I have no idea when mine broke or how long I drove with it that way. I only found out when the front end was pulled to re-chrome the axle. No, the spring was not chromed...
I could be wrong but I think I remember where I bought it. I don't want to say on the board in fear of being sued. Looking at my receipts I in fact do know where I bought it but won't say for the same reason as above. Will have some detailed photos in a day or so.
I've heard plenty about broken monoleafs, just like everyone else, but have only seen one a couple of years ago at work. There was a pack of guys on a road trip from Texas and they had stopped at So-Cal AZ. One of the cars, a red 32 roadster (former TRJ cover car) had a broken chrome monoleaf. Split right at the center bolt if I remember right. I've heard it's more "common" on chrome springs because of the chemical treatment?
Why you need to bake chrome on structural parts... The hydrogen in the chroming process migrates into the grain of the steel making it hard and brittle after chroming it needs to go through a baking process to drive out the hydrogen When ferrous metals rust, hydrogen migrates into the metal rusting and chroming both cause hydrogen to get into the iron badly rusted ferrous metals are embrittled into the metal deeper than the rust goes
Why is there only one Monoleaf spring on your ride...Just asking dont really know much about the setup but mine has 3 on the front. You can see them if you zoom in.
Yours is not a mono-leaf at all , just a standard multi-leaf. Mono means one . They are one big fat leaf. They are popular these days because they make the ride height adjustable without affecting spring rate (with the use of spacers that can go above or below the spring).
It's probably been about 10 yrs ago, 2 members of my old car club had monoleafs break within about a years time. one was on a 35 roadster during a trip to the LA roadster show. He shot across several lanes of traffic and pancaked the left side on a guard rail. The other was a 34 fenderless coupe I think, it just dropped some on that side and he was able to control it. I don't know how fast the 34 was going at the time. They seemed to think that the 34 having a front panhard and the 35 not having one may have made a difference in controll when it broke. I don't know the brand, but I think there was only one manufacturer at the time.
My understanding is that chrome plating can cause hydrogen embrittlement which will cause a plated part to break unless the part is baked, to release the hydrogen, after plating. I am not aware of the spring companies that offer this service
Helping out with spring rate confusion... You can do the same thing with a multileaf... Where you position the spring or how you mount it has nothing to do with changing the rate (stiffness) Spring rate is a quality of the metal's strength, stiffness, and size of the leaf. you can re-arch springs to change their geometry You can crank up torsion bars to change their geometry or swap to a stifffer bar You can add springs to change the rate of the pack The only spring you can change the rate on without modifying the spring itself is an airbag.
My buddy had one brake in his 34 coupe, theres bound to be defects, its a part of life, i guess considering how many good one are out there and how many bad, there still a good product, factory vehicle brake springs all the time too. JEFF
That's right. Factory springs break all the time. But you don't shoot across the lane and hit a guard rail because the main leaf doesn't break. One of the other leafs does first. That gives you warning when you have a problem because the trim height drops and the broken leaf starts to rattle. Even if the main leaf does eventually break, the spring clips will usually keep the spring pack together long enough for the driver to stop the car without losing control. On another note, if a main leaf, even a mono leaf breaks at the center bolt, the spring U bolts were loose. If the U bolts are tight, a spring can't break at the center bolt. The middle section of a properly torqued leaf pack or mono leaf is completely unstressed. It's very common for people to under torque the U bolts, not realizing that they do a lot more than just hold the spring in place against the cross member.
I have been curious as to what brand of monoleaf springs were breaking? The red roadster TRJ cover car mentioned earlier I know had a Durant spring because I built that car. It was built in '98. The spring was chrome plated and the front axle had a panhard rod. Since then, I have been using Speedway monoleaf springs. I would like to hear of the broken springs, what were the brands.
The spring I broke was a Durant,along with it's replacement ,and the second car.Also have a durant for the current build.I feel the problem was my faultand still feel they have a good product.As others have experienced,mine broke in the eye where there should have been no stress.Check to see if your spring is seated in the crossmember.Sounds like this was not the cause of Doc Squats failure.By the way,doc,you have a fine 32.
and what i was gonna say also is that they are in a pack so if one brakes you have a way better chance of surviving it.
