What other rear ends will bolt right up on my 70 maverick?

Unless you continually run the shocks at high pressure with the rear jacked way up, causing incorrect pinion angle, probably won't cause any harm... Adding a bit more air to the right vs left shock(or air bag)is a old trick to improve traction from a standing start...

Basically if measure ride height before install and don't raise it more than approx 2" you'll be fine... I'm assuming the original springs already have close to a inch of sag....

 

Wow thanks for all the help I really appreciate it! will be returning air shocks today hehe

 

Another good point. I'm really glad you guys know what your talking about because I don't yet hehe

 

The heavy duty Maverick leaf springs consist of 4 leafs and my bet is you only have 3 now as that was what was original on my 70. Have an extra leaf added on each side and possibly have them rearched if needed. Add a good set of regular rear shocks and you should be good. That is what I did to my Duster after I had all of the trunk floor and shock mount damage fixed and everything from that point on was fine

 

The amount of leafs has nothing to do with spring rate. Both 3-leaf and 4-leaf springs in 1970 had the same spring rate of 535 lbs. In '75 some 3-leaf springs were rated at 734 lbs while some 4-leafs were rated at 689 lbs.

 

My 4 leaf springs frm General Springs of KC are 807 capacity. They have rode too stiff for me since day one. Since I am in the season of limited use of the car; I plan on removing the bottom leaf this week. I will cut the leaf down and leave a piece in the stack to maintain the ride height. I don't know what the rate/cap. will be once it's removed - but it's got to improve. I run 225*70 * 14 rear tires @ 22-24lbs. inflation to keep frm rattling my teeth out, any more take the joy out of driving the car. I been talking abt it abt 18mos., now it's time for action. 71 Gold advised me to do it some time ago - just been finding reason to put it off. He did his and said it made quite a differerance.

 

Might want to think about removing the 2nd or the 3rd leaf. I could be wrong...but I don't think removing the bottom leaf is going to make that much difference. We won't know till you try

 

That's cool didn't know that. I have a 75 that I will be switching the leaf springs with hehe

 

Some 4-leaf spring were higher spring rates that some 3-leaf springs. You gotta know what color code or part number to know the rating. http://dixiemaverick.com/DMleafsprings.html

 

Wow this helps a lot thanks!

 

The different spring rates are attributed to 2 and 4 door cars. The 4 door cars would need a stiffer spring.

 

If you raise the car 2" you are putting the weight on the shocks and taking weight off the springs. That is why it tears things up. A shock is designed to be an absorber not a lifter!

 

Funny, I've had several old cars with sagging springs that did fine with air or booster shocks... Raising 1"- 2" from the sag height put them back at the correct height or in the case of my Rancheros allowed me to haul far more than the original springs would allow... Extra weight on the shock mount never caused any issue ...

No I would not recommend topping out the suspension, but a small increase isn't likely to cause any harm...

 

Rancheros, Falcons and Mustangs are made different around the upper shock mounting area than a Maverick...like layers of thicker metal going from one side of the car to the other.

 

You can run a wider rear end like from a 67-68 Mustang and save money on having to by spacers if you use late model wheels or other wheels that aren't deep.

I had a 68 Mustang rear end in mine with 69 Mach 1 wheels and it looked good because of the off set. Recently I installed a Maverick rear end and it looked horrible. The wheels were way in.