I am restoring my springs for my BN2 as new ones currently available are
reported to sag after 1-2 years. I finished 1 spring about month ago and I am
close to finish the second one. At the same time I am also re-arching using
the hotrodders method.
Following link was inspriring:
http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=90824
If there's interest I can write up a little how-to, I took some pictures along
the way. But in short: I traced the spring arch on paper and measured the
camber. I needed about 1 1/8" more camber (arch) I marked every 2 inch on
the main spring with a chalk. With the leaf spring on the vise opened 4" I
started hammering on the marks centered inbetween the vise jaws and coming back
hammering in between the marks. Important to keep the force consistent, not
too hard and hammer in the middle of the leaf as not to warp the spring. I
used ear plugs as these spring leafs are quite "musical". If I had a shop
press as in the above forum post I would have used it instead of hammering.
When 1 "corner" was not touching the vise I moved the hammering target a little
in the direction of the side that was not touching the vise. I avoided
hammering in the middle of the spring where the bolt goes through.
After each round I would hold the spring against the original trace and check
progress and symmetry. It was remarkable how fast the spring gained 1/4" of
camber after just 1 round of hammering. The hammering is the shorted part of
the whole process, probably about 1.5 hours on the first spring and 1 hour on
the second one. Getting the bushes out was actually harder. After that
cleaning with a wire wheel, metal etch, priming, some sanding and painting. I
added teflon tape between the leaves, Steve Gerow helped me to a roll. The
clamps were cleaned up and re-used. The whole process took about 1.5 days for
the first spring and the second one will be under a day, I just need to paint
and assemble it.
I know the proof is in the pudding and it will take a couple years before I can
really say if it was worth it. But after talking with practically all vendors
and emails back and forth with Rich this seemed the only route. I am very
happy with how good the springs looked after this treatment. My car will be on
it's wheels in a couple weeks and hopefully under load in a couple months.
I'll know then if the ride height is what it needs to be. If not, I now know
how to tweak this. And BTW, the original part # is still nicely visible
stamped on the small leaf.
Bert
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