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aeronca65t
Great Pumpkin
Offline
Here's a tool I built a while back, but just got to use today.
When I needed to re-arc the leaf springs in the race-Spridget (to lower it) it about 7 or 8 years ago, I used a two pound sledge hammer and "worked" them down cold. This is a time-consuming but perfectly legitimate way to change the arc on leaf springs. Also, I had read that Roger Williams used this same method with success. He's the Texas guy who started the "Spec-Sprite" class. By the way, technically, he's a member here("Jolly Roger").
The "anvil" I used was an old 1500 Spitfire engine block. I placed a spring over one of the open bores and hammered the arc back flatter (a little at a time). Once I got all the leafs on one side flattened and put together, I tried them on the car to judge how high the car sat. It took 3 or 4 attempts before I got things decent. Then I used those leafs as a template for the leafs on the other side.
Anyway, all that hammering gets <span style="text-decoration: underline">old</span> quickly, so I built this little setup to re-arc the leaf springs on the A35. I also want to re-arc the springs on the MGB and I might change the springs on the race-Spridget too. So this will see some use in 2010 for sure. When bending, I stay away from the center hole and just bend back the outer half of each leaf. I mark the spring in 1" increments and bend a little at a time. It's not a quick job, but it's easy to control and it works great.
The bottle jack is a 6 ton unit ($25 at Walmart) and the other stuff is just scrap I had around. (normally I put a piece of softwood between the spring and the ram of the jack, but I left it out for the photos).
When I needed to re-arc the leaf springs in the race-Spridget (to lower it) it about 7 or 8 years ago, I used a two pound sledge hammer and "worked" them down cold. This is a time-consuming but perfectly legitimate way to change the arc on leaf springs. Also, I had read that Roger Williams used this same method with success. He's the Texas guy who started the "Spec-Sprite" class. By the way, technically, he's a member here("Jolly Roger").
The "anvil" I used was an old 1500 Spitfire engine block. I placed a spring over one of the open bores and hammered the arc back flatter (a little at a time). Once I got all the leafs on one side flattened and put together, I tried them on the car to judge how high the car sat. It took 3 or 4 attempts before I got things decent. Then I used those leafs as a template for the leafs on the other side.
Anyway, all that hammering gets <span style="text-decoration: underline">old</span> quickly, so I built this little setup to re-arc the leaf springs on the A35. I also want to re-arc the springs on the MGB and I might change the springs on the race-Spridget too. So this will see some use in 2010 for sure. When bending, I stay away from the center hole and just bend back the outer half of each leaf. I mark the spring in 1" increments and bend a little at a time. It's not a quick job, but it's easy to control and it works great.
The bottle jack is a 6 ton unit ($25 at Walmart) and the other stuff is just scrap I had around. (normally I put a piece of softwood between the spring and the ram of the jack, but I left it out for the photos).
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