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WTB - rear leaf spring, late model Sprite / Midget

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lewmac

Senior Member
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I need one good or a matched pair of rear leaf springs for a Mk3 or 4 Sprite / Mk2 or 3 Midget to correct a bad case of Bachelor's lean on my Sebring fastback donor Mk4 Sprite. Car must have bottomed out many times as the rubber bumper metal pad is dented ! Preferably located anywhere in the US - Midwest good, Illinois better, Chicago will pick up !

Thanks
Lew
 
I have one leaf spring off a '69 Sprite Mark IV. It was a left side spring. When it came off the car, the car was riding level. The right side spring snapped two leaves, so I replaced both springs. Mechanic said the undamaged spring was still good. PM me. I can send you pics. I'm located in Maryland.
 
Lew, the Mk2 midget's and Mk3 sprites had a 5 leaf spring while subsequent models had a 6 leaf spring. I've rebuilt several sets of spridget and MGB springs by tearing them down and replacing the polyethylene strips with moly filled poly carbonate that I source from Mc Master Carr. The worn strips are responsible for most of the sag but not all. You can re-arch the springs by taking the leaf's to a hydraulic press but the re-arch usually doesn't last. I've just bought a new spring from Moss to try and alleviate the 'bachelor lean' on my Datsun engined Midget but haven't tried to fit it yet. Seems like it has a lot of arch and is pretty stiff so we will see if that work's. Others have said that the new springs are not very good quality and will begin to sag very soon so I'm not overly hopeful.

Kurt
 
I have a theory on bachelor lean... I think it may be cause by the sway bar... or at least aggravated by the sway bar. I originally flipped my springs left to right and the car still leaned to the driver's side. On my car, the sway bar was slightly twisted so that the drivers side would ride lower. I flipped the sway bar over, and my lean is now no longer noticeable.
 
Thanks Saxman, but I was able to buy a set from another seller via the Sprite Forum, $40 for the pair, so hopefully I am good to go. If there is a further problem, I may come back to you, as it was the left / driver's side that had the sag.

Interesting theory on the sway bar below..... the sway bar mounts on this car were damaged when I stripped it down, so maybe that was the problem, but seems like a lot of force would be needed to twist the car and depress the rear spring.

Cheers
Lew



SaxMan said:
I have one leaf spring off a '69 Sprite Mark IV. It was a left side spring. When it came off the car, the car was riding level. The right side spring snapped two leaves, so I replaced both springs. Mechanic said the undamaged spring was still good. PM me. I can send you pics. I'm located in Maryland.
Click to expand...
 
Interesting. The sway bar mounts on this car were damaged - bent - when I stripped it down and with just a rolling chassis the sag was not obvious. As I said above, seems like significant force would be needed to twist the frame and cause a sag. Maybe possible, as yoiu had seen.

Thanks for your comments.

Cheers
Lew



Morris said:
I have a theory on bachelor lean... I think it may be cause by the sway bar... or at least aggravated by the sway bar. I originally flipped my springs left to right and the car still leaned to the driver's side. On my car, the sway bar was slightly twisted so that the drivers side would ride lower. I flipped the sway bar over, and my lean is now no longer noticeable.
Click to expand...
 
lewmac said:
Thanks Saxman, but I was able to buy a set from another seller via the Sprite Forum, $40 for the pair, so hopefully I am good to go. If there is a further problem, I may come back to you, as it was the left / driver's side that had the sag.

Interesting theory on the sway bar below..... the sway bar mounts on this car were damaged when I stripped it down, so maybe that was the problem, but seems like a lot of force would be needed to twist the car and depress the rear spring.

Cheers
Lew
Click to expand...

No worries, Lew! It probably would have cost at least that much to ship just one spring to you.
 
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