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cracked sping eye

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Rebil79

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Was getting ready to do some work to the dd and luckily found this.
I know your not supposed to weld srping steal but can this be welded enough to make this a yard plow truck? The truck is getting to the point that its not worth putting a lot of money into it to keep it for a dd. The truck it a 97 chevy 1 ton pick up (srw).

Heres the pic




Rebil
 
Well, spring steel can be welded, but it takes re-tempering, and a lot of careful work to keep it a spring and not have it crack outside the heat zone.

Plus you are going to burn up whatever bushing you have.





On the other hand, its not like you can make it worse......

Check with some of the welders here. I'm guessing a high carbon rod followed by a heat to cherry and a salt water quench.
 
Nope, not something you can weld, it WILL break again if you try. We've welded a bunch of springs on trails and it doesn't last long.

Find some junkyard springs.
 
on 88-up body style vary vary comon thing.


the bottom half of the eye takes the load. so if your cheep and dont drive it on the road. leave it alone.

or you will need to replace the main leaf.
 
sweetk30 said:
on 88-up body style vary vary comon thing.


the bottom half of the eye takes the load. so if your cheep and dont drive it on the road. leave it alone.

or you will need to replace the main leaf.
Click to expand...


Good to know, my brother went over to look at it (its at my fathers house in the garage) and the other side is cracked as well, not as bad.

Think its safe with about 200 lbs in the back for plowing weight. Just makes me nervous. I have a long ass driveway and I do my neighbors house that is just about as long. I got a 9' plow for it.

I have a buddy looking to see if he has any main leafs. I did see somewher on the web that you can get just the main leafs.

Rebil
 
Well, if you don't want to weld it, then there is only one other way short of replacement.

JBWeld up the crack, and then wrap'er in duct tape!!:D
 
200 lbs is nothing...

Let's examine what will happen when it breaks completely. Basically the rear of the truck on the busted side will drop a couple of inches...that's it. It's the shackle end.

If it was cracked at the front mount you would have a diff taking a walk when it broke as the front mount locates the spring and diff.

Run it til it breaks, then decide if it's worth messing with at that point. I wouldn't worry much about it though. Hell, I drove for a week with a front spring that had a sheared bolt at the shackle. The rear of the front spring just rode on the underside of the frame...honestly it was hard to tell driving it that anything was broken.

Rene
 
tRustyK5 said:
200 lbs is nothing...

Let's examine what will happen when it breaks completely. Basically the rear of the truck on the busted side will drop a couple of inches...that's it. It's the shackle end.

If it was cracked at the front mount you would have a diff taking a walk when it broke as the front mount locates the spring and diff.
Click to expand...

x2

On late 80's-early 90's Ford trucks it's very common to break the rear shackles. Most people don't know that they are broken untill the spring runs through the box.
 
and the front of the leaf spring eye is what centers the axle in the frame.

so if only the back is broken then beat the hell out of it plowin. :thumb:
 
As far as that goes, look at the "slipper" type springs on boat trailer and utility trailers. The front is an eye, and the back is just a curved piece that runs between two guides and sometimes has a piece of plastic it rubs on.

Example:

http://www.etrailer.com/p-WIF3.html
 
My 81 G-10 van had a rear spring eye bust off (the one towards the front of the van!) ,only the bottom half remained--I never knew it till I had a flat one day,and when I jacked the van up to change it,I saw the spring was 6" lower than the bushing,which was still bolted in place!--the van had been rear-ended about 2 years earlier,and I thought I heard some metal "tinkling" after the impact,like something flew off and went down the road,but I saw nothing--it must havebeen the spring eye!..

To "fix" it temporarily,I just got some flat stock 3/16" thick as wide as the spring,and I clamped it around a pipe in my bench vise,leaving about 3" of it sticking out past the pipe--then I opened it up again wide enough to slip over the spring bushing ,and I used two thick peices of metal with two 1/2" bolts to clamp it around the spring...

It is STILL like that!..:doah:..I never bothered to fix it "right",as I took it off the road shortly after that..the van had been driven to TN and all over New England and NY after the rear ending,so I bet it was like that for a good 15K miles before I noticed it was broken,the day I went to change the flat!...it didn't rattle,wander,or go "clunk".!--nothing!..I was :eek: when I saw it busted!...

I would try welding it myself,I know spring steel usually cracks again after welding it,but maybe the eye of the spring isn't as tempered as the rest of it?..or wrap some steel around it like I did and clamp it on...I welded an old leaf spring to some angle iron to make a bumper for my lawn tractor and I've hit trees with it,used it to pull logs out of the woods,etc,and it has not cracked or busted the welds or the spring (yet!)..I used 6011 arc welding rod,nothing fancy too...if you crank the heat up you should be able to sew up that crack without trashing the bushing too badly--have a spray bottle handy to quench the rubber part!..
 
if it wasn't raining outside right now I would double check

but to me, it seems that shackle is on backwards. Like the flat side should be facing the back of the truck. Seem if you flex it enough, this flat side will contact the leaf. But sometimes I over think things.

lol, can't quite see my shackle from my window hahaha
 
junk yard spring packs aren't exactly expensive, its not rocket science. just get a couple same length rears, build your own spring pack with the new main leaf. chuck in 3 or 4 extra leafs and call it a day. weld the main leaf......now thats plain stupid.
 
I agree,I would not weld on the main leaf itself and trust it!..but the spring eye,I would use the flat stock & clamp method in a pinch,welding it "might" work too..
I dont condone such jerry rigging for a road used vehicle--

---but if its just a plow truck thats not going to leave the yard, I would take the easiest way out...especially if its 20 degrees with a 30+ mph wind blowing outside like it is here right now!--changing a spring sucks bad enough on a NICE day!...
 
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