With the 5 and 6 leaf packs I only have experience with stock/original, or lifted/aftermarket versions. The stock ones are not known for their good ride, but the lifted ones were BRUTAL!
I'd have to imagine that the stock replacements are no worse off than the originals, and might even be a step better. No way to know until someone that has had both tries a set I guess!
Wish I had the time, 'cause I like comparo tests like that.
The different areas that create the better ride from more individual leaves are several.
The first is the most basic part of a leaf spring. The arch. In general terms, the more arch, the harsher the ride. So in a perfect world you'd want as flat a spring pack as you can get.
From that standpoint, the more leaves you use the flatter you can make the pack because at least some of the lift comes from the physical thickness of the whole pack. And if you notice, usually the last two or three leaves are very short, so they are really not making or breaking any substantial spring-rate changes.
Then there are other features, such as the teflon liners/pads between every major leaf, including at the center where all the leaves rest on each other and pivot during compression and extension. The factories did start using those later in the game, but not to the extent you find in the aftermarket. Even still, as far as I know.
And the fact that the spring alignment clamps are vertical plates with bolts, instead of bent-over clamps that can add to friction because they're literally clamping the leaves more tightly together helps as well.
Other stuff too, but those are at least some of the reasons that a large pack of modern leaves usually rides better on the street than you might remember your old military Jeep or Ford High-Boy F250 did! They had many leaves too, but lacked the other design characteristics that are used on Bronco springs.
And they probably used thicker leaves on the F250 as well!
The only thing we leave out that would also improve the ride would be to make the packs both longer and wider. You can carry more load with less rate on a longer and wider spring. But then you're getting into completely custom installs, not just a relative bolt-on.
Hence super long and much wider leaves on modern trucks than were ever found on our old utility vehicles.
So with all else being equal, a single, lone leaf spring should ride better than a multi-leaf spring pack would.
But all else is not equal in our world, so we get what we get.
Now, who's going to be the guinea pig for a set of 5-leaf springs? Would sure like to see if they've made any improvements over the last 40 years.
Paul
