Re-Arching leaf springs

[Hammer1963]

I am about to embark on a new project and re-arching the rear leaf springs to change the ride height will be one of the task ahead of me. I have a 20 ton hydraulic press with a fixture that I have made to hold the springs securely. I am pretty familiar with press operations and bending steel. Do any of you have any pointers that might make the job easier or some does and don'ts?

 

[csp]

I would suggest not re-arching them, mainly because they will not keep the new arch you put into them for long.

Secondly, the mounting points will be closer together and may put the shackle at an angle that resists movement when you hit a bump in the road.

 

[theoldwizard1]

I would suggest not re-arching them, mainly because they will not keep the new arch you put into them for long.

Concur !

Add one more leaf to the pack, as long as possible.

 

[Jazz1]

Re-arching is a band aid. Wont last. Adding another leaf will raise the suspension some but just make the vehicle ride like a shopping cart. Poor man pay twice.
New spring bodies are the way to remedy.

 

[Bogie1632]

Agreed on the bandaid longevity comments. I've done this as well before. Not worth it IMHO. Lasted under a year both times. Unless it's a funds issue, I would highly recommend either a new set, have a set built, or swap out a leaf or two and not worry out them for many more years. Heck, might even be a couple junkyards around you could build a decent set on the cheap.

By the way, what are these going on?

Good luck.

V/R
Bogie

 

[sweetk30]

I would suggest not re-arching them, mainly because they will not keep the new arch you put into them for long.

Secondly, the mounting points will be closer together and may put the shackle at an angle that resists movement when you hit a bump in the road.

x2 from a guy who did spring work for a year and learned from a old timer guy .

yes it can be done but is it worth it in the end nope 90% of the time .

 

[Wrench97]

Are you raising or lowering the ride height?

 

[Kevin54]

New leaf springs really aren't that expensive if you find a place that does it.

 

[awdblazer]

how about airbags?

 

[Hammer1963]

Thank you for all the input. These are going on a 2019 Ford Ranger. I am lowering the truck and this will require flipping the rear axle. Doing this with the stock springs will bring it a little lower than what is ideal, so I was going to add two plus inches of arch to the springs and adjust from there. I'm very familiar with lowering vehicles and what it entails. With the truck being relatively new, there are no current offerings available. They are in the works, but none have come to market. I have not re-arched a leaf spring as I usually replace them with purpose designed springs. With all the information you all have supplied, it appears I will have to punt on the re-arching and wait for Belltech or DJM to release their pieces.

 

[Bigblue&Goldie]

Out of curiosity, how low can you go before you have to notch the frame?

 

[cvairwerks]

Check around for a spring shop. Most have the capability to build up what you need and it not be too expensive.

 

[mike93lx]

Why not add back height with shackles?

 

[Hammer1963]

Out of curiosity, how low can you go before you have to notch the frame?

Fortunately, I will not have to notch the frame. I have done that to a few trucks and I would rather not on this one. While it does bring it within 2.5/3 inches of the frame, the snubbers are actually part of the overload system and I will alter those. I will be good to go with a 5/6 inch lowering that this will provide and will probably need to fab a little longer shackle to get the exact ride height. Just trying to avoid reinventing the wheel on this one

Ford couldn't be simple and mount the axle above the springs

 

[sweetk30]

2" more arch and hook up shackle and not have it pulled forward to far . . . . i dont think your going to like it . but you never know on this new a ride so up to you to try it .

the more or less arch on a already made main leaf makes the EYE to EYE length change . there is a window of working but after this you need a new main leaf to correct for this .

i know the trick on older ford rangers was flip the shackle hanger upside down to drop the rear .

 

[slowtwitch73]

There was a guy here who did it for years and years. I think to do it right, you need to anneal, re-temper, etc. His shop was about 75% blacksmith stuff. He did the rear pack on a '98 Tacoma of mine for a song.

Relic of a bygone era when leaf springs were ubiquitous, and cheap replacements not easily sourced.

 

[mv213]

Give GeneralspringKC.com a call. They are very reasonable and ship pretty fast. I just got springs to lift my 4x4 pickup from them. Guys on the Frontier forum recommended them.

