Has anyone removed a leaf (or two) from a set of Posies quarter elliptical springs? Was it successful, a failure, or something else? I have a set in the rear of my car. The car rides VERY harsh and I'm looking to soften it up a little.
Thanks Torana68, not to sound flippant, but I'm really just want to know if anyone has pulled a leaf or two out of a set of Posies quarter ellipticals and if so how it worked.
What Torana68 said. Remove your shocks and go for a short ride. If the suspension is compliant you need a softer shock, or a less severe angle (assuming tube shock). May be other binding too. Play with tire pressure. That's free. Of course if you've already done all that, we don't know.
I've done several customer chassis with the Posie 1/4 elliptic setup using shackles and holding the rear in place with P&J ladder bars. So far I've never had a complaint about ride. I use a fairly soft P&J shock. One thing that has happened is I've had 2 of the cars (both 32 roadsters) with high miles have the main leaf break thru the spring bolt hole? I've never liked the way the spring flexes thru the spring bolt as it rests against the adjusting bolt. Maybe they've changed this?
Been away for a while. Thanks for the replies. I'm really asking a generic question about removing a leaf from these springs. My car had some binding from a crack in the frame (causing one spring to be out of alignment, which I've repaired and improved). This has made things much better. I'm also trying new shocks - which will help a lot given that my shocks are very stiff on compression. I'm not new to suspension. I've built several cars with different types of suspensions. This is my first go with a quarter elip, and while I'm repairing and improving, I just wanted to ask if anyone had done it, in case after exhausting my other options, it could be something to try. The bolt thru style worried me about trying it, so I thought I'd ask. Krylon - what you mention about the eye bolt cracking was something I was worried about. haven't seen it yet, but it looks like a week link to me. Thanks everyone!
The setup where the adjusting bolt contacts the top leaf directly just seems wrong. I once saw a design that had a load bearing plate between the adjuster and spring. Looked like they machined it out of ductile iron or something. It was countersunk on top for the adjuster screw and rounded on the bottom, front to back, to spread the load at that point..
BeaverMatt if you remove a spring, which I see no problem doing, I would be sure to replace the removed spring with a short piece of strap the width of the spring. I think those are 1_7/8" wide so a plate say 1_7/8 x 4" to keep some thickness and strength around the center bolt. I've heard of them fracturing around the spring bolt hole so that's why I built my own with upper and lower plates to run an adjusting bolt against. Here's mine, https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum...ter-elliptical-springs.1115374/#post-12732628
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