Leaf Springs

martin172 · Post by **martin172** » Tue Jan 11, 2011 3:07 pm

Hi.
Does anyone know of or have a guide to the refurb of leaf springs?
The do's and don'ts, what to look for and what potential faults they may have etc, etc.
Now that the weather is warming up a bit I'm going to venture back into the garage and the rear springs are at the top of my to do list.
I'll post up some pics when I get a moment.

Many Thanks!

Mal · Post by **Mal** » Tue Jan 11, 2011 8:20 pm

Martin.
I had mine rebuilt. Take them to a good spring maker, they will have the required spring rate and arch for the Tiger . They can reset your springs back to original spec's, replace any broken leaf's etc.

Mal

martin172 · Post by **martin172** » Tue Jan 11, 2011 10:20 pm

Hi Mal, I'm torn what to do tbh.

I could just buy a new set and it would probably cost me the same or less that a refurb, but I've been told that fitting new leaf springs makes the back of the car stick up in the air and I don't like the idea of that.

The original springs don't look in too bad a condition, and I intended to reuse them, but, when I stripped them, I noticed that some of the leaves look distorted and when stacked with the centre holes lined up and one end of the leaves lined up too, that the other end of the leaves are fanned out if you see what I mean.
A bit like a hand of cards but only about 1/4" in each direction.

Ash · Post by **Ash** » Wed Jan 12, 2011 9:20 pm

Hi Martin
I would buy new springs and have them powder coated. If you get good quality tiger springs they should sit level. It may be worth you looking at uprated springs whilst you are in the market?

martin172 · Post by **martin172** » Wed Jan 12, 2011 9:44 pm

Ash wrote:Hi Martin
I would buy new springs and have them powder coated. If you get good quality tiger springs they should sit level. It may be worth you looking at uprated springs whilst you are in the market?

Hi Ash,
TBH, leaf springs are a completely new thing to me as all my previous cars haven't had them, so I wouldn't know a good spring from a bad one and the same goes for uprated ones.
Any help you or anyone else can offer in this regard would be gratefully accepted.
I was thinking of coating them in POR chassis black that Mal put me onto.
It has a nice satin finish to it.
It looks like it's what he has put on his rear axle and it looks very nice.

michael-king · Post by **michael-king** » Wed Jan 12, 2011 10:54 pm

There are these little "buttons" on the springs to help seperate them, they are often worn or perished, make sure they are replaced
Make sure the springs are well lubricated between them so the surfaces move with ease when flexing.
Perhaps get some leather gaiters made to stop grit, water etc from damaging, wearing the spings.. plus they look very period.

As for new springs sitting high.. well yes, as with front springs, they need to settle with weight on them. This can takle a little time. If you set your old ones to a specific height they will also settle a little more over time to and end up lower.

People like mod tiger engineering offer uprated lowere springs for front and back as does Dale A (both in USA) im sure some locals can offer them too.. but they are nto that costly to ship and buy from USA.

my .02

Mal · Post by **Mal** » Thu Jan 13, 2011 5:25 am

Martin,
Here is a pic of the springs after the rebuild. They cost me NZ$200.00 to have done. I will give them two coats with POR15 rust preventive paint and then a coat of POR Chassis black.
These paints even out well enough by brush on these sort of parts, if you can't spray. The rust preventive paint is very durable but has a very high gloss (looks good on the radiator header tank). The chassis blacks semi gloss is correct for the underside parts. Powder coating is a good option on a lot of parts, but I am not sure how well it would work on leave springs.

I have found with springs that make a car sit high, need to be rearched. If they settled, it was only slight. That's why it is important whoever rebuilds them, knows the spec's and what they are doing.

I should have taken one side on. You can see how clean all the leaves are inbetween each leaf

martin172 · Post by **martin172** » Mon Mar 28, 2011 7:11 pm

After much umming and ahing I've decided to keep the old springs and refurb them myself.
The one problem I do have though is getting hold of the U shaped rubber to go in the clamps.

The rubbers from mine are knackered as you can see.

They must be available because CJ has them on his car for sale.

(Hope you don't mind me borrowing the pic CJ.)

Does anyone know where I can get some of this section rubber strip from as I'm going to be stopped in my tracks by not having any in a few weeks time.

Thnaks guys.

garyv8tiger · Post by **garyv8tiger** » Mon Mar 28, 2011 7:58 pm

have you got alpine or tiger springs?

martin172 · Post by **martin172** » Mon Mar 28, 2011 8:28 pm

I presume they are Tiger springs.

V8 burble · Post by **V8 burble** » Mon Mar 28, 2011 8:30 pm

This company has many years experience with all types of rear leaf springs, including those of the Tiger and may be able to help you.

Brost Forge Ltd
Unit 7
149 Roman Way
London
N7 8XH
UK

Tel: 020 7607 2311

As far as I know, not all OEM leaf springs had the clamp rubbers fitted anyway. However, this may be important to you should the “Tiger Originality Squad” deem them strictly necessary!
From a practical viewpoint, take Brost's advice. They may stock a suitable replacement or they may say that the clamp rubbers are not essential.

garyv8tiger · Post by **garyv8tiger** » Mon Mar 28, 2011 8:50 pm

does all the back of your car look original .no damage anywhere ,a lot of tigers end up with alpine springs ,tiger ones are a good bit stiffer i believe,i would go for modded ones if i was changing them ,

martin172 · Post by **martin172** » Mon Mar 28, 2011 9:05 pm

Thanks for the info V.

The springs look like the original ones and they have the torque reaction rubbers on them.

I see what you mean about modded ones but I know very little about leaf springs and what different types are available so it seems simpler and easier

to spend a few quid and a few hours on these for now.
When I have better understanding then I may go for some others.

martin172 · Post by **martin172** » Sat Apr 30, 2011 3:03 pm

Before ...

After...

One down, one to go.

I'm quite pleased with the result thb.

Do all Tiger springs have 7 leaves?

Mal · Post by **Mal** » Sat Apr 30, 2011 10:02 pm

Martin. I was looking for a pic like your before pic yesturday. I was putting the new bushes in mine and wanted to see the offset of the bush in place. I see your new bushes are not offset.
I was reading aout Tiger leaf springs and found the same ? being asked. Seems that Tigers had 6 leaves. The pic of the car you have there has 6.
Yours must have had one added, or they are aftermarket.

Mal

http://sunbeamalpine.org/forum/archive/ ... -9389.html