ive heard of few people flipping the main leaf in rear spring & still having the 2 smaller leaves on the bottom , turning the leaf eyes will make it 40-50 lower staright away . im only running stanard motor so theres not to much power to worry about .i already no that this wont get a cert but car wont need a cert at moment , thinking of this as a money saver as am trying for a budget build - aka- new house & 4 year old girl

There are three common ways to lower the rear of leaf-spring vehicle:

1. Lowering blocks
2. Flatter leaf spring
3. Reversed leaf spring

Each has some problems, but each is feasible.

I was just reading about it here: Leaf Spring for Datsun 1200

Classic I'll just take a course in Japanese to get the info

DANGER WILL ROBERTSON DANGER!!! Don't even think of fliping your mainleaf, VERY BAD IDEA!!! At the very least It will snap like a twig sending your gonads into orbit and you will have to go to hospital to get the rest of it removed out of your backside. Lowering blocks yeh ok in the short term. You need to take it to a springmaker not someone that just sells suspension but someone the makes and repairs springs so that you can get a reset and extra leaf job. It won't cost that much and it will be a whole lot safer. I know I may sound a little preachy but I know what I am talking about I am a springmaker.

Yes, I see that 'flipping main spring over' is not a common practice in USA -- I've never seen it done. I wonder if they meant keep the main leaf straight up, but flip the small leafs upside down to 'flatten out' the mainspring. There was talk about this before, but I have my doubts about it.

Lowering blocks are common here, cars run for years on them, never seen one break.

I have tried this in my younger days: remove some of the leafs. It does work to soften the ride and lower the car a bit. However I continued to carry a normal load (e.g. passengers and supplies in back seat) and the main leaf permanently sagged after a while... so keep that in mind.

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Very common around here, I've done it and have never heard of one failing. Not flipping all the small leaves mind you, just 1 or 2.

I have done this mod to a few of my old cars. Works a treat. I have never broken a spring either. You only need to flip the smallest spring. But because you are effectively 'forcing' the spring lower the spring will never be in a relaxed position so it will always have two opposing loads of force making it very stiff and in turn it will have very little give in it. After you put a couple of passengers in it the car will feel like it has bricks for shockers.

About 10 years ago we did that spring mod to a mates ute and after about 2 weeks he couldnt handle the harshness of it as he used the ute to take his go cart to events. So we put it back to standard but with 50mm lowering blocks. That lasted about 4 months before dirt roads took it's toll on the lowering blocks and flogged out the mounting holes.

The only way to do it properly is to remove the springs and send them to a proffesional like pedders. Resetting them is the only way to do it safely and without incident. Lowering and comfort. You can have the best of both worlds.

dont be a fool, do it properly.
I had the leafs in my ute reset as low as they wanted to. It was low as it was with them reset, but running the small as tires i am i thought it needed to go lower. So i added 1 1/2 inch blocks and some tiny shocks and wa zam, shes low and handles beaut.

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define "properly". IMO if I can do it myself and its safe, thats properly, and I'd have to be a fool to pay someone $350+ to do it.

well yea, properly as in not going to do it again, its safe, and gets the desired effect without compromisses. I wouldnt pay 350+ either.
Got mine done for 150....

All im saying is half the no hopers out there that just go and "flip" the leafs until they get something that looks good are much better off to get someone to reset them so they are still acting like the factory intended.