re-arching leaf springs

I have a couple of cars that need to have their leaf springs re- arched. One web site mentioned that the process that they use is to anneal, reform, quench and temper:

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I have had leaf packs re-arched in the past and the leaves did not show any signs of having been heated so I suspect that they only cold formed them. I have looked a several web sites that mentioned supporting the leaf between two stanchions and beating on the leaf with a 2 lb or similar hammer. I have acquired a hydraulic press and am thinking of doing the following: dismantle spring asm, make a template of the current arch and what I want, gently bend each leaf, working the entire length of the leaf till it has the desired form. Spring would be constrained between the posts of the hydraulic press so that the leaf could not fly away on me. Look at eh bottom of this page at the picture of the =93Mart-o-Matic (someone named Mart best as I can tell) =96 I would do similar with my press.

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I am trying to not spend monies that I do not have to in this "near Depression".

Your thoughts?

Reply to
aribert
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Your thoughts?

*************************** A very long time ago my highschool friend took the rear leaf spring from his '41 Ford coupe to be re-arched so the eye that held the shackle bolt was 'up' instead of factory down. This lowered the rear of his car about 1.5" . . . .He took it to the local smelter blacksmith shop and they used 3 men, and no heat, to do this. They made a soapstone trace of the spring on a large plate of steel. Then they put a large Vee block on the floor, on top of a block of wood. One man was on a sledge hammer, one had a blacksmith fuller (round nosed wooden handled chisel type tool) and one held the spring. They started near an eyelet on one end of the spring and they made a hit with the fuller and hammer about every 1/2". They went the lenght of the spring and then checked it against the soapstone trace. It did not take that many passes to fully reverse the arc of the spring. They finally had an identical shape that matched the 'trace, but the eyes were inverted. This should work on just re-arching a spring.
Reply to
pintlar

I've watched blacksmith shops re-arch leafs cold with a sledge hammer on an anvil. One guy steadies the leaf on the anvil and the other smacks it skillfully so as not to cause the leaf end to jolt the one holding it. The leaf is repositioned after a few wacks.

Reply to
John Kunkel

This is exactly how we used to do it on dirt track stock cars, works well.

Reply to
Bob Roberts

A couple of the posts have described the "blacksmith way". That should tell you that it can be done with your hydraulic press as you suggest. You didn't say what the width and thickness of the leaves are, but I'm sure you understand that big leaves take more pressure and more distance between the two underneath supports. Go slow with the press and be prepared to measure carfully until you get the hang of it.

Pete Stanaitis

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p> I have a couple of cars that need to have their leaf springs re-

Reply to
spaco

Build a cage around your press. A huge amount of stored energy if the spring lets go. Be safe out there!

Reply to
Mach1

Actually, three firths of five eighths of f-all

Mark Rand RTFM

Reply to
Mark Rand

Your thoughts?

I've had broken spring leaves on my truck more than once, and the spring shop just selected a blank of the right width, thickness and temper for my truck, and proceeded to arch them in a hydraulic press: one man, no cage, no sweat. A little push, move an inch, push again, - repeat as necessary until desired profile is achieved. Reassemble the spting stack, remoount, and off I went. The price was not unreasonable, either, especially when compared to buying from the *Manufacturer's Authorized Dealer*, (who would sell only the complete spring ASSEMBLY).

Flash

Flash

Reply to
Flash

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