Like all things in life, whether it be leafs, coils or whatever, "spring steel" is not all the same alloy, not the same quality, doesn't react all the same, have the same life span, etc. I wouldn't expect 2 spring assemblies made 20 years apart in 2 different countries to be close to being the same, despite having the same part number on them. The decision to use a set of springs out of a catalog vs. having something custom done for the specific application would depend on the seriousness of the effort, tuning decisions, etc.

Yes, it was Just easier to replace your old worn out springs with the Stiffer SS springs, Then to tear them apart, go to the junkyard , tear another set apart so you can ad some extra leaves to a spring that has wear on it anyway.

Waay easer to just get a new set of the SS springs and bolt them on. For the price, it was a no brainer. Plus It was also nice to see New shiny springs mounted on the back.

The springs hold the car up and the shocks control the movement, right? Shocks FTW.

I always built my own until recently, even made the extended hangers for my Diplomat from pieces of an old mobile home frame.

A couple months ago when I was putting the Dana in I noticed that my homemade SS springs were bent up and the bushings were about shot.
After talking to a few people trying to find another decent set of A body springs to start with, I quickly realized that every thing I'm gonna find is gonna be worn out junk like I already had.

I just bought a new set of the 3800lb springs from JEGS and they were on my door step the next afternoon. Seemed kinda cheap made, but they'll work for now. May end up throwing another ply in em this spring if they start sagging much.
The car already sits lower than with my homemade ones.

Only true if you have a Four link or ladder bars.

On a Leaf spring car, the spring helps control axel wrap up, and also acts as a control arm lever. And it holds the car up as well.

Oh and the Stiffer the better on a race car, Most factory springs were intended to be soft for a cushy street car ride.

Isn't he the Yellow Bullet guy??

I found out years ago they by installing and being able to say I had REAL Super Stock springs on my car, I picked up at least 25 rear wheel horsepower. This was backed up by both track and dyno testing at 5000 foot plus altitude.

They were engineered by the old school racers like the RamChargers. They were smart guys that figured out what worked.

To a point. Spring rates are a tuning choice and do influence how the suspension reacts to input. 95, 110, and 130 springs can be adjusted to hold the rear of the car up at ride height, but the housing will react differently with each spring. Ever hear of anyone putting 6 cylinder torsion bars on the front of a drag car to increase pitch rotation?

The shocks do control the speed at which things happen.

Well after all Monte IS an engine kinda guy. He says he used to go in the junk yards years ago and get used leaf springs and make his own!! But when was the last time you heard one of his "we used to go to the junk yards and get used valve springs out and make our own by adding coils for our 3/4 race cams" stories???

Here we go, back in the day, 64 light weight Dodge Hemi S/S four speed. The car had all the FX stuff on it. After awile the owner took off the rear springs, went to an auto and these where to stiff, asked me if I wanted them, I said no since I had a home made set of ladders. Anyway to the point, these springs where much thicker leafs, maybe 7/16 with five on one side and 5 1/2 on the other. He claimed they where made for the 4speed FX cars and would not wind up, I stood on them and they didn't bulge. He threw them on the pile with the stainless steel k-frame that was cracked. I found a set awile back and I'll use them on my 64 Savoy. Just thought I'd add that to the mix

back in the day Chrysler spent a jillion bucks developing these springs--they figured it out so well that chevy guys bought them and used all but the main leaf on Chevys to keep up- I mean the big name guys!-If you spent todays equal in $$ to develop them it would be millions
When used with the right shocks they work almost beyond anything you can imagine the 002 and 003 on an A body are the best of the lot--when combined with loose front suspension and correct shocks they are stunning in what they can deliver
Now days caltracs do it too but.....never underestimate a set of these when tuned by a knowing Chrysler racer
Now...thousands of sets are used by unknowing and untrained Mopar guys --they don't do so hot we don't have Herb McCandless to call and get things straight anymore either but those of us that did have him available can rock on a pair of 002 003's

Same/same

It all depends on how fast you wanna go....
Just because SS springs work on a 10 second car, doesn't mean they will work on an 8 second car...

What pinion angle produces the highest inertial moment with a SS spring?

I know a Stock class racer who had some aftermarket (Tri-City?) SS springs on his car. He's been a record holder, class winner and near the top qualifier many times. After many years, he was talked into installing a set of Cal-Tracs & shocks. (I ended up with the SS springs.) Naturally, the car weight was adjusted accordingly. He said he gained nothing!

Basically, if the car is set up right, they won't help. (If it's not broke, don't fix it.) But the Cal-Tracs do offer a level of adjustability that's not available with the SS springs......IF NEEDED.

As for the springs working on 8 second cars, they were never "designed" for those ET's, which were well beyond a door car's capability at the time. But it wouldn't surprise me if there were some in the 9's.

(I would think that adding ladder bars & floaters doesn't count because at that point, the spring is used mainly to support the body.)

Herb showed us how he used his thumb to set pinion angle--if it fit then aok LOL I can't remember exact angle

You guys LOVE the fact that Chrysler was the best engineered stuff in its day OK--you can't make a set of these in your shop just because you saw a set one time--Mopar spent months and enough cash to burn a wet mule on these along with hundreds of hours of testing with top teams like S&M etc so you can't duplicate a set in your back yard no matter what you think
makes me laugh to hear that--you simply don't know or understand how much effort was put into these things as they HAD to run leafs per NHRA rules and they had to work to win Mopar tested on a daily / weekly basis
Herb always says they went to Milan all the time and tested with red hot winning Mopar race cars whatever part Mopar had worked on that week--headers , oil pans, carbs, etc they did A-B_A testing all day long--yea sure Herb got free parts but...he worked his azz off testing those parts before they added them and tossed last weeks stuff
Respect the effort that was put into some of the things we take for granted Sure they were running 10 second cars nobody claims these are magic for a NOS 8 second car but the average bracket racer can't do better for cheaper than these when properly set up
I went through about a dozen shock combos before hitting on the good set up in my old Duster but when I hit it they would hook that car in a plowed field

oh yea Mike Duke ran 002's and 003's on his KOS car the blue Dart that whipped folks and ah yeas it was a BB NOS car Indy test bed IIRC and it was not some ole 10 sec ride LOL

If the Chrysler racer thought the SS springs worked so well, and were better then everything else, why did they all ditch them in 1972 for ladder bars, and leaf links?

One of my happiest days at a track was my first pass on a set of ladder bars, after getting rid of the SS springs.