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Bent leaf spring...Pic added...

wasted wages

wasted wages

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just as the title says....

I have a 2 leaf spring pack in the front of a truck that looks like the previous owner tried to jack the truck up on the leaf spring and bent a small kink in it....

Should I heat it cherry red,,,,, bend it straight with a small jack and then force cool it?

Or is this a bad idea......:whistle::whistle:
 
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I would say thats a great idea hahaha.


















Time to hit the Junkyard dude, that springs done
 
yah force cooling is what your going to want to do for sure.

Maybe just heat it up and apply water to bring it back into shape

That should be fine:D:whistle::whistle:
 
:whistle: ..... I take that as a no.......:rolleyes:



OK........what about cold pressing it in a press to straighten it ??????


It's just a friggin' piece of steel......right ???



Time to hit the Junkyard dude, that springs done
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I'm a cheap bastard....... :eek1:
 
no heat, the spring is heat treated from the factory. Once you introduce heat to the spring, you will loose the arching ability of the spring and might if enough heat is applied at the wrong time, make it super brittle. If that happens then it could break at any time. If it doesn't affect the alignment then, if it were me and you needed to drive it, I would use it IF the alignment is not affected. Only after ordering a new spring pack! I don't think I would run that thing on the highway (or at least above 40 mph) just to play it safe. That might be pushing the 'safety envelope' with how much weight our trucks have!!!
 
How big a kink. If fixed it will simply go back faster than it normally would. I have done it before to springs that were terrible after a rollover but we needed to get the truck back home. 1 floor jack and 10 heavy guys jumping on the truck got enough arch back in the springs to get the truck off the trail.

I remember a buddy of mine telling me a story. He was down in Baja with his CJ2 and popped 2 tires. Now mind you his 2A was only 2 years old he bought it brand new

Only tires he could find were bigger, tire shop owners says he knows a couple guys that could re arch his spring. Well he trundled over there slowly ( new tires would hit if he went faster. Dropped off the Jeep they say it would be a day.

There was a local hotel so he walked over there and about noon the next day he walks back over to the "spring shop" he said there were 2 guys with his springs all torn apart hammering more arch into em with a 10 lb sledge and a big barrel.

They had it all fixed up by that evening. Gave him about 2 inches of lift overall, enough to clear the tires. He said those springs held up for 4 more years
 
How big a kink.
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like this........


IMAG0286.jpg
 
Carnac The Magnificent says you will soon be replacing spring packs and adjusting the draglink to un-crab the steering.

-- A
 
Carnac The Magnificent says you will soon be replacing spring packs and adjusting the draglink to un-crab the steering.
Click to expand...


yeah.... I'm kinda thinking the same thing.....wanted to keep it bone stock....but for the price of new springs from LMC....I can get an complete 4"lift kit w/shocks.... I'm not a big junk yard scavenger....

and then you know what happens after that.....

:hack::weld::grind::D
 
Before you go LMC, or a lift kit, give these folks a call.
http://www.springsnthings.com/

I bought a set of front springs from them for my 250 which was cheaper by far than anyone else wanted for just one side.

I would have to see the surface of the bend to be sure, but it might be straightenable.
It looks nasty in that pic, but before I shelled out for new ones, I would have to put a porta-power or bottle jack on top and put some pressure on it.
Maybe with a little 5lb persuader added in.

No heat though. It could be heated and straightened, but the entire spring would have to be re heat treated afterwards, and that requires a inert gas furnace with good temp. regulation.

That is the nice thing about steel. Unless you get it too hot and burn the carbon out, it can be annealed, shaped, and re-tempered almost forever if you have the right equipment.
 
Dude that spring is trashed . If you straighten it will bend back again to its current shape and our break if . I would just got to the wrecking yard and get a good set of used springs


Or post up in the classifieds I'm sure some one would be happy to GIVE you a pair of stock springs
 
I was gonna scrap my old stock front springs this weekend. You can have them if you pay the shipping. PM me asap and I'll cut the u-bolts off with the torch tonight.

Don't ask what it'll cost to ship though, I have no idea what they weigh or how long they are. But I know it won't be cheap. I'd guess like 25-30 bucks each shipped to a business (cheaper) instead of a residential address.
 
wasted wages said:
496.... you do know this is a FORD .... right ?

1979 F-250 Ford 4x4......:eek1:
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Well now, how the heck would I know that? :D Maybe that's the problem, you need some GM springs on there. :haha: I've supported my truck with jack stands under the leafs springs a quite few times with no issues. Stupid Fords. :whistle:
 
guess you have missed my build thread.....yeah it's an old ford....

but hey.... it has a chevy dizzy in it !! :D

Ford302Large.jpg
 
Chevy Springs will work , I think IIRC there both 48" eye to eye with centered pins

the width might be different
 
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