Help: Reverse eye leaf spring problem 34 Ford

[Pete]

Originally Posted by Brian

Looks to me as though they have cut the ends off and welded new ends on. Looks like a weld just inboard of the eyes in all your photos. Totally wrong!!

BINGO! Give that man a seegar.

They cut the ends off and turned them over. You can PLAINLY see the welds.
Total idiots. You can bet a weeks pay check that spring will break right next to the weld.

[Bored&Stroked]

Pete is 100% correct - you can see the welds . . . plain as day. I would NOT be running those springs and I'd be asking for a refund and new main leaves. The clearly had no idea as to the procedure to use - went about it completely wrong.

[Tinker]

Originally Posted by Andy

I installed the springs by putting the car on stands and jacking the ends of the springs up intil I could install the other shackle. Start with one shackle installed and held level. You are not lifting the whole weight of the car as the shackles are level. The spring is bolted down so it can't go anywhere.

A couple bottle jacks do work to install a regular spring or reverse on the front. Engine weight helps.

On the rear you can lift the car or in my case a truck off the jack stands as there is not a lot of weight to counteract a good spring. I used a reverse eye and 1" drop shackles on the rear of my truck.

Lots of tension there. Just be safe.




.

[thequietwon]

Most stock springs I've pulled apart have a similar line...its wear from the 2nd spring working against the main leaf. The ends of the each spring digs into the one below if they aren't kept lubed, and they never seem to be. The wear line is now on the bottom since it was bent & re-versed instead of having eye re-rolled. Can you show.a picture of the other side, showing the spring eye? That will tell us right away if the line is evident on that side to.

[Bored&Stroked]

Originally Posted by thequietwon

Most stock springs I've pulled apart have a similar line...its wear from the 2nd spring working against the main leaf. The ends of the each spring digs into the one below if they aren't kept lubed, and they never seem to be. The wear line is now on the bottom since it was bent & re-versed instead of having eye re-rolled. Can you show.a picture of the other side, showing the spring eye? That will tell us right away if the line is evident on that side to.

Good point and a smart thing to do. If they are truly cut/weld areas, should be able to decipher them on both sides. So I think I'll pass on my opinion until we see the other side. Hell - trying to diagnose issues like this from pictures - we should all be Doctors! LOL

I did go back and look again - still looks like a weld to me . . . seems very close to the end of the spring - don't believe my 2nd leaves extend that far. I will have to go look at a 32-34 rear spring today in the shop . . . will post pictures

[fordson]

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Thank you for all the comments and suggestions. In the meantime i have been to Cape Town to work on the car and check out the spring problems.
I have to say that everybody kind of panicked since the dropped front axle by Greg Haynes and the Lincoln brake System i got from Richard Lacy were like parts from outer space that would alter the character of the car. There were legal worries too! It all looked like a big mess up and i wanted it that way. However there was a major surprise:
The springworkshop did the front spring, reversed the main leaf and it worked out well, the rear they did as well, but as you know you cant just flip the main leaf because of the bend. They heated, straightened and rerolled the eye. It did work, but they were adament not to do it again☹️. Unfortunately we tried to fit the assembled reverse eye rear spring to the rear axle and could not fit it.
When reversing the eyes by heating, unrolling and rerolling, the main leaf shortens a little.

We thought the Springworkshop made a cock up, but only realised at a later stage the spring hanger on the rear axle shaft housing was bent due to an accident the wheel got hooked by. We used my last original 34 rear spring once we changed the axle housings with straight spring hangers. By that time we realised the reversed eye main leaf would have probably fitted as well, but by that time, the leaf was messed up, due to all sorts of treatments.

I dont want to do this to the main leaf of my stock rearspring again and mess it up as well. Since i still have all the other leaves from the 1st spring, i am hoping to find or get a main leaf with reversed eyes from somenoe who knows what he is doing. I could assemble and fit it, keeping the original stock spring just in case!

The front with dropped axle, bent spindle arm, steering rod set up and reverse eye spring fell in place once the brake drums and wheels went on. There is clearance to the dog bone shock links and everything is spaced correctly. Not much stance in sight though. Everybody was wondering what the hell this was all about in the first place. Then the engine got seated in the frame and suddenly there was LIGHT everywhere! And actual compliments although there is still doubt regarding wheel and fender clearance.

