I did it myself. Took about an hour on each spring, just take your time and be consistent. Worked for me for about a 3" drop with a very basic jig and a bottle jack. Do a search, I think there was a tech about building the jig.
not a bad idea.. i think i have a few friends that may be able to help me out.. askin around at this point.. planning for the next couple of months
I don't know how far you want to travel, but Madison Spring in Madison may be able to help you. 608-222-8677. I think I have the number correct, I have purchased leafs from them before.
You may wanna give it shot yerself. When my dad built his Model T speedster, he dearched the front and rear springs himself in his garage at the age of 62... and he had never done it before!!! That impresssed me.
todd, "Bab**** Spring" They are in the Third Ward area, downtownish, right by MIAD the art school, they well dearch, or make new ones for you all together, VERY affordable & I know you & your dollars are hard to seperate, so no worries, great, fast work, they have been around forever. I had them make a pair of main leafs for a 52 ford crestline a few years back, anyway, it's an option. Carl
143 North Milwaukee Street 414-276-4450 1-800-242-1506 Fax 414-276-4449 http://www.bab****spring.com/
There's also a spring shop on West Mitchell St. They are still an old fashioned spring shop... can do anything. They made me several reversed eye Model A front leaves a few years ago... damn if I can remember the name...
I think that is national spring, I was there once for a spring for a 100 ton german hydrolic crane. They did what we needed in a hurry
That's it...an old racer name Les Lunsford used to be the shop manager and he always took good care of guys with weird projects/stock cars, etc.... he has retired but the guys there said they still would do my springs for me.
Yah, i stopped in there last summer for some leaf spring shims....told me they do stock applications, not arching or dearching. Hopefully soon i'll have 4 springs to do....
I just did it on my 54 Chevy, only I reversed the eye's, it's the same process only more extreme. It's really pretty simple, if you don't have a press you can do it with a BFH. I marked it every 3 inches to help me keep track of things. First I pressed on the marks, then again between them. Final picture shows them reversed, I eventually took some of that arch out (by lowering my lift on them), but didn't want them too flat since I was removing 2 leafs as well.
I went across hitting every line, then when I got to the other end I started back, this time in between the lines. Then back again on the lines, alternating until I had the arch I wanted, then did the other spring to match. It would be really nice to have a gauge on the press, but if you watch the spring closely you'll get the hang of how much pressure to apply. I have read that reversed eyes cause the spring to hit the mount rivet and eventually cracks the spring. It seems to me that an angle grinder and welder would cure that pretty easily though.
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