How many spring leaves??

[frontyboy]

Building a 1914 speedster with a brass vee radiator and a dropped front axle. How many leaves can you remove from the front spring and still be safe? The bottom spring leave has been dearched some not sure how much..

For the rear spring how many leaves can be removed safely to lower the frame without Zeeing or cutting the frame. I'm using a 13/14 riveted rear end.

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

tnx

frontyboy

[Allan]

I took two leaves out of the back spring on my speedster, the ones with just the one bend at the top so there was no problems with the nesting of the rest. I replaced them both, because the car rode like a sloppy jalopy, flopping around like crazy.
I would rather re-arch the front spring than remove leaves.

Allan from down under.

[TRDxB2]

Building a 1914 speedster with a brass vee radiator and a dropped front axle. How many leaves can you remove from the front spring and still be safe? The bottom spring leave has been dearched some not sure how much..
For the rear spring how many leaves can be removed safely to lower the frame without Zeeing or cutting the frame. I'm using a 13/14 riveted rear end.
Any thoughts would be appreciated.
tnx
frontyboy

The front end drop for a speedsters is between 4-7 inches. That determination is how much clearance is needed for the oil pan or sump.
Re-arching the front spring gives about 1" drop, 1926-27 spindles about 3/4 in, a drop front axles vary so what's yours? A 1926-27 front spring has a lower arch. So answer you question about how man leaves - you need to do some calculations based on what you are using or using some other parts. Removing leaves adds another issue for the front spring clip to hold the spring leaves in position within the cross member.

--
Since you re-arched then yo need to trim the ends of the leaf above the main https://www.mtfca.com/discus/messages/8 ... 1261098993

--
--
Rear Spring
Once again there are some differences in rear spring arches.
What are you working with. For example Roadsters (6 or 7 leaves): Lighter body styles like runabouts and roadsters used fewer leaves for a softer ride. A six-leaf option existed for some 1923–1925 roadsters.

This is a good discussion on various ways to lower the rear.
https://www.mtfca.com/discus/messages/5 ... 1439594997

[KWTownsend]

Howard,
I'd have to count leaves in the springs.
Yvonne's speedster has a dropped front axle and bent rear spring for lowering. Drop by next time you are down south.

: ^ )

Keith

[TXGOAT2]

Springs have arch and stack thickness and RATE. Arch and stack thickness are physical dimensions. Rate is a measure of how much the spring deflects under a specific load.

[Craig Leach]

Hi Dick,
If you are running fenders & running boards the car will weigh in almost as heavy as a roadster. If the front spring does not have the eyes
reversed you will not need to shorten # 2 leaf. I took the top 2 out of the front & had a lower arch spring made for the rear with I think 3
less leaves & flat on the ends. No fenders & lite body I think it is a little soft sprung. The speedster I'm building will only have the top spring
removed & the second from the top shortened some. If you plan on running it hard you may want to put a truss rod on the rear axle.
Craig

[TXGOAT2]

If you bend a leaf spring as shown on the rear of the yellow car above, the bent leaves cannot slide on one another. For that reason, I would not use this method.

[Jerry VanOoteghem]

I would not remove ANY leaves. I did that with my Speedster and nearly got in a bad accident. The reduced leaf rear spring caused the rear end to hop violently as I hit a small bump while braking. The car came around sideways and only missed hitting a Ford Mustang, (who had cut me off btw ), due the Mustang driver seeing this odd, yellow car side-hopping its way towards him. He nailed the gas and got out of my way. After that, I put both springs back to stock design.