 69-72, so assuming the same for 2x4 I can’t answer that question.

69-72 C10 had 4 leaf spring base and 5 leaf as HD. My 69 C10 short step is an HD equipped leaf spring truck.

Most Chevy’s were coil and most GMC were leaf, but I have a leaf C10 and a coil C1500 so you don’t know.

The “Heavy Half” allowed GM to avoid emisssions equipping vehicles over 6500# in the 75-78 time (at least I think that was the number….) it was more of a “badge engineering” move than anything else. The government changed those numbers not long after and that was the end of the higher GVWR 1/2 tons. I think that number moved to 7500# next and then 8000#? My ‘85 C2500 came without catalytic converter even. It’s 8200# GVWR.

[IT Cowboy]

I saw a few GMC trucks and others listed in Utah with numbers on the side, like UT6500, so I assume that was for the UT DOT and weight licensing classification.