Hello, has anyone had their leaf springs restored. Mine are flat and in need of some help. I don't want to get new one's if I don't have to...eventhough it would probably be cheaper. Any advice anyone?

Thanks, Juan.

I'm getting ready to take mine to a local shop to have them rearched and a leaf added for my application. IIRC, just to have them rearched (no leaf added) and painted black was going to be under 50 bucks per spring.

My kid had the ones in his 62 300 rearched and a leaf added.That was 10 years ago.They are better than new.His were like 110 for the pair.Rocky

Ive heard that since leaf springs are made from memory steel, they will just re-flatten out if they arn't properly re-arched using the method called reanealing (sp?) Im not sure of the process but someone will probably chime in.

The two ways to re-arch are explained here.

I know a racer that used the cold method. When going from dirt to pavement and back, he would pull the springs at the track and beat the with a hammer and wood blocks till he had the height he wanted. Other racers would laugh at first until he won the race. He was a real racer that did it all, build the car and drove. He had 1100 FEATURE wins in his career, was the guy to beat in Super Mods, even ran the Indy 500 a few years and won 1 Cart race with a 9 year old car, Offy motor and little budget.

I always thought the reason they lost arch was because the metal had fatigued after so many flexes, and was just worn out. however, they could be re-arched, and then replace a few leaves with new ones and they were good as new.

The local shop that did the ones for the packards, did it that way, he'd replace 2 or 3 leaves and just re-arch the main leaf for the factory height.

Roger that. My dilema is that I'd like to reuse as much of the parts I have on the car now as possible because I don't have to much extra storage space to store the old one's and I don't plan on getting rid of the one's that are on there now but of course price to restore the old one's I'm sure will be pricey :-? If they can even be restored.

Gracias! Juan

I just contacted a drivetrain shop a couple weeks ago about re-arching my springs. I don't know what process they use but the guy I talked to said they usually sag back down. He said that if it were him, he'd buy new springs.

I have always just add another leaf to the stock spring pack

most lift will come from a main leaf with the eys cut off(cut wheel/sawzall-no heat)

most times I just add the 2nd leaf from another set of springs

cheap ez and still rides good

budar if that guy told you that he dosent know crap.My kids 300 is a heavy car.His were rearched at least 10 years ago.They still sit as high as when he did them.He added an extra leaf for stiffness.The car has a ton of miles both street and strip.Rocky

An extra leaf was added to my origonal springs in the mid 90's to fix a sagging issue. Now that the car is being put back together, the extra leaf needs to come out. In every one of these posts someone says they have had springs sag back down and others say they've had no problems. That's why I called and talked to the people who do that sort of thing for a living...and that was the responce I got.

I don't know which way to go. If you have the origonals re-arched, you still have to blast them all clean and paint...then buy a new clamp kit.(which in itself isn't cheap) That's a lot of time involved in a part that has the possibility of sagging.

I assume there is still alot of work in getting a new set of springs ready to install too though. I'm sure new springs come spray bombed black or at least covered in an oil. That would all need to be removed so you could coat with RPM or paint with a natural looking paint. I still don't know what to do.

to do it right you would replace the spring and get new bushings in the ends with them

the bushing is a part that can cause some slop also

The place we used had a set on new springs on the shelf for my 57 Chrysler a few years ago.Both mains were snapped on it.When they rearch they reclamp the springs and they are all together.The bushings should be replaced.I use poly bushings in ours.Unless you are doing a 100 point resto just spray them when you get them back.Rocky

the 2nd leaf under the main leaf is the one that will give the most lift

thats the one I would swap to a new leaf in an old spring pack

I even added an extra main to my new SS springs on my 65.I cut the main down from the old SS springs.Rocky

I redid mine on my 73 Challenger. New plastic spacers,bushings. I even cut the O.E. clamps and rewelded them back together. When I was done I thought the car sat to low. I sent them over to a spring shop for a rearch. They sagged pretty quickly. However they do work well. No hop when the clutch is dumped at 5000 w/slicks.
Doug

This begs the question: If rearched old springs will eventually sag again, but adding a new second leaf to a worn out springpack works well, then isn't the second (new) leaf doing all the work? And if so, won't it sag somewhat sooner then a new spring pack?

Reading this thread, and a number of similar threads around the web, it seems the division of "It worked great" and "It sagged quickly" is split about 50/50. How can this be? There must be something different in the process of how it was done in each school?

As for doing it yourself, I've seen a number of frame/bottle jack setups that work well.

Adding a leaf or two can be taken to an extreme. I worked on a Road Runner where this was done, and it shortened the distance between the tire and the front of the wheel opening, and used up all the play in the trans yoke, popping out the welch plug in the yoke and causing a steady drip from the trans. When we put the right spring back in the car the wheels moved back to where they belonged and the trans yoke play issue fixed itself. Something to consider.