 

[vpd66]

I help a buddy that races a Stock Car that has leaf springs. We built a 3 roll roller with an 8 ton bottle jack to re arch the springs. The main thing we found is the quality of the steel used in leaf springs.We had bad luck with racing brand leaf springs (Afco,Landrum, and Howe) not holding their arch. I think they are sourcing their steel from over seas. We now buy our springs from a local spring shop that has good US spring steel and we build our own springs. They are holding their arch way better then the racing springs. Now it is just about once a season that we remove the springs to check the arch. With the racing springs it was about every 4-5 weeks and they needed re arching. Night and day difference.

 

[kerrynzl]

I am about to embark on a new project and re-arching the rear leaf springs to change the ride height will be one of the task ahead of me. I have a 20 ton hydraulic press with a fixture that I have made to hold the springs securely. I am pretty familiar with press operations and bending steel. Do any of you have any pointers that might make the job easier or some does and don'ts?

Don't listen to the ******** and old wives tails about re-arching. [they are all wrong]
Spring steel does not lose it's stiffness for the life of the spring. Over millions of cycles it slowly loses it's setting or spring load [which means shape]
All you are doing is pressing it past it's yield point in a controlled manner.

Most leaf springs are close to linear in their stiffness, so re-arching static height gets the same height change with it loaded.

Chalk up the shape on you garage floor.

The only downside to re-arching is it is time consuming

I've done quite a few spring re-arching jobs and never come across this mythical "loses it's stiffness" problem.

I've also re-arched springs with a BFH [this method is not recommended on a Sunday morning]

 

[Hammer1963]

Don't listen to the ******** and old wives tails about re-arching. [they are all wrong]
Spring steel does not lose it's stiffness for the life of the spring. Over millions of cycles it slowly loses it's setting or spring load [which means shape]
All you are doing is pressing it past it's yield point in a controlled manner.

Most leaf springs are close to linear in their stiffness, so re-arching static height gets the same height change with it loaded.

Chalk up the shape on you garage floor.

The only downside to re-arching is it is time consuming

I've done quite a few spring re-arching jobs and never come across this mythical "loses it's stiffness" problem.

I've also re-arched springs with a BFH [this method is not recommended on a Sunday morning]

I love the BFH Sunday morning humor! I am going to give it a shot and see what happens. I have years of experience with metal fab, just haven't re-arched a spring.

 

[joe49]

Go make a visit to a truck spring shop re-arching is part of the process when they replace broken leafs. The BMFH is often used on the across the bars method.

 

[2oolhound]

I've also re-arched springs with a BFH [this method is not recommended on a Sunday morning]

Back in the 80's my buddy did his 65 ford pickup using the BFH method and it looked awesome. I was amazed.

Re: Re-Arching leaf springs
There was a guy here who did it for years and years. I think to do it right, you need to anneal, re-temper, etc. His shop was about 75% blacksmith stuff. He did the rear pack on a '98 Tacoma of mine for a song.

Relic of a bygone era when leaf springs were ubiquitous, and cheap replacements not easily sourced.

I think my buddy did some form of backyard heat treat over a 45 gal drum and peening with the BFH. I don't remember how long it lasted but his truck looked like it had a hard on even when parked.

 

[Two Door]

Go make a visit to a truck spring shop re-arching is part of the process when they replace broken leafs. The BMFH is often used on the across the bars method.

Fifty years ago I was part of a stock car team that did some spring re-arching. BFH and either I-beam or channel iron (to suite your radius). Also, a sucke...sorry, I mean "person", to hold the leaf.

 

[kerrynzl]

I love the BFH Sunday morning humor! I am going to give it a shot and see what happens. I have years of experience with metal fab, just haven't re-arched a spring.

It is justifiable on a Sunday morning if you have neighbours that practice bagpipes all the time.

Fifty years ago I was part of a stock car team that did some spring re-arching. BFH and either I-beam or channel iron (to suite your radius). Also, a sucke...sorry, I mean "person", to hold the leaf.

A good 40 years ago, I witnessed an old timer blacksmith re-set coil springs using a technique called "Cold Bulldozing"

He clamped the static height ,and then re-set the spring with a brass hammer listening for a certain sound frequency.
I have tried it myself but could never achieve the same result as this forgotten "old timer black art"

I've searched the term "cold bulldozing" but only came up with this. [which isn't quite the same method]
https://www.ncnr.nist.gov/AnnualRepo...9/residual.pdf

 

[Kevin54]

Any spring shop can make what you want.

