Removing leafs from springs? (14 Viewers)

[Herzlos]

I'm planning on upgrading the leaf springs on my trailer from a vintage 32" 5 leaf set with a load rating of useless, to a modern set of 24" with a load rating of 3000lbs. These springs are taller (larger distance from axle to frame) and I'm adding some 2" box section to the underside of the frame for strength, so I'm looking to try and reduce the height a bit to keep more weight on the axle and not on the hitch. The hitch is only rated for 1500lbs so the springs are twice as heavy as I actually need, and I figure will probably result in a pretty firm ride if they are used at most half load (and rarely that much). The axle is already over the springs, so there's no space to be achieved there.

So I'm looking at removing one of the springs and have a few brief questions:
1. Is it safe to do so? I'm assuming it'll still be more than strong enough with a spring removed, but it doesn't hurt to check!
2. What spring should I remove? I'm assuming the shorter middle spring (2nd shortest, or 3rd from the top) as the smallest is an overload leaf, and removing the next one up will have the least effect on strength.
3. How do I go about it? Just unbolt, remove the clips, take the leaf out and re-assemble?

Thanks in advance!

 

[ntsqd]

Load distribution is the only thing that will determine how much tongue weight and how much axle weight you have.

That short of a spring will ride like a buckboard. Emphasis on "buck."

All else held constant the shorter the leaf is, the stiffer it will be. A simple leverage thing there.

Quite common with leaf sprung 4x4's to add or subtract leaves. Can even give them a very long taper to the tips to change the spring rate.

 

[Herzlos]

Yup I was certainly under the impression that longer springs = better ride, but I also figured it'd make more sense to go from a vintage auto part to a standard trailer part, for ease of maintenance in the future, especially when I'm not even sure what auto it came from.

Presumably how flat the trailer sits will also have an effect on load weight; if the trailer is higher than the hitch (and the trailer is nose down) there must be more weight on the tongue than if the trailer was level? Or is it OK as long as hitch and axle are pretty much level?

 

[ntsqd]

With trailer springs the difference in the slope of the trailer bed between fully loaded and completely unloaded is so small that the tongue weight difference will be lost in the measurement method error. Even with car or light truck springs (i.e. a much lower spring rate) the angular difference still won't be very large.

 

[e9999]

when you start unbolting things, (many) C-clamps will be your (necessary) friends...

 

[Herzlos]

Noted, thanks