I'm wrapping up the body mods on the 49' Shoebox and getting ready to send it out to a buddy's shop to hang the factory rear end. The PO butchered in a 9" that is about 6 inches to wide which puts my tires into the fenders. This is the reason I've got donut spares on the rear; they're the only thing that will fit. My questions: The spring packs I'm using are original and pretty rusty. I just came in from grinding them down with 60 grit flapper discs, primed and painted with hi-performance rattle can Rustoleum. I know there are teflon spacers available but I have an unlimited supply of thin teflon sheets at work. Can I cut them into strips and insert them between each leaf? If so, what keeps them there besides friction from the single bolt and clamps holding the pack together? 2. The "clamps" that hold the pack together are busted and the rubber bushings are dry rotted. Are the rubber bushings necessary? Can I simply make my own clamps minus the rubber? If not, anyone got a cheap source? Thanks in advance!
jamco will build you new ones cheap and to your specs. the teflon may slide out without the clamps around the packs.
Already done grinding and painting. Ready to go back together. How about some knowledge pertaining to the question at hand?
Also, the teflon I have available is industrial strength/thickness used in heat press machines. Durable ****.
Hey if your going go sand what i call leaf or shackles you have to sand them long ways not ever across(short side) under a lot of torq the crack. Tractor supplies places sales slipplate it like spray paint that you can spray on them after they are cleaned. And as far a the spacers try it band them together. If you dont like it or the ride is bad at that time change it....
Still searching...**** load of info on 4wd sites but not much else? Everything from "my uncle used bicycle innertubes for 20 years blah blah blah". Seems to be a gray area...
the main leaf is your locator as long as its bolted in real solid at the axel the rest are just supports so you can do whatever to the others saftly as long as it doesnt interfer with the main leaf and its locating of the rear end, my buddy welded in some little bits of plate at the ends of the leafsprings to lift his truck, it functions fine dont know all the effects as far as softness or stiffness effects of that, but he did it and he isnt dead
personaly, i would forget the teflon, you wont need clamps either.springs are not cheap any more either. go for it, what have you got to lose you already own them. there is a tech article somewhere on here on how to dearch your leafs. i built my own jig with some square tubing and a hyd jack.
Most pickups don't use rubber in their spring clamps. And if you look at most aftermarket clamps, they're a freakin exhaust clamp with a square corners. Obviously not a high stress item. I've made a few sets on POS 4x4s out of ***orted junk mig'd or screwed together and never had a problem. If you can attach the clamp to a leaf to prevent sliding, then the clamp doesn't have to be tight, (more like 1/8" from tight) and it'll help ride. good luck
Take 'em to a spring shop and have them gone through - I had my stock springs re-arched, rebushed and gone through for $125, a month ago. When I think of what I would have had to do, it was cheap and easy.
The clamps and rubber that you are talking about may be available from any one of the major parts suppliers that cater to the antiquers..... If you dont get anywhere with the suppliers.... Any good Spring Rebuilder can accomodate you with the clamps that you are talking about.... They are nothing more than extruded rubber and a steel band clamp.... Remember once you clamp the springs to the rear housing and tighten down the U bolts the parallel leaf springs dont slide around line a Buggy Spring does..... If you have access to a hand banding machine at work you can wrap the spring and band them with a hand bander... Rich
This may help you out..... Reprint from www.shoeboxford.com There were gasps of surprise from car buyers in Ford showrooms in late 1948 when the buyers peered underneath the all-new 1949 Ford. Gone were Ford's traditional transverse "buggy" suspension springs. In their place were much more up-to-date coil front springs and semi-elliptical side frame mounted rear springs. Ford had finally joined the modern age! Concentrating on the rear springs, they ranged from a 6-leaf bundle for the '49 Coupe, a 7-leaf for all sedans to a 9-leaf for the station wagons. Leaves No. 2,3, and 4 were made with circular recesses at each end, designed to contain anti-squeak pads intended to minimize leaf friction (for a softer ride) and control wear. The pads appear to be 2" squares of heavy canvas bumped out at the center and soaked in wax. (Present day replacements are of webbing material, also soaked in a paraffin-like substance to protect them and reduce friction; they sell for $1.50 to $2.00 each. The originals used on '49 vehicles apparently had a short service life; in Product Information Letter P-83, issued on Feb. 9th, 1950, Ford Motor Co. announced the use of "improved rear spring inserts... two different inserts are now being used, one is colored green and the other is blue-gray in color. Only the green insert will be carried for service. These inserts have calcium stearate powder incorporated in the impregnanting wax. Therefore, when replacing in service it will not be necessary to coat these inserts as outlined in Product Letter P-81. All red webbed inserts now on hand should be used up by following instructions in P-81." Letter P-81 described some owner complaints of spring "knock" because the inserts had fallen out or become so worn they no longer performed their function. It advised dealer service personnel to "Place 12 un-used inserts made from red webbing only in a closed container with a quan***y of calcium stearate powder and shake vigorously until they are fully coated." The letter advised the powder "is available from any chemical company and most drug stores.") The eyes of the main spring leaf were made with their centers lining up with the spring body, which is unusual since most other cars have their leaf eyes formed above the top surface of their leaf eyes formed above the top surface of the leaf. Eye-to-eye distance for a new 7-leaf spring is approximately 47-1/2". Length of the main leaf (along the curve) is 50". Rear springs are made of carbon-alloy steel heat-treated a bit on the soft side for toughness and safety. As such, they gradually take on a set over their lifetime, generally settling downt o a slight arc (as viewed from the rear of the car), after some years of use. From the side of the car, this amounts to an 8" distance, approximately, between the hubcap center and the top of the fender opening. If your springs appear straight, or worse in a reverse arc, a trip to the spring shop should be made to re-arc them. Don't delay. Such deformation causes inner leaf breakage. (Ed's Note: And, generally, a mushy ride with the rear end shifting around from side to side) In 1951, the rear mount of the rear springs was changed from a frame-mounted shackle to a tension bar perch mount. I do not know if any real benefits arose from the alteration, but Ford produced a new 1A numbered rear spring ***embly for it. Over the years, I have used several 1951 Ford rear springs in my 1950 Ford Sedan and can hardly detect any difference. I will say, however, that the large holes cut in the side of the frame for access to the perch mounting bolts appear to weaken the holes cut in the side of the frame for access to the perch mounting bolts appear to weakne the frame in a critical area. (Ed's Note: Product Information Letter P-123 reports the "incorporation of rubber insulating pads between the rear springs and rear axles of 1951 p***enger cars...effective in production 100 percent April 27, 1951." The letter reports this results in a lowering of the rear of the car by about half an inch and "new springs are now used to maintian the same rear height of the car and the same spring action. The rear spring clips are longer because of the additional thickness created by the rubber pads and the pad retainers.") Rear springs definately need regular servicing. Squeak pads should be checked and replaced if worn out or missing. (Ed's Note: They usually are!) Shackle rubber bushings should be looked at and replaced if any evidence of bite-through is seen. Badly worn shackle rubbers will allow tire sidewall/inside fender contact on sharp turns. A good treat for your rear springs is to brush paint the center section of the (up to the pad area) with EP-90 (transmission/diff oil). This will produce a noticeable improvement in riding the quality and at the same time preserve the springs by keeping the water out.
