Do you reuse your old model A front spring or buy new ones? I have a 28 model A truck and the front spring "looks" like it is in really good shape, should I reuse it?
if it holds the car up go for it. My spring's original, with some leaves taken out and some others added in from another pack to replace the broken ones, and a new lower main leaf In other words, if it looks good, bounces and returns to height, and holds the car up use what you have. I don't think age has anything to do with it- it's more mileage. A srping from a couple years ago could be junk if its worked hard
We used our original '30 A spring on our roadster and our first real run with it was from So. Cal. to Viva this year....somewhere on the way home the main leaf broke. It was still drivable, she made it home ok, but my point is that it was all clean and looked perfect during the build......keep an eye on it.....remember how old it is.
I am all for using old recycled parts. But I actually am regretting using old springs. My biggest problem is the car kept settling after a few months of driving. Almost like the "spring" is out of my springs. I had set everything up to make sure all my clearances were good and fully weighed the car down. Didn't matter in the long run. My original A springs were just toast. I would try it if you already have one I would try it. You will know soon enough if it will work for you. Better to save scratch for something else and not buy unless you need to. DuckusCrapus
My original 10 leaf was too beat. I bought an aftermarkt but didnt like the look. I later bought a local 12 leaf and thinned it to 9. One thing I did notice was the leafs from the 12 were thicker. These werent pitted either. The bushing wear was minimal but for a buck for new bushings and 60 seconds worth of work, it was good to go. I agree with buschandbusch, it's really about condition/wear and tear.
You gonna keep it a farm truck? Then go fo it. You gonna drive it out on the road? NO WAY. Think about what the suspension goes through on an 80 mile an hour impact over an expressway bridge.....uneven expansion joint, hard jounce up (or drop down) then another uneven expansion joint. Now think about what happens when the only spring holding the front end up (and/or centered in the car if your not running a panhard bar) snaps and unevenly drops the front end down on the bump stops. Couple that situation with trying to recover the resulting abrupt lane change with an inherently twitchy (by modern standards) chassis equipped with skinny bias plys, some 50 year old brake technology and old school steering.....all traveling at twice the speed it was initially designed for. Oh yeah.....right about now is that time you'd have wished you put in that panhard bar too...... Seriously though, its worth the 150 bucks (or what ever) to put in a fresh spring with new and modern materials that aren't brittle. The front spring in my '48 looked great. I dropped the leafs on the shop floor when I was wire brushing them and a couple snapped like glass.....pretty much made up my mind right there. Its cheap insurance. -Bigchief.
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