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Rear Suspension.

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Makes sense that there should be some slack in them. The point is to keep the leafs from fanning out during flexing, correct?

Any idea of how strong these really need to be? I was considering getting some sheet metal and doing the more American standard style of the slot-and-tab where you'd fold the tab back on itself with a hammer.
 
My homemade ones were made from 1/8" thick steel strip about 3/4" wide.
Not sure how thin you want to go, but "sheet metal" can get pretty thin.
 
I'll have to check the ones that are on there now. They seemd darn thin to me.
 
I made mine out of 16 gauge steel, and made them big enough that I could line them with a bit of scrap innertube. They worked well for two years, then I switched to different springs.
 
That's exactly what I was thinking Trevor - the rubber inserts on my stock ones aren't looking so hot.

I know they were torn down once as the spring shop showed me that the main leaf on the lower side was not OEM - someone ground down a Pontiac spring to the correct width! He re-arched them and assured me it should be just fine. I also can see that some of the leafs were flipped and not re-assembled correctly.

This is very interesting to me as I only found a handful of referenced to fixing them - common advice seems to be "replace".

I also haven't seen anyone mention the bands and where to get new ones. I think this could be valuable information for people facing this in the future as I have already saved myself a good $150+ over buying new springs.
 
I've just checked the front right and it is up as much as the rear left is down. :rolleyes:
So it looks like lowering the front will resolve this one. Thanks for the information people. You have come up trumps again. :thumbsup:

Stuart. :cheers:
 
Geesh you guys with the rad. clamps remind me of the DPO of Ol' Bug-I. When I first got her the springs were all clamped together like that (there was some duct tape too!!). Sat like a low-rider!! When I took the clamps off I wound up with dozens of pieces of broken spring lengths!! It works OK I would guess so long as you keep a constant eye on them and replace them often!! On a race car, which gets constant attention that would be OK, but I don't know about regular service on a street car!! You can buy the "squared off" U-clamps for boat-trailer springs at my local marine store, I would try something like that!
 
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