Rear leaf spring-?
 

Would a set of rear leaf springs out of a mid 80's 3/4 ton 4x4 work in my 70 1/2 4x4 they both are 52's. and whats a better setup u-bolts that the plate bolts on top of the leaf or where the u-bolts go over the leaf and the plate bolts under the axle

Re: Rear leaf spring-?
 

Aren't the newer springs 3" wide? I believe your '70 has 2.5" springs, same as my '72. You'd need new hangers for them to work.

Not sure about your other question. My '72 has the plates on the bottom, but that also means the u-bolt threads are more exposed to trail damage.

Re: Rear leaf spring-?
 

Just went out measured my 80 3/4 ton leafs and their 2.5 wide same as my 70. so they might just work, hate to drop some money on them and have to add them to my other pile of non usable parts. and the story behind my other ? is i got brand new u-bolts that are squared off for over the leaf but my set up right now is over the axle first (rounded u-bolts) so new u-bolts are 60 to 70 bucks or the plates for under the axle from the local junkyard are 50ish. so trying to fig out whats better to finish collecting the pieces to make one set up work

Re: Rear leaf spring-?
 

Im going to go out on a limb here and say that the square u bolts with the plate under the axle is better because i know all the 88-present trucks are that way(dont know about the 73-87). they switched for a reason but i dont know what that may be. hope this helps