I believe if the unloaded spring orientation is carefully studied a bit, a person may well come to the assumption that as the vehicle weight &/or cargo is applied the curved nature of the spring would tend to align itself, may well be the engineering reason of the curved spring with respect to the torque tube as well. It would be interesting to cinch it down with a load binder or cargo strap & see how it reacts
Sure, but is THAT spring curved? If it were, why are the shackles pulling like it's a straight spring?
So why did Ford utilize a compound curved spring for 1932 ? ..was it to accommodate the added extra weight of the first year of a rear mounted fuel tank? but wait, the truck was under the seat that couldn't be why could it? but then maybe the pickups could increase the pay load moving it forward.?? makes sense? no? or... was it fear the new v-8 could compromise the torque tube with its added power? Must be a logical reason. But wait.... maybe those Ford engineers just knew that v-8 powerhouse was destined to be warmed over, hopped up, & tweaked, with heads, multiple carbs, blowers & every imaginable gadget to get it off the line in a hurry.....but finally..... the curved spring to counter all that horsepower... that must be it!
Ford did if for a reason, obviously, but I cannot recall why. I purchased a copy of the parent documentation (a late night ebay purchase, intended as an interesting garage wallhanging, that never got installed!!) but I've misplaced it. I might have a little hunt for it later. I'm guessing that it was something like enjoying the benefit of improved ride from having the spring set further back, but without actually having the spring set further back, or something like that. The fact that it was not continued says something! Chris
Guessing there is some inherent misalignment in the unloaded position and those thin aftermarket shackle bars are the weak point and flexed. Probably wouldn't be seeing a problem with original Ford bars and stock type shackle bushings.
the only problems I see with this method is that the shackles may not bend back to there original shape. The shackle plates are what are twisted. yes, my spring is curved but I have no idea if it is correct. Visually it looks the same as the original. How do I check for correct curve?
Original spring won,t stand alone on the floor or bench. It will fall over due to the side curve. It,s out of balance. If your new spring just stands there it,s pretty darn straight.
The unusual spring hung around for 3 years until Ford beefed up the radius rods, housing attachment tabs & finally the crossmember & spring, we know Henry was at times frugal, & resistant to change, maybe someone might have advertising info. that promoted the newly designed 32 chassis that could give some insight.
The idea that there isn’t enough weight on it to make it align correctly is interesting. Might want to pile some stuff on the frame rails and see if it makes a difference. Also interested to find out if the aftermarket spring just doesnt have the curve it needs. The curve in the spring is pronounced enough that it is virtually impossible to put it in backwards. You’d have had to have a lot of beers in you first to do that and wonder why it wasn’t right.
The curved spring is so the diff will clear the spring when bottomed out. They were trying to get the car lower than the model A spring over design. After 34 they got rid of the goofy curved spring .
It seems illogical that putting weight on the rear will correct the problem. It might settle to a point where its not as bad, but it would still have to deal with moving thru its working range. The misalignment would cause rapid wear and possibly stress to the point of breakage. I noticed that the spring leaves above the bottom leaf aren't parallel with the bottom leaf. That would seem to indicate that the bottom leaf is being pulled to an unnatural location in order to make it fit. Could the spring mount be cut loose and rewelded so the spring aligns better ? Maybe assemble all the components with the spring mount loose.........Then tack weld it where the assembled components show it needs to be?
As mentioned in an earlier post here is how I checked my Posie’s ‘32 spring. A straight edge from eye to eye and then a protractor to check the angle of the spring eyes. If you think about it you could check the angle of the spring hangers using the same protractor and a block against the wheel bearing surface of the axle housing. Lastly, with the long straight edge measure the distance from the spring center bolt to the straight edge, that will give an approximation of the curvature of the spring assuming you have an original spring to compare to.
As rusty valley says regarding the use of the compound curve spring is quite obvious but rather bizarre for sure.
The crossmember is not a 32. I believe it was installed at the wrong angle. I would remove the U bolts and drop the spring out. I suspect the shackles will be fine then. The top center of the crossmember should be parallel to the torque tube centerline.