Does Speedway make their own mono leaf springs or are they made offshore (China)? I was led to believe they were bought from Durant but that might have been the first few until they could get them copied. Frank
I've had 3 sets of front reverse eye monoleafs break on my previous daily driver 1958 F-100 on supposedly smooth california streets. They were purchased from Sacramento Vintage Ford, they would never tell me who their supplier was though, probably Taiwan or India, never had a problem getting a new set from them, just my two cents worth.
I have been on the fence. My bubble is bursted. I wanted to try a mono leaf on My 34 pickup. I am ready to buy but I going to get some feedback before i pull the trigger.
->Anything<- that is cast in China is just an accident waiting to happen. From what I understand the speedway stuff, whether spring, carb, cast iron or aluminum is mostly cast in China so that speedy bill can a)undercut good old American manufacturers and b) make more profit while c) sleeping just fine at night. Over in China, everybody and their dog owns and operates small casting facilities out of their homes and backyards. Case in point, Aluminum heads manufactured in china may all be sold under one brand name but could be supplied by 20 or 30 backyard 'experts'. These all knowing thrifty home business parts makers collect scrap aluminum and when they have enough to cast a few sets they will fire up the home brew furnace and melt down their scrap to form the basic castings. I have seen several sets of the mopar/wedge heads (the ones that are advertised so cheaply) installed and when run in they develop leaks due to imperfections in the castings. You get what you pay for and whether you are opting for a cheaper set of wedge heads or you are speedy bill and trying to squeeze every penny out of your customer, you are going to get exactly what the chinese are so well known for. garbage. I don't know where Durant gets or manufacturers their stuff but just the fact that they don't seem to want to mention who is making the springs they have makes me suspicious. Irregardless, it's defiantly 'buyer beware' especially with any small/limited/short runs of cast parts made in china. jmho .
I know you did. I agree... You said " They are popular these days because... they make the ride height adjustable without affecting spring rate Not True (with the use of spacers that can go above or below the spring)." You say they are popular because...then describe a condition which does not exist. I'm not saying your wrong about them not affecting spring rate. I'm saying your wrong in that the ride height has nothing to do with it being a monoleaf I'm saying changing the spacers and ride height has nothing to do with the rate and you get the same effect out of spacers regardless the spring. and the ride height and spring rate have nothing to do with if it's a monoleaf or multileaf. So there's absolutely no way anyone is choosing a monoleaf over a multileaf for those reasons unless they don't know what they are doing. You could say the monoleaf is popular because Pamela Anderson has puffy nipples that don't change the spring rate and then ... I say WTF???? what's her nipps got to do with which spring you chose or the rate??? and then you turn around and correctly say read me better I said Pamela Anderson's nipples don't change the spring rate. and I'm still like wtf??? why's it gotta be her nipples that made up anyone's mind Mad yet Pappy? I'm on ya like Texas sweat just kidding
->Anything<- that is cast in China is just an accident waiting to happen. Just a small point, springs are forged from Spring Steel.
Whoops, posted while I still had something to say. Speaking as an Industrial Blacksmith; there's no way I would ever consider using a mono-leaf spring. My main concern is metal quality, even the most experianced and reliable steel suppliers sometimes get it wrong. If I were to ever consider making mono-leaves every one of them would be put through the x-ray, but then that would add to the cost making them too expensive. Another concern is the forging process and quality control, so much depends on the operator, if he procesess barstock that hasn't been heated correctly or the spring gets improper heat treatment you have the potential for failure. So far most of the mishaps mentioned have occured at low speeds, spring failure at high speed could have more serious consequences. We all take a risk when we get in a car, why magnify the risk for something so cheap. 'Won't happen to me'? Go to any emergency dept. of any hospital, there's a lot of 'reality checking' goin' on there.
What if you had a rod with the frame horns cut off and the spring mounted out front. If the frame can't fall on top of the axle your in a world of hurt. Is that what they call a suicide axle? EDIT...If I'm rambling here, it's because I'm still thinking about Pam Anderson's puffy tits!!!!
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