Armstrong spring eye reversing

[Todd]

OK fellow rats, follow along as I re-shape the rear Model A spring. Reversing the spring eye will lower the stance.

Starting to straighten the rear leaf, notice the outline on the plywood. That is to get the original shape back.

The press was used with some heavy wall round tube. My arm got a huge work out without an air assist jack (Armstrong). Make small adjustments to coax the spring, don't try to get a bunch at once.

Did you know a Model A rear spring is 52" all flattened out?

After about 2 hours the spring is back to the original shape. Notice the eyes now go up instead of down.

Here are the front and rear Model A springs reversed.

Parting note, I had done spring re-arching at an alignment shop in the late 80's. This is shown only as how I have done it. This can be very dangerous to do and I am not responsible for anything you do after reading this.

 

[PA41]

Interesting. I thought they heated then reshaped then tempered. Is the standard process? Thanks for the show.

 

[Old Iron]

Thanks for showing the process!!!!!!!!

 

[Todd]

We had an air powered c-clamp with a chunk of 8" channel attached to it. It would get put in the bench vise with the control box on the floor for the foot. There was one guy who brought the truck back claiming his springs settled, his neighbor happened to be in when we were re-doing it and said he was jumping ditches.

 

[Torchie]

Interesting. I thought they heated then reshaped then tempered. Is the standard process? Thanks for the show.

This is pretty much the tried and true way of doing the reverse eye. The real danger comes when taking apart and reassembling the spring pack as some packs are under quite a load when assembled. Most people use a couple of heavy c-clamps as well as a longer bolt thru the the pack and then slowly release the tension until the spring are loose.
The other issue involves reinstalling the springs. With the eyes facing upwards you can no longer use a spring spreader so usually some sort of jack is involved to get the ends of the springs were they need to be.
Torchie

 

[23crate]

coolness ! Thanks ![cl
does this represent around 2" drop?

 

[Todd]

They claim around 1 1/2"

 

[King Herald]

I've heard you can also do this with a big hammer, pounding gradually and reworking the shape.

I bet that would be a work out for your arm.

 

[donsrods]

We have done front springs just the way you did yours but we scribe a line every inch on the spring and we pump the same amount of strokes on each of those lines with the hydraulic press. That way the curvature is pretty consistent.

It does normally drop the front an inch to an inch and a half, depending on how much you dearch it in the process.

Don