Hot Rods Model A rear spring help..

I'm going to remove the painted clamps tomorrow and see what that does. And then will remove it and take apart and do the mods as mentioned above and see what that brings. I know it will never ride like a new car but it sure has to get better than it currently is. No rear spring in the spring what so ever...

 

You can get these buggy spring cars to ride pretty nice, it just takes a bit of work to dial everything in. The spring you have is fairly easy to work with as it doesn't take much to get on and off. Assembling a stock Model A spring is a major PITA, especially the fourth or fifth time as you remove leaves to dial in the ride! Ask me how I know. Good luck, it will be well worth it if you follow all the advice given.

 

I'm removing the spring assy. tomorrow. Borrowed a spring spreader from a friend and plan on dialing in the spring to make it "SPRING" !! Thanks everyone for your tech help.....

 

I'm thinking that if you are getting no movement at all, it will not be the spring being too stiff that is the problem.

 

Well, once he gets it on the floor and jumps on it we'll know.
Unless of course, the leaves are welded together.
100% rigid does sound weird. (there's a joke there, but I'll leave it alone.)

 

I have two questions not having much knowledge on leaf springs.
1 How do you dial in a leaf spring.
2 I have seen before that people have said about removing a leaf to soften the ride. Have not seen any mention of that this time is there a reason why.

 

You dial in a leaf spring by adding or removing leaves, switching some for heavier or lighter, grinding the edges to prevent gouging, or actually bending a new arch into it. We haven’t suggested removing leaves in this situation because only five leaves for a rear spring is already sounding rather light.

 

Thanks for your explanation alchemy

 

The 5 leaves in this spring are 1/4 " thick, unlike the typical model a spring. I have the spring out and apart and I'm removing the first ply above the main and another ply but adding a thinner one from a model a spring. Adding a 1" spacer on top to keep the ride height. Cleaning up the leaves and grinding the edges and putting back together. I will let yao all know how things work out. Thanks for all your help.

 

While you have it's butt in the air with the spring out it might be a good idea to check that the rear end has a full range of movement. Make sure nothing is binding or fouling.

 

Did you need the spring spreader?
That spring needs to be mounted with preload tension, lots of it too.

 

A 40 front spring is 2" wide verses rear springs from 28 to 48 are 2-1/4"

 

Just put the spring back together today. Installing back into car tomorrow. Will let you know. I think was a combination of too stiff of spring stack, paint binding, and spring ply not sliding.

 

All back together. Much better now. Actually have spring action in the spring. Went for a little test drive and much better !! Thanks everyone for your input
..

 

So, tell us what you did to it.

 

I removed 2 of the spring ply's and put a thinner ply from a car spring. Removed all the paint. Added a 1" spacer on top. Ground the ply ends to put a bevel on them. Also put some grease between the plys.

 

Remove the clamps?

 

Yes forgot that !!

 

Glad you are dialing that in. That’s an unusual spring for that application but you’re on top of it now.

 

Awesome glad you got it sorted