Rear spring

[tinkirk]

??? Is it possible too remove rear spring without removing anything from front of torque tube ???
Thanks in advance
Tinkirk

[31Abone]

Yes you need 2 big jack stands may have to remove wheels but maybe not,raise car up high under punkin put in jack stands under frame ,lower it a bit take off 4 nuts on spring u-bolts,lower rear end down with jack,I did not remove any brake rods or clam shell bolts....Just did 2 cars removed a leaf front and back ,rides better ,looks better,but I only removed a leaf front and back,but did have access to center bolt with no problem.and I think I could have removed entire spring if wanted but did not try.Spencer ..PS going on a 80 mile runs today will see how good my leaf removal works.

[Steve Plucker]

Is the rear end still in the car or not?

Pluck

[V4F]

if your taking the rear spring apart , be careful . it has major tension on it . ...........

[Steve Plucker]

Originally Posted by V4F

if your taking the rear spring apart , be careful . it has major tension on it . ...........

Let it be repeated..."MAJOR TENSION"!

[Patrick L.]

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If you are going to completely remove the rear spring, yes, it can be done by lowering the axle. But, you really should use a spreader unless you remove all other leaves first.

[tinkirk]

Ok thanks want to take a couple leafs out
Working on an old 30 roadstar that has a 10 leaf in it that i believe back in the 50s someone put in seems to ride a little rough and sits up in the rear a little too high
Hoping to improve the ride a little
Thanks I will try it and see what happens
Tinkirk

[tinkirk]

On the 30 roadstar did they come with a 7 leaf or 10?
Tinkirk

[Patrick L.]

I'd have to go look and count, but, if I remember correctly, its an 8 leaf that is actually a 7 leaf. Top leaf is basically a spacer.
Someone will know for sure.

[Tom Wesenberg]

The Twin Cities plant stamped the rear crossmember to identify the body style and spring which was to go with the frame.
My 1929 Tudor has "T 0" which stands for Tudor 10 leaf.
My 1928 Phaeton has "P 8".

The Roadster should have a 7 leaf rear spring, however Rusty has a frame with "R 8", which has yet to be explained. My thinking is that if the Roadster came with a rumble seat, it should have one more leaf, but I have no proof of this.

[J Witt]

I just did this 10 to 7 leaf fix on my '31 roadster. Worked out very well. The post is here: http://www.fordbarn.com/forum/showthread.php?t=176227

The spring disassembly wasn't bad, but getting the shackles loose with a spreader took the spreader tool and a lot of cranking on the nuts. Plenty of load on that tool!

Car sure rides better and looks better.

John

[redmodelt]

You can't just remove leafs, they too are under major tension! Unless your center bolt is broke and when you lower the rear end with the spring attached they re leave that tension directing it into the rear cross member, they can explode with some force when the nut is remove from the bolt. You will still need a spreader to remove the spring from the rear end and clamps to hold the spring together when you remove the center bolt. I have used 4 "C" clamps with long enough threaded part to allow the spring to fully relax as they are gradually unscrewed, maybe not the safest way but what I had at the time.

[Floats]

Hi Gents,
I would like to remove a blade from the rear end of my 28 RPU in order to have a more comfortable ride. It is my daily driver and I am obviously not using it for farming but I dont want to lower it iether.
Which blade should I remove from the rear and the front, please?

[chuckstinn]

Ref to post # 9, the spacer/dummy leaf is located on the bottom of the spring.

[redmodelt]

In post 9 he says the spacer is on top. ?

[Tom Wesenberg]

Originally Posted by redmodelt

In post 9 he says the spacer is on top. ?

The top leaf should be a short leaf with tapered edges to fit the radius of the crossmember. The 8 leaf rear spring uses thicker bars across the U bolts, and the 7 leaf uses an additional bottom spacer.

Marco has posted a spring chart showing the different combinations for each model.

[Brentwood Bob]

Counting the top as 10:
9, 8, &7, I believe. But.........check marco's site. I may have it wrong in my notes and journal.
I want to stress that you want to be very cautious by containing the rear spring at all stages of removal, disassembly, reassembly, and reinstall. It is potentially deadly.
Bob

[Floats]

TKS Tom and Bob,
I'll have a look at Marco's spring chart.
Thanks gents and thanks for the reminder Bob. I have a spreader and G clamps, but I'll be extra careful.

[Patrick L.]

Top leaf on mine is nothing more than a spacer. 8 total. The top leaf is a leaf but so short to really do anything but act as a spacer. The saddle does have ridges which could act as a spacer also and I don't know if all are that way or not. I have no idea if or what was done during the 35 years before I got this monster.

Ride height, to very bottom of bumper, front 18" , rear 17"

I'm very conscience of how a vehicle 'sits' and I like the way this car 'sits' [ slightly higher in the rear]. I'm not saying what is right or wrong, just what I just measured.
As far as ride quality, its about right as far as I'm concerned and it doesn't seem to mind having all seats loaded, including rumble.

I'm not sure how much you want to 'soften' up your ride. But, I don't have an issue with removing [ or adding] leafs [been doing spring work and enjoying it for 50+ years]. If counting from top to bottom, top leaf being #1. I think you could either remove every other leaf [ 2,4,6] or 3 and 5 and see how you like it. [ I'm talking rear. I don't think I'd remove more than one, if any, from the front, but, thats your choice]

Its not too hard to do. Just undo the u-bolts and let the whole works drop a bit. C-clamp the spring leaves and undo the center bolt unscrewing the c-clamp as you go until there is no tension left. Remove the leaves you want then and button everything back up. I insert the center bolt and use the c-clamp to squeeze the leaves as I tighten the center bolt.

[tinkirk]

Thanks that was kind of my thoughts
Just was wondering about if i had to unbolt the clam shell or not
Was hoping to do this last Saturday but that didn't happen
Will inform when i get it done