Technical Spring reversal experiment

Had an extra set of AD gm truck springs. Had an idea we wanted to try.
We have this tube roller we used for our EV go kart “cages”
Thought it might work with a spring

 

Did ok. Had to massage close to the ends with a little hammer work.
I’m no springoligist, but I guess it sorta kinda worked.
There’s a little wave in the end of this one. It had that already.
I guess we’ll whack on it some more

 

so, you could use that tool to re-arch, or de-arch springs. Neat!

 

I think so.
I’m a first timer.
If the bottom rollers were smaller and all of them solid it would do a lot better

 

Did you over bend [arch] each leaf? They do come back a bit once loaded. If you bend a leaf and then put it on the floor arch up and step on it you will see what I mean. If you can get the bottom roller wheels closer together and make a smaller top wheel you will probably get closer to the ends. I made a hyd jack to do my springs. Yes it took several attempts to get the right over-bend and a few U-tube videos.

 

So you re-rolled it the opposite way, no impact or pressing action?

 

Yes.well mostly. The first spring had been dropped and had a slight bend. That’s why we experimented on this set.
We whacked that bend out as good as we could then rolled it. The next non bent main leaf did better. So far no hitting. But might need a tad towards the end due to the bender limitations.

 

I’d bounce on em.

 

The 2 reversed next to a stock spring

 

That’s awesome.
This tool we have needs smaller bottom rollers with em raised and brought in. Like your best up. Then it would work much better.
we finished up the last part of these springs with a hammer.
I’m kinda pumped up for a first timer

 

I have a friend who owned an exhaust shop and he used to do that with his tube bender.

 

Good job Anthony. For those doing a transverse spring as Seb Shows above, I always double check that both side are the same or the car will have a lean to it. I do this by clamping in the vise at exact center, then lay a straight edge across and measure to see that its the same distance to each spring eye. Just takes a minute, and the car will sit level.

 

I'm wondering if the metal will hold it's shape as it does when you do it on an anvil with a hammer or with a press.

 

That’s how I have reversed eyes or dearched leaves on several sets of springs.

 

Should.
Only messing with the main leaf.
The 5 others should hold things just fine
This ride is ways down the road before building.
I bought a 3 inch drop axle for it and a parts axle with brakes. Both setups came with springs. So we reversed one set.
That will raise up the front eye. I have a set of same width frame hangers from a similar year international. Those hangers are at least an inch shorter than the GM ones. Might look at using em

 

They have all held their shape on any I have done. On my sons pickup, I dearched every leaf some.

 

From experience, the solid rollers would help alot. And, I typically draw the arch on the floor before I start to either get back to the same after reversing the eyes or to at least know where I started. Also, bouncing on them after the roll will relax them some. That's why I use a chalk line on the floor for reference.

 

Before reading posts on here, I always understood that the only way to reverse the eyes was to heat and re-roll them.
I never liked the idea of doing it with a big hammer or pressing in point loads, so @anthony myrick ‘s way makes much sense to me as the load to stretch the spring/move the metal is even throughout.

It would be interesting to hear from a person who makes or modifies leaf springs as to whether these ways are recommended or safe.
.

 

We used leaf #2 as a reference. Plus the other set. Both sets were super close to the same arc.

 

I’d like to hear from a springologist as well.
I watched a video then wondered if this tool would work.
I’ve never seen em heated.
Only hammered or pressed

 

I wouldn’t heat them. That does change the characteristics of the spring steel. They need to be cold formed.

 

Here's how I've done it for over 40 yrs. Never had a problem.

De-arching, arching, raising 4x4's up to 4". All the same way and again never had a problem with the springs losing the new shape...

 

Very cool experiment Anthony, nice work.

 

My arms tired just looking at that pic

 

Yeh it makes you sleep well at night !!

The "secret" is having the step down between the spring leafs. This allows each spring to support its own portion of the weight. That's the main reason I've never had them sag in a short period of time after re-working them.

.....

 

This method works well if you have deaf neighbors (or neighbors that practice bagpipes all day long)

Springs never lose their stiffness if cold formed (throughout their life) they only lose their "set" after zillions of cycles and a simple reset will restore them.

All that is done is a controlled bending past it's modulus of elasticity.

 

Great job, Mr. Myrick!
When I worked in a big spring shop in Orlando many years ago, the old timers taught me to form up springs cold with a BFH on a trough shaped anvil.
They said that that the shock of the hammer every inch helped “set” the arch. We did this on everything up to .500 x 4” leafs.
The guy that held the leaf tight on the anvil got his brains rattled on every lick if he didn’t hold it down tight!!
Thicker than .500” we used a press,cold, but the “small” stuff went under the hammer.
The only time heat was used was heating the raw steel in the furnace, and heating the end of the leaf to roll an eye or hook. Then it was oil quenched.

I do have a small hydraulic vice mounted press to do .250-.262” early Ford leafs and they readily bend in it, using one inch increments.
Seem soft to me, FWIW.

 

Heating springs is a bad idea. Would you cut coil springs with an oxy-acetylene torch?
(By the way, if you answered yes to the question above, you have been marked as incorrect and given an F.)

 

Guilty of using a cut off wheel
A few times
Only heat I’ve used on springs is cutting em as scrap