Should Truck Makers Ditch Leaf Springs?

Today I go over the difference between leaf springs and coil suspension on trucks and suvs! I also go over independent front suspension, independent rear suspension, solid rear axles, and solid front axles!

[joshuaphillips]

I think that all heavy duty trucks should still use leaf springs. The new ram 2500 switched to coil springs and it is evident to see how that is affecting towing and payload.

[jaydenray]

Leaf springs can still go a long way. Not many people know but they were even used in basically any front engine Corvette. Including the last generation. Not a truck, but they can still work. However, coil suspension is the way to go for handling.

[thankyou]

Leafs springs = higher payload capacity = better towing capability
Whats the point of towing heavy when the tongue weight takes up all of the payload

[shaynegadsden]

it's pretty simple if you want handling and ride comfort don't by a truck but i guess saying the obvious would upset all those people driving around cities with the biggest thing they can get even though they could probably get away with a smart car.
Edit: Also that handling is a generality because many race cars use a solid rear and obviously they handle pretty good

[Roman-eqko]

leaf spring can hold a TONNE! they used to put it on coal trains! I would say it is not nice for passengers (and handling and steering) but may be good for commercial application. True, might as well make suspentions nice for drivers though, mabye lazy engineers and manufacturers.

[kenmccune]

Ditch the leaf spring coil sounds better than leaf spring

[ronniesensiba]

I like most of your videos this one was not my favorite. There are desert race trucks with well engineered leaf spring set ups (in the rear) that will put any OEM set up to shame. These Manufacturers have to decide who their market is and their main customers are not desert racers or rock crawlers. These are complicated systems and most of the handling experiences you are describing come down to how the manufacturer decided to tune their set up and what they were going to compromise on including cost.

The main difference is that the leaf springs are simple. they are springs that also locate the axle. They are susceptible to axle wrap especially under high torque applications without some sort of anti wrap device. Leaf springs are more easily set up for towing with over load springs ect. but both systems can have air bags added which is the best for towing anyways. Coil springs are located with some type of link set up and the coils do not locate the axle. You also have different engineering such as progressive spring rates vs linear for both systems. All of these set ups can be amazing if done right or terrible if done wrong. You will see trucks at KOH with solid and with independent suspension and various link/ spring set ups doing amazing things.

One type of spring will not ride better than the other intrinsically. In the 1970s people were ripping out the coil spring set ups in the front of their broncos and converting to leaf springs because of bad information about what was the hot/ trendy suspension set up at the time.

[davidporter]

Ben, I like your videos but a leaf spring and a pickup are like peanut butter and jelly.

[Kliffy]

Yes they should! One of the reasons I didn’t buy the new GMC AT4X!

[christopherbrown]

I think eventually all halftons will have coil spring in the rear

[leedanielson]

I see no reason to use leaf springs…….