My rear springs, brackets and mounts were completely shot. Scary shot. So, I cut everything out and a friend has been helping fabricate really beefy new ones. In the process we also cut out the rear fenderwells larger than needed, partly due to rust, and partly with idea of one day sticking wider tires back there.

However, afterwards, I realized that my 205 tires are only about 1" away from the u-bolts/springs, so probably the widest I could go is 215 or 225 anyway... unless I relocate the springs to under the frame rails (instead of next to).

Has anyone done this? I'm not really interested in sticking big meats under the van, but I figure now's the time to do it if it might add to resale value. My friend says it's not a big deal work-wise.

Thoughts?

Here you can see how close the tire is to the springs (and how bad the mounts were). It has a 302, 3spd and posi 9"... and will see the drag strip 2-3x/year for fun. The rest of the time it's just a fun van.

Might as well, you are half way there.
Look at ford trucks, they have the spring hangers under the frame rails. Just remember that the unibody van could use a bit of strengthening.

Yep!

If you didn't destroy your old brackets you can reweld them on the frame rail. The trick is cutting the holes for the shackle sleeves due to tool clearance. Those are 12" M/T's on an axle shortened 6".

P.S., If that is a 61-64, frame strengthening, as stated above, is a must!

It's a '65.
There's no saving the old brackets. They were super thin, holey and bent up. My friend made up new brackets out of thicker metal, reinforced them, added gussets, etc. I think he used 11ga or 1/8 plate. I'm working on replacing the inner rockers, floors and other structures.

I don't see myself actually using wider tires or rims, especially since I just bought a set of rims... especially not for only 3 uses a year. Not worth the cost. It would make accessing the bleeder valves a lot easier though.

The brackets are alreay made up for the stock location, and the rear end is alreayd set up, so moving the springs seems like a lot of work to me. Would it add substantially to resale when/if I ever sell this thing?

I agree, it is a lot of work. As long as you have an inch+- off the springs you will be OK. As far as tire size I am not sure. I am from the F70 era. Good luck an happy Vanning!

I have a Chevy, but did what you want to do, tubs are no good with those leaf springs in the way. I have some pictures in my Project "G" thread. Pictures start on page 6, hope this helps
http://vintage-vans.forumotion.com/t131p75-project-g

There is a local 64 econo truck that has new perches installed on the main frame rails. the truck is all over the net as the cornhole racing econo. Burnt orange in color. I dont have any recent pics of it otherwise i would share.

I can't find any build or chassis pics of the Cornhole truck.

Thunder van - is that pic of a 66 or an F70?

Has anyone relocated the springs on a 61-67 Econo? Did it change handling? What did you have to do to the frame rails to reinforce them?

I'm leaning towards not doing it, but I haven't made up my mind, and it's worth knowing anyway.

I'm really showing my age here, F70 is a bias ply tire size and I presume a little before your time. Sorry, my bad for not explaining.
The truck is a 66 and I didn't do anything to the frame. It should be OK like it is.

I will ask the owner of the truck if he has any pics of it done up. I talk to him personally here in town quite often.

Here is the truck i am talking about.



I know the only thing he did was have new mounts made to fit for the frame rails in farther to replace the outer area ones. They also radiused the wheel arches to fit the tires and rims. The wheely bar had a new spreader bar made for it as well.

That's the same pic I found, or at least the same angle.

Ahh, tires! I thought it was a reference to a later model.

Does moving the springs inboard cause any sort of instability? I know it's only a matter of a few inches, but sometimes that's all it takes.

Not that he has seen. He drives it daily in the summer. Him and his dad had the mounts made up and they just weded them in. They had to move the spring mounts on the axle as well.