Subject: Re: [TR] rear leaf springs

From: Carl Sereda <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 28 May 2013 15:43:50 -0400 (EDT)

Just my experience.. noticed broken 'main leaf' on my TR4 rear driver-side
spring when looking for a funny noise around 1984...
Removed both passenger and driver side rear springs and brought to a local
company called "US Spring" (in Calif.) that still repairs
a lot of passenger and truck springs each year.

They simply disassembled the one with broken leaf and crafted a new leaf and
then reassembled. When I jump up and down on the uninstalled springs, the
driver one is a little stiffer .. which is how factory made them in later TR
production (maybe starting around TR3A).
The rebuilt spring looked great to me and I was able to put about 5 years
driving on it before removing them for my ground up restoration.
I will be installing them again, although I may do the 'teflon sheets between
leaves' trick, which I've heard enhances flexing.
Good luck,
Carl
'63 TR4 since '74

What is the collective wisdom on re-using leaf springs ?
I am restoring a
TR3 which I acquired disassembled with springs which look
like they were
cleaned and repainted.  I have heard everything from "always
replace" to
"stand on them and if they don't hit the ground, you're OK" !
Andrew Uprichard

** [email-masked] **

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From: "TeriAnn J. Wakeman" <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 28 May 2013 20:16:52 -0700

> leaves' trick, which I've heard enhances flexing.
For a couple minutes yes.

To minimize the friction between the individual leaves. I like UHMW 
(ultra-high molecular weight) Polyethylene plastic.

This plastic provides a low friction surface, similar to Teflon tape, 
but with a much higher abrasion and puncture resistance. It was designed 
specifically for commercial use on chutes, packaging lines, slides, and 
anywhere high pressure metal to metal sliding contact occurs. It also 
provides sound dampening, eliminating squeaks and rattles caused by 
adjacent parts movement. The plastic's temperature range is -40 to +225 
degrees F.

You disassemble the spring pack and stick the tape to the top side of 
each individual leaf, except for the top leaf of course. This tape 
virtually eliminates the friction between adjacent leaves in the leaf 
pack and dramatically increases the spring's ability to react to bumps 
in the road.

TeriAnn