What a rare aftermarket accessory! In Jim Carter Truck Parts 40 years of experience, we have never seen a pair of ½ ton rear spring overloads like these. Normally, we see overload springs as a GM dealer accessory which is a short version of the main multi leaf rear original springs.
These particular half circle overloads would have been less expensive aftermarkets. These in the photo still have some of their red paint remaining. (The overloads sold by GM dealers would have been painted black).
Why were they used on this truck? Our opinion have come from the overworked poor condition of this ½ ton. We suspect the breaks in the main rear springs (probably from many overweight loads) had caused the truck to be able to carry less and less weight as the spring brakes continued.
Thus, the least expensive way to make repairs without main spring’s replacement was to install these aftermarket overloads. This took less money than GM originals and could be installed in a few hours.
This truck was so broken down, the bed probably was overloaded with about 4000 pounds instead of the ½ ton rated 1,000 pounds.
Now the owner could continue to use it to at least its ½ ton weight limit. We call this pure “Field Engineering”!
