Spring spreader tool????

[JSeery]

Hire a porta-power from a rental tool shop.
Safer and easier.
A trip to the dentist can be very expensive.

How in the world would a porta-power help hold the spring up? A port-power would be used to spread a spring not hold it up!

 

[Rascal]

recommend that you buy that proper tool on Ebay or wherever .
some years ago, we did just that & have never looked back .
they are a very purpose built tool that ensure your security , especially while working under a fendered car.

"BE SAFE , NOT SORRY"

 

[Mart]

Tinker's photo's tell the story. Ford improved the ride in the later cars by making the spring a lot longer, completely doing away with relying on the shackles for sideways location and installing panhard rods to control side to side location. That's why you don't strictly need a spreader on these later jobs.

Only on the earlier models with shorter springs that are held in tension between the shackles do you need a spreader.

Mart.

 

[Henry/Kokomo]

I have a '46 Tudor. The stock suspension design is identical to the '47 in question. I changed front shackles as is planned (went from long shackles to short - stock - shackles). I used only a fairly small floor jack and axle stands. No drama. No problem. It worked very well and very easily.

 

[supereal]

If your spring is so flat that a spreader isn't necessary, it has either lost its strength, or there are one of more broken leaves, or both.

 

[JSeery]

If your spring is so flat that a spreader isn't necessary, it has either lost its strength, or there are one of more broken leaves, or both.

Nope, depends on the installation design. The older springs were put under tension and the shackles ended up at an angle. This is because they were used for side to side location as well as weight bearing. These require a spring spreader. Later springs were used as weight bearing only and the shackles are mostly up and down and free to move, there is little horizontal tension on the spring. We are not talking about the curve of the spring or the tension in the leaf pack, we are talking about the mounted tension on the shackles. A spring spreader is required to release this tension, but only if it is there in the first place.

 

[JSeery]

Not sure, but maybe this will help. In the attached photos of modern rear leaf springs the front is fixed to the frame, the rear is allowed to swing freely. There is very little horizontal tension in the spring and all that is required to change the rear shackle is to support the weight of the spring. We are talking about a similar situation in a transvers spring that is pinned at the cross-member and allowed to float at the shackle.