Front Leaf Spring

E

Eric Jensen

Junior Member
Need some advice.


Just took the front leaf spring apart on a 29 truck with not much tension (maybe an inch?). There is a total of 12 leafs! With the middle spring square on the ends - maybe a replacement? They appear to be in good shape with no cracks - although the center bolt broke inside while unscrewing.


How do I know if I should just replace the whole spring (rather not) or remove leafs, or add tension the leaves?


My plan was to clean them up, POR-15, Rustoleum Enamel top coat, then Slip Plate on the touching sides and screw back together



See picture.


Thanks - and Happy 4th!
 

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Of the two springs on a Model A, the front is the most important.

I would replace it with a new one. Another potential front end problem checked off the list.

Do it right the first time.
 
The front springs tend to flatten out over the years as they get a lot of abuse and the weight of the car. I haven't had much luck reaching springs, some people have. I would just buy a new one which out last all of us.
 
I think that if the truck ( I assume an A not an AA) is going to be for pleasure not for work you may want to go the a lighter spring such as off a roadster, or you can remove some leafs I would think you would want 8 leafs or less but that's up to you of course. I don't know if you are a new A owner or an old timer but you mentioned that you loosened the bolt and it broke. Those springs can kill you, yes kill you. you should have 4 clamps holding the leafs together before loosening the bolt. If it didn't explode on you then that's a pretty good indication that the spring no longer has any spring to it. If you know all this forgive me, I just don't want to see you (or anybody else) get hurt.
 
My advice counters others (-which is ok! :D) but I often prefer to restore original springs rather than replace with 'Chinesium Spring Steel' reproductions. They are easy to restore with methods just as you have mentioned. I will attach a segment of the factory print that shows the correct radius for each leaf. You will likely need to spend some time drawing out the correct arc and using that as a gauge to check your progress. We have a CNC plasma table, so we just cut a set of sweeps to use as templates for each spring leaf. Again, it does not take much time to actually do the re-arcing. I say go for it.


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I bought an NOS front spring for my '34 roadster about 6 months ago from Fred Wilmer, Southside Obsolete in Minnesota. I feel that was a better choice than buying a repro and probably cheaper. His phone number is: 517-332-6789.
 
Original Model A (including the small trucks) was 10 leaves. A stiffer 12 leaf spring was available "for trucks or cars subject to hard service."

You may find the additional "umph" of an original 12 spring MAY be enough in it's "as found" condition to give you good service. But how to really tell?

Agreed on replacing with a new front spring. Terry at A-Springs.com seems to have ceased Model A springs (well the site is gone), but I see he's still maintaining T-Springs.com and the hot-rod site.

Terry's were good because they were made to the varying thicknesses and condition shown on the Ford Print. "Suitable for judging" according to description.

JC Whitney FOR YEARS sold "replacement springs" which were glorified trailer springs. I have a couple of these still around. I've found mine actually a little "stiffer" somehow compared to an actual Model A spring. But that may be the difference between 80 years and 40 years.

One has to examine VERY CAREFULLY a used spring to be sure it is an actual Model A front spring.

Joe K
 
Brent - you mention re-arcing spring leaves in post #6. What’s involved in this?

I’ve just disassembled springs, wire-brushed individual leaves, ground ridges off, greased and re-assembled. Front springs on my current two cars seem to perform well and shackles are sitting well above the front axle. I have believed (with no data to back me up) that most original equipment on Model As is made of better quality steel than most replacement parts.

Jim
 
I’m going to try rearching my front springs soon as they are flattened out pretty good. No more weight than they carry a re-arch should last a decent amount of time and I think ride with a little less BOING! I’m not that big a guy so I’m going for it. If youve done this please share you experience.
 
I purchased a front spring for my 29 phaeton from A-Springs (Travis Cook) and am very pleased with the spring. Here is the phone number I have. 1-860-233-3557 Travis isn’t always in the shop but he did return my call. Hope he is still in business. Supergnat
 
I had one of my leafs break. One of the guys in my club sold me one for $5. It helped some. Replaced it with a new one I got from Snyders, and it was definatey the way to go. I don't know why I fiddled around with repairing the old one. It was worse than what I thought.
 
Brent , I’ve used St. Louis spring to do many originals and they can re-arch. In fact I can tell them how much or little I need. Mostly I have them do rears but occasionally a front . I’ve had mixed results in the fronts and usually find it’s most cost effective and timely to put in a new quality one for the fronts.
St. Louis spring company . Nothing high tech but they do tons of springs, mostly trucks of course.
Larry Shepard
 
Thank you all for advice! Excellent information.

I’m going to attempt re-arching and see how that goes - I’ll post an update in the coming week on how it went.
 
Lets bring this thread out of the dungeon.

So I am out of front spring cores to rebuild, -and the front springs that Detroit Springs are offering are not the correct thickness, ...so do we have a current solution if I need 4 - 5 front spring assemblies?? Anyone have other sources now??
 
Mike's A-Ford-Able lists a front spring for $500 that they're drop-shipping from their vendor, but I'm assuming that vendor is Detroit Springs.

Time for re-arching to make a comeback!
 
alexiskai said:
Mike's A-Ford-Able lists a front spring for $500 that they're drop-shipping from their vendor, but I'm assuming that vendor is Detroit Springs.

Time for re-arching to make a comeback!
Click to expand...

I think for many folks, the Eaton Detroit springs will be perfectly fine. The issue is their 8 leaf front spring leaves are so much thicker that they are the same height as what Ford's 10 leaf spring was originally. For a non-authentic driver-level vehicle, that probably is no big deal but for someone who wants it to at least be aesthetically correct, then the 8 leaf definitely would not pass.

I still will re-arch but I am out of good #3 and #4 spring leaf cores to use, so I need to replace with new if possible.
 
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