Your springs were rusty - were they pitted? I think it matters. I was going to just revamp my old leaf springs the same way you did. But I asked the spring shop to press in the new bearings for me, and when they looked over my pretty painted main leaf they could see the pits in them. Maybe they weren't even .030 deep but they were there. They were able to convince me pretty easily that was bad news. New springs were NOT that expensive, even for my cheap ***. All new, new plastic squeak stoppers, new bands, new bushings. Heck of a deal.
i worked in a spring shop for many years. it is a good idea to take the springs to them and have them inspected and rebushed. they will also put in new sliders and clamps. i see no reason that the teflon you have would not work. as for the clamps, one way you can do them is to use steel banding like what would be used when strapping stuff to a pallet. there is usualy a rubber strip that goes under the steel bands and has little edges on either side to keep it from slipping out from under the banding. you can use that at either end of your spring to hold the teflon in and keep the leaves from twisting in the spring pack. for the most part though the tension of the leaves on one another will keep everything in place under normal use. i would still highly recommend taking them to a spring shop for inspection and new bushing. it is not a big job and should not cost much. there are things a trained professional can spot that you might now. spotting those things and taking care of them NOW is cheap insurance that you don't have a failure while on the road. if a spring eye breaks off while your going down the road you could be looking at an expensive wrecker bill. some other things a spring shop can do for you is to add a little arch to the spring if it has lost some of it's arch over time. BUT it will not hold if you do not replace at least a leaf or two in each pack OR you can add a leaf to each pack. both methods can bring your *** end back up (if that is what you want) and breath new life into your spring pack. there is a limit as to how high you can go with this method though. the other thing is they can DE-ARCH your springs in order to make it sit lower. they take the spring apart and work each leaf in a special press, then re***emble the spring pack. it's a finesse thing and takes experience to know how to do it right. that is one way to get your *** end down. again it can only go so far. the main limiting factor is that the more arch you take out of your spring the longer the distance between your spring eyes gets. if you go too far your shackles could end up pinned against the frame in the rear and then it will ride very poorly. if you need to get lower and that is going to be a problem they can custom make you a new (shorter) mainleaf that will remedy the situation. i had custom leaf packs made for 2 of my vehicles when i worked there. both designed in such a way as to eliminate wheel hop and still offer a smooth ride. the second set had a shorter main leaf as it went on a lower truck. i had the added benefit of having a shop foreman that had a sharp mind for engineering and was also an incredible mechanic. on top of that the owner was a gear head and major off road enthusiast. i learned alot from those guys.
i see your in Michigan too. what spring shop did you go to?? i worked at A.B. Spring in Grand Rapids. still keep in touch with the owner (i worked there a dozen years ago) and a good friend is still there as well.
Sounds like the heavy lifting is already done. You don't need anything else to hold the strips in place. Make new clamps from 3/16x3/4" strap get at Lowes. Rubber bushings can be replaced with nylon, steel, or br***, bushings of like size. Lowes and Home Depot have selections of nylon in stock. I've used nylon rod of proper OD and drilled ID. They last a long time, I have some on my custom truck spring eyes that have beenthere for 7 years now.
Daleidens in Kalamazoo. Nice people, as they let me look through their interchange books for an hour, trying to find a junkyad spring that would work. Studebaker springs are not different from anybody elses really. Still in the end the price for brand news ones that would fit perfectly was dirt cheap (less than $300 if I recall). That ended that.
I got a cheap source. I use muffler clamp slash "V" bolt hangers on my Dakota 4X4. Minus the rubber flexible hanger part. Yet I use them with the little trailer leaf spring shackles from the local small trailer place in town. I sandwich the leafs in between the shackle pieces and clamp them with the pipe hanger v bolt part. The "V" bolt get up is hard enough to torque down somewhat. Don't over do it. They dampen the wheel hop somewhat. It's a hokey *** set up. Yet it does work. If you want real horsepower control, don't try this, it's a candy *** help is all. Just to get you by for now.
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