Update and Questions

afaik, the only ones that had the heat shield from the factory were the ones with the composite springs. It sounds like your spring has been replaced somewhere down the line, from the description. There should be no extra washers on the 4 bolts on the center mount. What color is your spring? If it is anything other than a primer grey looking color, it has either been painted, or it is an aftermarket replacement....imo.

The spring isnt primer grey....more black than anything and the letters are white. i'll try to post a pic of it tonight.... The heat shield appers to be aluminum, it had about 1/8 of grease and gunk on it. have it soaking in simple green. It has all the holes and even a retainer clip that attached to the bracket at the spring, Ill post that as well....

|UPDATED|11/3/2011 4:15:55 AM (AZT)|/UPDATED|

Definitely NOT a factory rear spring. Original springs will NOT have the bands around them to lock the leaves together.
Looks like there may be fewer leaves in the stack than original, too. The center bolt that holds the leaves together should not be sticking thru the bottom that far....should only be aboot 3/8" of thread showing on that bolt. There ealso does not appear to be any plastic/poly liners between the individual leaves, which would help keep them from rubbing together, and making the ride harsher than it should be.

Can't see the shield....Here's a hint/tip...RESIZE the pics smaller before uploading them.... Those lifesized pics are murder!

As far as the washer deal, I think that goes back tot he spring being a smaller stack than original, so someone improvised. Either that, or they lost the bolts, and this is all they had to replace them. I'd look very carefully at the diff housing where those bolts go....the housing can be cracked easily if the wrong bolts are forced into the threaded holes.
hth

|UPDATED|11/3/2011 4:16:15 AM (AZT)|/UPDATED|

It's soitainly possible. Standard suspensions used a 9 leaf stack, while the F41/HD suspensions used a 7 leaf stack. What you have may be a replacement spring that is just too firm, or mis-represented from the vendor...that happens a lot. I haven't been able to reference any springs with the numbers that are on yours, so I ain't sure who made/sells it.
Yer replacing it anyway, so it's kinda a moot point, eh? You'll like the composite spring mooch mo betta.

As an FYI, my 79 has the heat shield with the standard steel leaf spring. It has not been replaced.

Could you snap me a pic or confirm your heat shield looks like the one in my picture above.

Ok the spring is finally out and the composite spring is here.