Andy, I don’t understand your first statement that “the crossmember is not a 32”. My pickup is a 34 with og frame.
How about a picture from above the frame high enough to show the whole spring/frame/rear end relationships?
Maybe thats why it does not look like a 32 crossmember! I never do anything right. I still think the spring is not angled right with the rear end and the shackles are fine. Maybe the mounts on the rear end have been twisted? They should point level to the center of the housings.
Update: I decided to call Posies tech line today to explain my situation but really wanted to see if they had any documentation on specifications on the main leaf that I could use to check the main leaf. Had a 20 minute conversation and they asked for me to email pictures so they could take a look. Their recommendation was assemble spring pack and bolt to rear crossmember, then raise rear end assembly into position, heat and bend the axle housing mounts to match the spring eyelets. guess I need to find a friend who has a torch and will travel..!!
That is not the correct spring. And a oem straight spring will not fit inside the crossmember unless the crossmember is modified. You can bend the mounts to line up with the spring you have but that is not the correct way to fix the problem. I would find an original 34 spring which is curved and will line up with the rear shackle mounts.
Don't do it. That is not very good advice! If you want to see what is really happening with your spring, try this. Take the spring apart. Mount just the main leaf to the rear end. Now install it in the chassis. With just the main leaf you should be able to mimic the final ride height. If everything is, as it should be, ( that is, the reproduction spring is made correctly & your spring hangers aren't tweaked ) the spring should fit the crossmember correctly & the shackles should fit correctly. When setting up a bare chassis with a full spring, it's damn near impossible to get things where they belong. There just isn't a good way to get a full spring to do what it should do with no weight on it! I always use just the main leaf when setting up a chassis.
pete, that sounds the way I should go because the spring has to come apart to remove the bent shackles anyway. I then can double back on looking at each leaf to compare it to my original one. don’t understand what you mean by “no weight on it”. The spring won’t have any weight on when removing or installing the main leaf or full pack, right? someone sent me a pm about this and raised the question about using the correct torque tube and I assume that I have the correct v8 tube because it came with the pickup. So with that being said does anyone know the length of a v8 tube?
" no weight on it " maybe I should have sail " very little weight " A full spring needs to have all the weight of the finished car on it to show how the shackles will be positioned. A bare chassis puts very little weight on the spring, so the shackles aren't going to accurately show how they will be positioned when the car is complete. Using just a main leaf, allows you to position the axle & spring in a bare chassis, the same way it will be positioned under the completed car. Then that way you can see and evaluate how the shackles are positioned. Hope this makes sense.
Thanks for posting. I've been biting my tongue and not posting this very explanation and enjoying the speculation. @dirt car also has a point about Henry being "frugal" and taking the cheapest way out to accomplish a goal.
yup, Henry was frugal, But it also seems they could not decide the best way to get the car low, as was becoming the fashion at the time. Next the engineers went to the 35-36 style with spring mounts on the wishbones, and finally just make longer spring mounts on the axle housing, which I am going to guess is cheaper tp produce.
Re-read all 3 of @Pete Eastwood 's posts. What he is saying is: follow these steps and procedures to determine if the spring is made correctly. I agree with him that it is not! Another easy way to check is to measure the distance between bushing bores at the front and back of both the spring eyes and spring hangers. They should have the same amount of 'taper' ... in other words, other than the basic difference in center-to-center distance, the offset front-to-back should be the same. This offset WILL NOT CHANGE as the spring is loaded and unloaded! The center-to-center distance will change between spring eyes but will follow the centerline of the spring... in other words, it will lengthen but NOT twist the spring eye angle. The spring and hanger angles MUST match! I think Posie's is blowing smoke and doesn't want to admit they shipped a crappy spring! And.... I don't think there is any way in hell you could change the angle of the eyes by forcing it into a crossmamber..... just think how much force is required to bend a spring sideways.
The Jalopy Journal
