Part 3823, the pad that goes between the front spring and the frame, is available in rubber and leather. Except for price, does either one have an advantage over the other?

I've put in a few rubber ones. Never had to replace any yet?

Leather,unless something is done to it I aint aware of,may not last in that enviroment as well as rubber.
Maby if there was a way to get some neets foot oil to that leather once in a while,it may would last forever.

Leather can hold moisture and make rust. I use a section of old bicycle tire.

I have no experience with the spring pad's. How thick are they?

If I were to make my own, what would be the maximum thickness of rubber that could be used?

Thank's,
Steve

I respectfully beg to differ. The repro rubber ones being sold are too thin and soft. If the pads are made PER the factory drawing out of the right thickness and toughness leather - they work totally different than the typical pads. If you have a brass car and your hood is hitting the wooden hood shelf strips, you have the typical thin repro pads under your radiator and pretty soon you may notice that the rivet heads on the front end top surface will start to dimple the undersides of your nice brass radiator. I went to archives and got the factory drawings for these parts and had them made by an old industrial leather belt supplier to industry and they knew the different types of leather. Check out part number 3928 on Fun Projects web site and notice that the pads are NOT symmetrical like the typical repro ones. I made these and put them under my radiators on my show cars and the hoods fit properly and the leather can easily stand up to the radiator weight without compressing. The SPRINGS are for the compression mount portion of the radiator mounting. The PADS are for support when the compression is NOT required on level ground.

Ford original type leather radiator pads

John -- They're talking about the spring pads where the axle springs mount to the frame, not the radiator mounting pads.

Steve,

I have no experience with rubber pads, and only a year or two with my new leather pad. This is the Ford drawing for the T-262 (Factory Number) Front Spring Pad.



This is the one that goes between the front spring and the front frame cross member. The Rear Spring Pad is similar, except the side pieces are not tapered and it is larger. (Hope to have a drawing of that soon.) John's leather pieces go on the sides of the radiator, by the through bolt, and are a good item to have as well.

Tom
Piquette Ts / Casual Ts
Detroit

The repro spring pads are also too thin. Looks like a business opportunity for John or someone.

Royce

I used some of the plastic 1/8 thick, like John makes his coil box kits from. after one year and about 3,000 miles it looks as good as new. Keith B

Boy I have to learn to read. Its hell getting old.

I believe Russ Furstnow makes the correct leather pads for the springs. By the way, in later years, Ford actually used top material for this purpose, with a square leather pad riveted to each end. I have a couple of NOS pads like this, and wouldn't even think of using them.