'72 Leaf spring reconditioning & Upper Ball Joints

[Brandon Metzger]

I have a '72 BB. I have two questions.

1) My original leaf spring is not coroded or rusty. I would like to get it reconditioned. I am in MI, can anyone suggest a place that would be able to correctly rebend the springs and provide new cussions?

2) I need to replace my upper ball joints. I am looking for NOS or correct style replacements, NOT the flat top traditional aftermarket. Any suggestions on vendors?

Thank you much,

Finally getting fun now that all off "Bubbas" work is off the car and I am able to get back to a freshly painted and correct chassi.

[Joe L.]

Re: '72 Leaf spring reconditioning & Upper Ball Jo

Brandon-----

You can likley rebuild the spring yourself---re-arching is rarely necessary and I don't recommend it, anyway. If you had a spring that needed re-arching, I'd replace it. I really doubt that yours is to that point.

You can purchase a spring rebuild kit from Quanta Products (www.quantaproducts.com). This kit will include new liners, spring paint, and spring center bolt/nut. Dis-assembly, reconditioning and re-assembling the spring is not difficult, at all.

New cushions are available from any of the restoration parts suppliers like Dr. Rebuild or they're available from GM under GM #3831586 (many dealers will make you buy 10; Dr. Rebuild won't).

You can also buy a complete kit from GM under GM #14029851 which includes spring end bolts, nuts, all retainers, and cushions to do a complete car. Dr. Rebuild has this GM kit available, too.

As far as the ball joints go, until recently there were no ball joints available on the market which were even close in configuration to the originals (GM-discontinued about 10 years ago). Now, there are, apparently, reproductions out there which are very close to the originals. I'm sure that all of the suppliers will have these joints soon. However, at the present time, the only supplier that I know of that has them is America's Finest Corvettes of Ramona, CA.

Other than that, NOS originals are the only option. These sell on eBay for about $200+, each. Be careful, though; there are bogus ball joints being sold on eBay in what are, apprently, Delco boxes with GM part number 3886422 on them. For one thing. I don't think that the GM ball joints were ever sold through the Delco parts system and, if they were, they weren't sold with the GM long number "3886422" on those boxes.

If one examines these boxes closesly, one will see the word "replaces" in small font size printing above the word "Delco" on the box. This is an ILLEGAL use of the Delco trademark. A supplier can legally use the wording "replaces GM #3886422" or "replaces Delco", but they can't use it in the context that it's used on these boxes with the Delco copyrighted and tradmarked packaging and printing/logos.

Three examples of such ball joints can be found under the following eBay auctions

7960365350

7949571095

4531956499

In the above-referenced auctions, I don't think that the seller knows that these are bogus GM parts so I don't think that there's any intent to decieve on their part. They've just acquired these parts "along the way" and they may think that they're legitimate Delco parts. But, they're not. They're bogus.

Notwithstanding the boxes, etc., the configuration of these ball joints is absolutely nothing like the original GM ball joints. In GENERAL configuration, of course they're the same; any ball joint that would SERVICE the application (and, I have no doubt that these will) would have to be the same as the originals in GENERAL configuration. However, in reference to most other features, they're not like the originals, at all, and would be instantly detectable by any judge, even a marginally competent one (I hope, anyway).

[Brandon Metzger]

Re: '72 Leaf spring reconditioning & Upper Ball Jo

Joe,
Thank you. Again, appriciate the thorough explination and the detail provided. I believe I saw the auctions you mentioned and I too realized they were a little different. I have a supplier for the ball joints but it has been "available in 6 weeks" for 12 weeks or more. I need them now so I will place a call to America's Finest Corvettes of Ramona, CA.

I am very happy to hear about the leaf spring. I will contact www.quantaproducts.com this week. I believe I already have their cataloge. Do the leaf springs tend to be more resilient than the front springs. If so is that just due to the weight of the engine, in my case a BB, or the nature of the individual parts?

Again, much appriciated.

Brandon

[Brandon Metzger]

Re: '72 Leaf spring reconditioning & Upper Ball Jo

Joe,
I know you have mentioned this before and, I believe, wrote an article in Drive Line but could you explain the difference between the heavy duty and standard leaf spring.

I believe the standard is 9 leafs, like mine. While the heave duty is 7. Is this correct?

Best regards,
Brandon

[Joe L.]

Re: '72 Leaf spring reconditioning & Upper Ball Jo

Brandon------

The standard leaf spring used for 1963-77 had 9 leaves and was 2-1/4" wide. Except for 1963, it had 6 curved leaves and 3 "flat" leaves at the top. The spring used for F-40/F-41/FE-7 applications during this period used 7 leaves, all curved.

In general, springs, coil or leaf, do not wear out and many are needlessly replaced. The main enemy of springs and cause for their failure is corrosion. At some point, that will weaken them and render them unfit for further service.