Ok, I think I get it now. That spring looks like a 4 leaf, is that right ? If so, it would be thinner than the normal 6 or 7 leafer that fits up into a Model a or similar crossmember. You would need those spacers to take up some of the distance so the U bolts can cinch down tight. Does that make sense ? What is the part number of the Speedway spring you ordered ? Don
Ok, it looked like 4 in that first picture. Was the spacer packed right in with the spring or packaged separately ? Don
That make perfect sense. I have found some spring clamps with the spacer welded to the bottom plate. I think that's going to be what I'll do.
I saw this little number while searching on the net. Looks like a nice clean way to hold a spring in place.
I've been looking in my Speedway catalog. Looks like that spacer is part of kit number 916-33006, 916-33022, and 916-33024. Not sure why Speedway puts it in there except to take up the depth of some crossmembers so the U bolts will clamp down tight on the spring. Put the spring up into the crossmember with NO spacer and slide that bottom plate up and secure the whole thing with the two U bolts. If it clamps down tight on the spring you need no spacer. If there is slop, put the spacer on the bottom and try it again. From their pictures I think that is the game plan. Don
Will do Don thanks for the help. I just couldn't get the spacer to sit level on the bottom. Was hitting the sauce a little hard and now I see I just have to make the hole in the spacer bigger.
My Son used the two bolt setup you pictured on the front of his rpu. It makes for a clean installation with no U bolts wrapping around the crossmember. Don
That will put your spring against the bottom of the crossmember. There's a square hole in the center of the crossmember for the spring center-bolt head [it's also square] to fit up into. Just be careful the tops of the spring leaves don't come into contact with the bottom of the frame rails when the full weight is on and you encounter dips/bumps in the road. If so, you may have to either notch the bottoms of the frame rails to clear the spring or put the spacer on top of the spring. You won't know until you mock it all up and bounce up and down on the front of the car. Edit: See photo above regarding notching the bottom of the frame rails.
Thanks Rocky. I'm afraid I'm going to have to notch the frame. I may wind up putting one on either side of the spring. I just can't believe after looking all over on the HAMB that I couldn't find anything on this. Maybe it was just a stupid question after all!!
Wrong. They are not tapered. Unless you have some weird off-brand. The lock pins are tapered, but the holes in the axle are not.
Keep in the back of your mind that the inside of the crossmember where the spring is clamped is at 5-7degress to keep the spring at same castor as the axle - so if you need to space something out be sure to do it evenly and keep the angle. I checked a couple model 'a' axles and they have a taper.
Great! Now I think my spring is too long. I spent a lot of time on the phone with the speedway tech guy and he told me what to order.
The front of my axle is the side with bugs splattered all over it. Blue The spacer should bolted into your spring pack. If you remove leaves to fine tune the ride, you'll have to add another spacer or replace the one you hav for a thicker one. The spring you have DOES look too long. Maybe the adjustable perches set the shackles in too far? I have about the same setup (no chrome and fixed perches).
Should be able to. I have put them together backwards, on Mondays, before coffee. Seemed to go together fine. Have enough snow yet, Jim? (Came from CT, family is there).
Yea it's blowing around like crazy out there. But my garage floor is 65 deg. I almost fell asleep under the car.
The perches are forged. It would switch the towers from tension to compression, but I do not think that will exceed the materials strength.
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