I am concerned that the rear sits too high with the stock rear spring, but unless i get a reverse eye main leaf or complete aftermarket rear spring from the US, itll stay like that. Luckily i have a stock front spring. I could also fit that and the stance will only rely on the dropped axle. Well see what it looks like.

[fordson]

Some pics:

[JSeery]

Thanks for the update.

[cas3]

yes, thanks for the update. a sad story, especially where parts are not available, and shipping heavy parts is not a good alternative. sad to say your spring shop screwed up twice, dont go back there. reversing the eyes on a spring is childs play really, its been done at home by amateur hotrod builders for decades. you need a press, a common tool even in africa i presume, and some time, and thats it. no great skill, you learn as you go. if you google "reverse eyes spring hamb" several threads will show up, and i believe you should find some youtube video's as well. i will give you the basics, but study some google threads and you will see it can be done quite easily. first, you trace the spring with chalk on the floor in the shop. a little more difficult due to the curved spring of a 34, but figure it out. maybe a wood template? whatever, next, mark with chalk every inch across the whole spring. next put the spring in the press on some thing to allow you to press a bend. i use a piece of 6" channel iron. next use a round thing to do the actual pressing, i use an old generator case, but some thing round and strong. next you start pressing a little bit on each one inch increment all the way across the spring. you will not see much happening at first, thats good, just keep going back and forth and slowly it starts to show you are bending the spring. when you start getting close to the arch you started with, then check it against your pattern you drew on the floor. when its all done clamp it in a vise with a strait edge, as in a piece of angle iron or heavy iron that is STRAIGHT, with the bolt hole in the spring center EXACTLY in the center of your vise jaws, and measure out to the spring eyes to make sure they both measure the same so the car sits level, unlike the 34 i'm lookin at rite now that sits crooked because some one didnt check they're work (we wont mention names) . if its not rite, then back to the press until it is. keep in mind when you reverse a spring in this method they get slightly longer, so in the end you may want to be sure you end up with the desired 45% angle on your spring shackles. this can be adjusted by heating and bending the the spring mounts on the axle housing, just make an effort to keep them square with the spring. its easy, you can do it, and dont go to that spring shop ever again

[Mart]

Can I just make a simple point. Not calling anyone out.

You CAN reverse a 32-34 rear spring main leaf by simply re-arching.

You flip the leaf end for end and turn it upside down, then re-arch it the opposite way. The curve in the middle remains untouched.

The spring on the rear of Old Rusty is like that.

Mart.

[derek costello]

The front eye to eye is supposed to 29" center to center I have the whole spring new if you want to pay $50. plus shipping.

Derek costello

[1931 flamingo]

How about a longer shackle in the back?? Probably work IF the spring is behind the axle.
Paul in CT

[JSeery]

Originally Posted by 1931 flamingo

How about a longer shackle in the back?? Probably work IF the spring is behind the axle.
Paul in CT

That will not work on the earlier vehicles without a pan/locator bar. The shackles and shackle angle are used to control side sway (not well, but that is the idea!).

[russcc]

Some of the responses are right on target. The simplest way is to re-arch the spring with the eyes on the top instead of the bottom. Why would anyone go to the trouble of heating & re-rolling the eyes. Re-arching the spring leaves the eyes in exactly the same place. Re-arching the spring takes about a patient hour on the press. All my reverse eye springs have been don this way for years.

[alchemy]

Fordson, I think you might be overthinking your problem. You don't really need a reversed eye main leaf in the rear. Just dearch the whole pack a little in a simple H press. Take the spring apart and make a mark every two inches on each of the bottom five leafs or so. Press each leaf individually in a press a couple hand pumps past initial contact at each of those marks. You can check the progress of each individual leaf compared to an arch outline drawn on the ground before you begin. If you dearch each leaf an inch, it will be the same as a reversed eye spring. For free!

Then, if you decide later that it's not enough, you can take it apart and do it all a little more.

I just did that last spring on my 32 tudor (same spring as your car).