 

[kerrynzl]

Here's a photo [stolen from the HAMB] of how they "reverse eye" a spring by re-arching it in the opposite direction using a bottle jack.

Whether you buy new springs or re-set your existing spring, they still need removing and re-installing in the vehicle.

Give it a try while they are out!

 

[csp]

Over millions of cycles it slowly loses it's setting or spring load [which means shape]

The one time I tried this, which was on a 1968 Jeep CJ5 35+ years ago, it "slowly" lost its setting in less than two years. I did it because I was 17 years old and didn't have the money for new springs. My dad tried to tell me it wouldn't last based on his experience doing the same thing.

 

[kerrynzl]

The one time I tried this, which was on a 1968 Jeep CJ5 35+ years ago, it "slowly" lost its setting in less than two years. I did it because I was 17 years old and didn't have the money for new springs. My dad tried to tell me it wouldn't last based on his experience doing the same thing.

Did you use heat, or Cold re-set it?

I've never had an issue on any spring I've cold re-set. [I 1st did this in 1978]

 

[joe49]

Ditto on cold.

 

[Richard D]

Here's a photo [stolen from the HAMB] of how they "reverse eye" a spring by re-arching it in the opposite direction using a bottle jack.

Whether you buy new springs or re-set your existing spring, they still need removing and re-installing in the vehicle.

Give it a try while they are out!

I was about to search the H.A.M.B. as I have seen many guys do it there. Low-tech but same principle as how a spring shop does it. My buddy had a big Kodiack he lowered via re-arched springs, was still going strong five years later when he sold it.

 

[csp]

Did you use heat, or Cold re-set it?

Cold, using a hydraulic press vs hammering it.

I used to four wheel the hell out of my old CJ, which likely contributed to the sag coming back in two years time, but in the end I still needed new springs and those were still on it ten years after installing.

 

[bdbecker]

This is a method I came across while researching how to lower my '64 F100. The guy basically disassembled his spring pack, flipped one of the leafs to flatten the arch of the pack, and resembled. Not sure if it would work for the OP, but interesting none the less.

https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/lowering-a-staight-axle-ford-f100.280413/#post-2977458

 

[2oolhound]

I was about to search the H.A.M.B. as I have seen many guys do it there. Low-tech but same principle as how a spring shop does it.

This is a good point. Spring shops re-arch springs. Why would they bother if it only lasted a few years? What do they do that diy's don't do.

We all understand metal fatigue and spring steel is spring steel so how do you invigorate it short of melting it down and re-pouring it?

I can see heat treating, rolling and peening methods being used to re-align the molecular structure of the steel.

Some of the 1/2 century old companies that avertise re-arching also note on their web sites "Only Full Temper Manufacturer of Leaf Springs in the Valley" and "Full Forge Service". These type places also offer new spring manufacturing.

 

[slowtwitch73]

Some of the 1/2 century old companies that avertise re-arching also note on their web sites "Only Full Temper Manufacturer of Leaf Springs in the Valley" and "Full Forge Service". These type places also offer new spring manufacturing.

Yup, using heat or going with new is the better way.

 

[matt_i]

We all understand metal fatigue and spring steel is spring steel so how do you invigorate it short of melting it down and re-pouring it?

If you heat it (entire thing) red hot, form to new dimension, quench and temper it, then you should be fine -- good as new.

As far as how to accurately quench & temper it that's a guess. Water quench is the fastest way but could bypass an area in the TTT microstructure chart that you want to land inside. Oil quench is probably better.

Polish an area to silver (clean) and temper at 500F until you get a purple blue "spring" temper in the same area. Gold/straw color is not enough time/not enough heat/not enough tempering.

 

[sanddan]

I had this done many years ago at a spring shop. They anneal them, re-shape then re-heat treat. I'd bent the main leaf on a 10 leaf stack, 1969 1 ton pickup, they were perfect when I got them back and lasted for years. This is not a job for a DIY'er if you want it done right. They could also build springs from scratch and did both leafs and coils. Cool shop that is still in business, I think they do mostly large trucks now.

 

[tim9lives]

The spring shop in New OrleAns that archs and builds springs has a damned large furnace. I’d go to a spring shop.