Made in USA leaf springs

[katanapilot]

I was going to ask the same thing.  I’m pretty comfortable with a 4 leaf full length spring made with US steel and a 2000 lb rating.  

[Geronimo John]

18 hours ago, CRM said:

Why the focus on the weight of the spring and where does this number come from? I admit that I know nearly nothing about leaf spring tech, but shouldn't the weight rating of the spring and the quality of the steel and construction be all that really matters? 

More steel means a spring is likely to be able to handle stress longer for a given design.  The weight of the spring design can be found in it's specifications.

Where made is a different discussion entirely.  

[CRM]

15 minutes ago, Geronimo John said:

More steel means a spring is likely to be able to handle stress longer for a given design.  The weight of the spring design can be found in it's specifications.

Where made is a different discussion entirely.  

I understand all this, I was just wondering how you came up 17 pounds being the minimum weight. I would hope that if Alcan designs a spring with a 2000# rating that it would perform as expected and exceed what is required for an LE2 no matter the weight of it. I'm running on 16 year old springs at the moment, that thankfully don't show any of the typical Dexter flattening near the eyes, but want to upgrade soon myself and I'm a little worried about installing springs rated for nearly double the weight we usually travel at. 2000# Alcan's seem like a perfect match but now I'm a little nervous and and asking questions due to your opinion on the weight of them...

[jd1923]

5 minutes ago, CRM said:

I'm running on 16 year old springs at the moment, that thankfully don't show any of the typical Dexter flattening

Ours are 10 years old, look nicely arced. Purchased a backup pair for travel safety, but leaving ours as-is until maybe one day I upgrade to 5200 lb axles and the would get the 5-leaf Alcans which is the co recommendation. Perhaps Dexter used better steel 10-16 years ago. Leave well enough alone in our case.

[jdmmtx]

We had the 4-leaf Alcan springs installed yesterday along with the 5200 axles. Not sure if we’re the first with this spring version but think we may be. We’ve only towed about 125 miles but so far so good. Will update in a week or so after we have traveled a much longer distance. GJ, one of the guys at Alcan said the 5-leaf spring weighs in at around 23 pounds, so, if that is accurate, I’d say the 4-leaf is more than 17. But I certainly don’t know for sure.

[Mountainman198]

7 hours ago, jdmmtx said:

We had the 4-leaf Alcan springs installed yesterday along with the 5200 axles. Not sure if we’re the first with this spring version but think we may be. We’ve only towed about 125 miles but so far so good. Will update in a week or so after we have traveled a much longer distance. GJ, one of the guys at Alcan said the 5-leaf spring weighs in at around 23 pounds, so, if that is accurate, I’d say the 4-leaf is more than 17. But I certainly don’t know for sure.

Glad you got what you wanted. Lew and his team are Great. 
 

the springs you bought are just like the top one in the attached pic, minus the bottom most (short) leaf, correct?

Please keep us advised as you put more miles on the new suspension

[Geronimo John]

On 5/28/2025 at 12:30 PM, CRM said:

Why the focus on the weight of the spring and where does this number come from? I admit that I know nearly nothing about leaf spring tech, but shouldn't the weight rating of the spring and the quality of the steel and construction be all that really matters? 

More steel means a spring is likely to be able to handle stress longer for a given design.  The weight of the spring design can be found in it's specifications.  Under no circumstances would I replace my springs with a lightweight version.  (Edit:  under 16 pounds)

Where made is a different discussion entirely.  

Edited 18 hours ago by Geronimo John
Clarified what a light weight version is...

[Geronimo John]

On 30 May 2025 at 9:15 AM I spoke with Tim at ALCON.  He responded with shipping weights.  So I asked him to actually weigh the naked springs we are using.  Here is his verified statement:

      4 Leaf 2,000 Pound Rated Spring with  19 1/2 pounds of USA made Steel

      5 Leaf 2,700 Pound Rated Spring with  23 pounds of USA made Steel

As I stated  a couple of times above, the ALCON 4 leaf clearly has the Rating (2,000#), weight (19#+), and compliance (4-Leaf) to make it very well suited for use by most OTT owners.  As such, it is my recommendation for likely +/- 85% of the fleet to use as replacements.  If price point is of concern, then the Dexter PR4 springs fits the bill as well.  

Also as indicated in a few places in this mile long thread, if you are heavy and/or do a lot of boondocking with questionable roads/paths or hiking trails with your Ollie, you are part of the +/- 15% of the fleet and should consider the USA made Alcon 5 leaf spring.

GJ

Edited 1 hour ago by Geronimo John
typos

[Geronimo John]

15 hours ago, jdmmtx said:

We had the 4-leaf Alcan springs installed yesterday along with the 5200 axles. Not sure if we’re the first with this spring version but think we may be.

Rock Solid.  Wish I had the same with disk brakes too!

GJ

[jdmmtx]

16 hours ago, Mountainman198 said:

the springs you bought are just like the top one in the attached pic, minus the bottom most (short) leaf, correct?

Correct!