Wanting to lower the front end a little,like to try 7 leaf reverse eye. New stock spring is 30 1/2” eye to eye center,I see 30” and 31” not sure which one I should try,any info appreciated. Thanks.
There are also de-arched springs that lower the frontend about 2"... you may need to cut and weld in some spring travel clearance into the frame rails beside/under the front crossmember... go eazy go !
I used my press to reverse the main leaf on my front spring on my avatar. Also has a dropped axle. It was so low that the tires hit the underside of my fenders
very cool... thanks manyolcars... I want to use a reversed eye/ de-arched spring, model A crossmember, and an un-dropped stock axle... sounds like that should work...
You may still have to notch the frame rails at the cross member for a de-arched spring.With the stock axle the fenders should be fine.
I agree with Dirty Dug's suggestion to go with the shorter spring. I reversed the main leaf on my A myself, returning it to the same arch, but with downward curve of the main leaf the eye-to-eye length gets slightly longer since it's on the top and "out", rather than curled under. That puts the shackles more "hanging down" rather than the 45 degree angle that's accepted as a good point to be to give room for suspension travel. If this doesn't make sense at first, think about it and maybe do a simple drawing. Lynn
I reversed a stock model A main leaf with a vise , put all the leaves back on and installed it. When I got it off the stands and back on the ground it looked great. I stood on the frame rails and jumped up and down it just flattened out and stayed there. I ordered a new reverse eye spring from Americas oldest speed shop, swapped it in and am very happy with the results
Buy a new one as Clem said. We have re arched an original model A spring at home with a hydraulic pipe bender . looked great and wasn’t hard to do . but over time the jolly thing sags back to where we dont want it. Don’t know why.
I always understood that the only correct way to reverse a spring was to heat and ‘un-roll’ the eyes and then roll them the way you wanted. I learned that almost 40 years ago and only the last few years have I heard of using a press, which doesn’t take into account the tempering of the steel in the spring. (I also know that I will most likely be rubbished for the above comments).
Just my opinion based on talking to a couple of spring shops here in Kansas City. First off not all spring shops keep their furnace fired up anymore. Not everyone has access to a local spring shop and don't we all like to do things ourselves? I think this is where using a press to reverse a spring "at home" comes from. Problem is we are working with a spring that is possibly 90+ years old and cycled millions of times. Now let's have a good old flaming like was common here 15 years ago when I found Ryan's place. -Dave
Shouldn't we Northerners just trade main leafs with you guys on the Southern Hemisphere? Then nobody needs to do any labor. The spring is already upside down.
On a spring-above-sxle arrangement there is a measurable clearance between the top of the axle and the spring-to-frame attachment hardware, which must be greater than the "design" value of "bump". This clearance becomes decreased by reversing spring eyes (maybe 1.5"), dearching springs, and/or omitting leaves. I don't know if this is applicable in your case, but bear it in mind. (Dropped axles have no such impact on this clearance.)
Appreciate all your inputs,have a 30” spring on order,I’m back in the country in a couple of months and give her a go then. Thanks agin.
31-1/2" spring is made for original Ford axles with 36-1/2" perch width; while the 30" spring is made a 35" perch width aftermarket axles. Seems to me that even the 31" spring made for Super Bell and their ilk axles doesn't sit quite right on a stock perch width axle.
Yep, 1001 with 5-1/2" unloaded arch or 1001L with 4-1/2" unloaded arch. Usually need to notch the rails with the 1001L. Sent from my Nexus 5X using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
Yeah with my light drivetrain I might be able to get away with no notch but seeing as much as my posies spring settled over the first couple of years I’m going to go ahead and notch it. Truthfully surprised at how many cars are bottoming the spring out on the frame rails after even a small amount of travel. They’ve got to ride like dog ****. I checked probably 30 cars this last year to see what they had for clearance to help make my mind up on the notch. I know a traverses leaf ford doesn’t have a lot of travel but some would be preferred over none lol
So, in general how much clearance do you need between the top side of the front spring and the bottom side of the frame? -Dave
Well, they move about 1.25 vertically at the shackles so I’m probably going to aim for an inch of clearance from the top of the spring to the top of the notch/ bottom of the frame. seems to me most of the front notches I see are about 3/4 inch deep
Thanks for the reply Tim. My roadster project is still missing some weight from the front end (hood, radiator, grill shell and smaller parts). With that in mind, I measured about 2 & 1/2" from the lower outside corner of the frame rail straight down to the top of the spring leaf bellow. This is the first early Ford I've had and wasn't sure if that wasn't too close, or not. -Dave
Still all stock. Need to pull, clean and lube both front 'n rear springs. Not going super low, will probably remove a leaf or three out of each to make it a little lower, but I like the way it sits now and don't want a real big forward rake. Thanks for the input. -Dave
I've used both just fine. There's a spring shop who reversed the eyes of a Model A front and rear main leaf for me. I never had an issue. If I remember correctly, I had to trim the second leaf of both of the spring packs. I have used the press method a few times. That worked out well, too.
Reversed eye on my avatar. Think it's 7 leaf had to put a spacer under it to get it to clamp up. Rides better than stock.
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