[Chrysler300] 65 L leaf spring rebuild puzzle

["Carlton Schroeder" <schroe99@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hello,

My brother is being the guinea pig with his leaf spring rebuilding on his L.  I'll soon be tackling my H springs and hope to learn from his experience.  Anyway, Don carefully rebuilt his springs with new front and back bushings, leaf pads, and clamps.  He did not take arch or length measurements when the springs were off the car (lesson no. 1 for me).

Everything on the spring reassembled OK but the arch increased and the length shortened so much that when he reinstalled the springs both shackles were nearly horizontal pointing forward.

We are both surprised at the amount of change in the spring dimensions and wondered if that is normal.

Only with prying at the shackle and jacking on the spring and weighting down the trunk was he able to flatten the spring enough to get the shackle pointing backward.

So while the car now sits 2 - 3" higher and will come down further in height as the bumper and trunk lid and other parts are added, this big change in spring arch and length seems odd to both of us.

The old pads were about gone so with 4 pads at the leaf fronts and rears you might add 1/2" at most to the spring thickness.  The only other possibility that I thought of is if the shorter leafs are assembled and clamped on very tightly while the main leaf is in a high arch position maybe they would tend to keep the spring in that position.  On the other hand if the spring was assembled with the main leaf flattened a bit maybe the entire spring would keep that flatter shape.

Has anyone else had any experience similar to this?

Thanks,
Carlton Schroeder, Eagle River, WI


  

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]



------------------------------------

To send a message to this group, send an email to:
Chrysler300@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to bob@xxxxxxxxxxxxx or
go to http://autos.groups.yahoo.com/group/Chrysler300/join and select the "Leave Group" button

For list server instructions, go to http://www.chrysler300club.com/yahoolist/inst.htm

For archives go to http://www.forwardlook.net/300-archive/search.htm#querylangYahoo! Groups Links

<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
    http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Chrysler300/

<*> Your email settings:
    Individual Email | Traditional

<*> To change settings online go to:
    http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Chrysler300/join
    (Yahoo! ID required)

<*> To change settings via email:
    Chrysler300-digest@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx 
    Chrysler300-fullfeatured@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
    Chrysler300-unsubscribe@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
    http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/