would you put these on YOUR truck?

Just recently got a set of leaf springs from a local place. Never went to this place before but it was recommended so i went with it. The guy felt the need to explain to me when ordering over the phone that they ONLY buy USA made top quality stuff and i thought okay great. Upon receiving the springs i am not impressed. The more i looked into it it looks like i have springs with part number 90-131 and i am convinced they ordered them from sdtrucksprings.com and marked them up 100%. Are these even "made in the USA" or "Top quality"? I also think its hilarious now that im looking at the receipt that they had me sign the bottom before actually driving around the building to grab the new springs. Where i signed it says (in fine print that nobody looks at) and i quote

"we are committed to cust. Satisfaction, if you are not satisfied let us know immediatley. Undersigned is 100% satisfied with parts and price listed above."

i am a no bs person and im thinking about going back and giving this guy a piece of my mind. Like i said they had me sign that when i paid before actually seeing the springs. Comparing them to my old springs they look like complete s!&@$.they also demanded a deposit which was the entire price they would have had to pay to order them from sdtruckspring.com anyway, the new ones just look like terrible quality compared to the originals the clips that wrap around the springs to keep the leaves from shifting horizontally from eachother are not even wrapped snugly around so they are not even going to keep anything from shifting whereas the originals those clips are clearly wrapped firmly and tight to the springs. I have read of people installing "new" springs and having the truck ride worse then before. My gut is telling me to bring these back and demand a full refund from these fake aRSE f&#%@rs
whatta you guys think? They also charged me for the fee to run a credit card which erks me and i was sitting in their waiting room thinking wow they must make some good money to be able to line their front office with diamond plate and have a coffee area and all this other yuppy stuff. As you can tell im mostly venting here but what would yall do if you were in my postition.

Also just remembered i thought it was funny that they had put their own stickers on the springs where they had clearly removed an original sticker and slapped theirs on instead.

Opinions? Mainly dont want to put these springs on my new build if they are not going to perfom like my originals but i also dont know how i would tell if my originals even need replacing (assuming some kind of tension test can be done to them) if thats the case ill bead blast and paint my originals and install with all new bushings. Or maybe im just overthinking this and wont have to go back in there and mentally rape this guy.

 

Leaf springs generally don’t need to be replaced unless cracked or sagging. The most common cracks i’ve seen are the center bolt hole cracks which can cause tracking (kind of looks like a vehicle crabwalking down a road). This is caused by the rear axle slightly slipping

Another reason why they might need to be replaced is they start to sag/not as strong as they used to be. The spring sag is most noticed when your truck bed is loaded and the truck squats down significantly. (where I live people purposely squat there trucks for shows by installing half a lift kit and dropping the rear.. look up the “Carolina Squat”)

You can test this by looking at the ride height specification and measuring that. Or you can push down on the back, if it goes down very easy they are most likely bad.

As for the springs you bought it seems to me they kind of got you in a bind with everything you signed, it sucks people do stuff like that. I wish you the best of luck though, there might be some sort of loophole you can figure out.
Hope this helps!

 

Thanks for the info Max. Boy I sure was in a rage when I typed that Im gonna check out this Carolina Squat you speak of haha sounds interesting. As far as the clips that keep the leaves from shifting side to side on each other, what are your feelings on that? They should be as tightly wrapped as possible correct?

to give you an idea here are some pics....

 

I would just make sure there is no play on those and check for cracks, if that all checks out it should be good. I would check for cracks near the centerbolt too. That area receives the most stress.

Here is a picture off of google of what that area looks like.

 

Okay I appreciate the advice. The center bolt area looks fine on old and new. Those clips are what really caught my eye. The new ones in my pictures if you think about it those clips are really doing absolutely nothing at all being that they dont make contact with the sides of bottoms. Essentially I could wrap a piece of bread twist around them in the same fashion and they would be doing just as much as the clips are now. And im not joking when I say that if you really think about it structurally they are doing nothing if they don't make contact with the sides of bottom. I appreciate your input regardless. And if anyone else reads this and sees what I mean please do chime in.

on a side note....I did just notice this




And before taking my truck apart I did always think the back right side of my truck looked a little lower but wasn't sure if it could have been the dip in my driveway or sag in the spring. And I it always crossed my mind to check it on a level surface because that was before I decided to do a restoration. Does that look a little cockeyed to you. I know the orientation of the pic isn't the greatest but that's the back right side.