Hey, I just need an question answerd really quick.... I was installing my V8 Halibrand quick-change in my 34, and when we where mounting (what I thought was a model t spring) and we discovered that it does not fit. The spring that I have is too wide. Does anybody know what a typical eye to eye dimension is of a Model T spring? Was there more then 1 style of leaf count spring? I have the rear end set up with 1948 ford bells. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks!
Mike, do you have a pic of the spring you have? There were a few variations of T springs over the years but nothing that varied the width. That's what has me a little confused by you saying it's too wide.
The 46-48 Ford rear ends have the narrowest spring perch spacing of all the banjo rear ends. About 47 inches. Model A and T springs need a wider perch width to work correctly. Somewhere on the HAMB there is a thread with the various spring perch widths by year.
Not sure of the widh, but I know my T spring was about 3-4 inches shorter than the A spring when standing on the ground. Also, the T spring had 2inch leaves and a spot to oil the main leaf on the both ends. Model A spring has wider leaves.
A stock early tapered leaf T rear spring with 8 leaves is 45 inches eye to eye out of the car. Width is 2 inches so you need to add filler plates in the crossmember to center it.
Just came across this same issue this week Mike. Yes the spring is wider eye to eye by about 4 inches than an A . I had my main leaf cut , new eyes rolled and reversed just yesterday. Atlas spring co. here in LA for 55 bucks. I am running this on a T V8 w/ a late banjo open drive rear end .
Model T Spring has wider leafs than the Model A but narrower eye to eye which I think is 38 3/4" and the model A was like 40 1/2" and the '32 had a much flatter arc and widest eye to eye at 43 3/4"
I have a T rear spring and crossmember on a culver city center with '40 tubes and '36 radius rods. I heated and bent the '36 spring perches to fit the the T spring. You should be able to do the same with the perches on your '48 tubes. Are you using a T rear crossmember? If you're using an A rear crossmember, you'll definitely need to make a shim that matches the curve of the T spring to the A crossmember. Force-clamping a T spring into an A crossmember is a perfect recipe for cracking crossmembers. Filler plates to take up the width difference of the narrower T spring are NOT necessary. Once the U-bolts are tight, that baby is not going ANYWHERE!
Here a couple of model T springs I have in the garage. The one laying on the floor measures 43 1/2" center to center. The one connected to the shackles on the '40 rear measures 45" under a little tension.
wow I was way off. I just measured these things today at York PA Ford nationals I should have wrote them down. lol Thanks for correcting with photos
I have severall T rear springs and they all are 43 1/2" eye to eye except the tapered and rounded 1918 and earlier, they are an inch wider.
@thunderbirdesq What's this shim look like? I was planning to use an A top leaf on my T spring, as I've done that in the past, but I'm always interested in doing it better, correctly, etc.
Use a piece of cardboard and make a template of the arc of the A cross member and one of the top of the T spring and lay them next to each other. Then make a filler piece that extends past the U=bolts about an inch out of a thick piece ground down steel bar to take up the gap. A simpler way is to tack a piece of metal to the inside of the cross member that rests on the ends of the top short spring, however this puts the force of the spring into a small area. I like the spacer to go all the way across the mount area.
This is what I came up with, using your recommendation. Now, I've got to figure the simplest way to fab this. Thanks. As, as you can see, the bottom arch (the Model T spring) has a very limited contact patch. The Model A spring has nearly ten inches more contact with the cross-member.
Couple ways to make the spacer, bend a section of 3/8 bar stock for the thinner middle area with a press, and weld thicker pieces to the ends. When welded grind all to a smooth radius. Another option is to make four pieces out of 1/8 inch plate, a box so to speak, weld all edges and grind smooth. In this method weld in a small tube for the spring center bolt register. With either of these methods you would make it 2 1/4 inch wide with attention the radius at the top where it meets the cross member so it has full contact. It's work either way, maybe I should make one?
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