Rear Spring Mounting Issue

[Synchro909]

The way I see, it is a question of value for money. A poor quality part that doesn't do the job is money down the drain. Any part that does do the job gives some value for money and the longer it continues to do so, the better the value.
As has just been said, it is up to us, the customers to push back against poor quality at both vendor and manufacturer levels.

[Tom Wesenberg]

'Ford Authorized' only means a small fee has been paid to Ford for using the name, and has nothing to do with approval or quality.

[Tony Hillyard]

The same goes for other items produced in China. Where do you think Apple get their computers and iPhones made - China. Why, because they make more money that way. The Chinese, at the moment, are hungry. Give it another ten or twenty years and China will be the leading world manufacturer of most things.

Consumer greed and vendor's push for profit has a payback to come.

Look at the British motorcycle industry, up until the 1960's they were the world leaders. Then the Japanese (who had been copying everything the west produced for years, like China today) started importing motorcycles into Britain. Everybody laughed at them. Then the customers realised these new Japanese bikes didn't pee oil out everywhere, the were reliable and less expensive. So what happened to the British motorcycle industry it has all but disappeared.

If the customer wants "cheap" today, they will pay the price of lost home industries and a shortage of trained workers in the future. Take a look at recent history to know which way things are going.

[California Travieso]

Originally Posted by SteveB31

We do have original u bolts, and all vendors do sell many China and Taiwan made parts- I know that sucks, but it is reality. About half of all the repro parts made now are made in those places. I don’t like it. You don’t like it. Some are of great quality. Some are not. Those u bolts mentioned above are good quality materials, but Snyder’s has them made there because they cannot find anyone here to make them for the same cost. They are too long. They are tough to accurately drill. If you want some original ones, we have some. We all hate to see China made parts- but it is hard to get parts made in the USA these days. On a side note, we make about 100 parts for Model A Fords- all available from any dealer- and all the parts we make are made in Colorado- many in our shop.

Steve @ Berts
Modelastore..com

Steve,

I'll get bashed for saying this, but I believe Consumers should be given the option of choosing between quality products or cheap products. Retailer's like Snyder's should ask for the Chinese manufacturers or any other manufacturer to produce quality products as a first criteria, then worry about the price. If the criteria is the price first, then you will always get low quality products.

David Serrano

[Gary in La.]

SEE POST #7. It's not Snyders.

[barnstuf]

Sponsored Links (Register now to hide all advertisements)

ThE packaging is Snyders. Snyders sells both wholesale to local area dealers, and retail to the public. It appears the local area dealer is selling a Snyder part. Snyders catalogs show that part is listed with the following advisory data…"You cut and drill to length depending on your leaf spring". Snyder's covers their ass but the selling sub dealer did not. By the way the cost would be many times higher if the various possible lengths were carried individually. Yes, what a previous person said is true the licensing fee allows Snyder to sell parts using the original Ford Motor Company part numbers. If Snyder's was not licensed they would have to use non-Ford part numbers or ID of their choice as Bratton does..If my, memory is still good the longest length is for 1941 era vehicles so they offer them to that size, buyer cuts down to their size need. Yes, it is frustrating to the buyer unaware of Snyders catalog description.

[Purdy Swoft]

I thought that I remember being told that the longer U bolts were actually the later V8 U bolts . I believe that barnstuf is correct in post # 26 above . I don't know where they were made but the metal is hard and difficult to drill . I chose to use some of my used originals .

[frank55a]

For what it is worth, Bratton's catalog says "The supplier of these bolts make them extra-long to fit V-8 cars. The extra length of the stud should be removed with a hacksaw then a hole cross drilled for a cotter pin."

I believe I have an extra set of original U bolts with the bottom plates. If anyone is interested PM me and I will dig them out and e-mail you back with pictures.

[glenn in camino]

Is the bottom plate forged? Reproductions from most suppliers are cast iron that will brake easily.

[Chris Haynes]

I have bought lots of Chinese parts from Snyder's, Bratton's, and The Old Ford Store. Same packaging. All FORD Official Licensed Products. All the vendors sell pretty much the same parts.
Back in the '60's stuff I bought from Ford Parts Obsolete was made in Argentina.

[BillCNC]

Originally Posted by glenn in camino

Is the bottom plate forged? Reproductions from most suppliers are cast iron that will brake easily.

The original parts used were only the leaf's and mounting parts. The Spring Clamps and nut's and bolt's were replaced along with the center nut and bolt and the U-Bolts. The U-Bolt's threads where the castle nut sits was getting pretty wobbly on the threads so in the trash they went. I should have saved them until after they were replaced so I could compare them but cutting them to length and re-drilling only took 5 minutes max. A horizontal bandsaw and a drill press with a screw-less vise made that job quick and painless.

I arched the spring ends, ground them clean then I installed new bushings. I painted them leaf's with 3 coats of VHT Gloss Black 250° Chassis and Roll Cage paint. Then I applied 2 coats of Slip Plate and then assembled the spring packs. Toped it all off with 2 more coats of black. The springs (front and rear) are now mounted.

The mounting plates are all 1931 originals, well at least as far as I know.

Boy, what started out as a major overhaul of the braking system, has turned into a chassis reconditioning. It was done 10 years ago, ...

First it was the brakes, then the cross-shaft's, then the springs, then the shocks and I also notices a little wiggle in the frame, ... I straightened all that out but I had to undo all but the 4 side rivets of the front cross-member to do it. After all that I had the frame sandblasted, powder coated and then cleared coated. Best part was, ... I dropped the frame off and picked it up in UNDER 48 hours at a cost of, ... $400.00 out the door.

Regards
Bill

[BillCNC]

Originally Posted by Chris Haynes

I have bought lots of Chinese parts from Snyder's, Bratton's, and The Old Ford Store. Same packaging. All FORD Official Licensed Products. All the vendors sell pretty much the same parts.
Back in the '60's stuff I bought from Ford Parts Obsolete was made in Argentina.

All my parts have come from these vendors in the order of the amount of money spent.

Snyder's
CW Moss (local)
The Old Ford Store (local)
Bratton's
Macs

Almost all parts are US made, A couple are from China, and one shift boot is from Taiwan.

One thing to note about the quality of parts made in the US. Remember, ... A decent amount of our steel comes from China, ... and Molds are Molds. The only real difference is if the molds are maintained or not.

USA Made, ... Isn't what it used to be. Most stuff that say's USA Made on the package, the parts are from other countries and then assembled in the USA. Laws for packaging are trying to address this issue.

Regards
Bill

[BillCNC]

One quick question, ... Since I adjusted these U-Bolts, ... Since there are no torque specs, are they supposed to be gorilla tight or just enough to get the cotter pin in?

Regards
Bill

[BillCNC]

Do you guy's think I should send this piece of crap tool back?

Look at both ends. The hammering side is starting to mushroom and the bushing side is mushrooming and cracking.

It was only used on ONE bushing on the rear axle (left) before I made my own tool.

Regards
Bill

[Randy in ca]

Originally Posted by BillCNC

One quick question, ... Since I adjusted these U-Bolts, ... Since there are no torque specs, are they supposed to be gorilla tight or just enough to get the cotter pin in?

Regards
Bill

-
Tightening them evenly is an important factor as much as anything else - otherwise could end up with a non-level frame and body. Pretty tough to over tighten them with ordinary hand tools.

[1930-Pickup]

With a 1 foot wrench, tighten to just short of 'Blue-Torque'...that's the point where your hands and face turn blue ...it's actually not very far from accurate...

[Slowplane]

"Do you guy's think I should send this piece of crap tool back? " YES