'70 leaf springs

[Kenneth H.]

Re: '70 leaf springs

Paul, yes they do turn upwards. Is that significant?

[Paul O.]

Re: '70 leaf springs

Kenneth yes most replacement springs do not have this feature. Now that you have shown more of the spring the band strap that is shown is not found on original springs and as Joe and others have indicated you most likely have a service replacement spring.


Paul 18046

[Joe L.]

Re: '70 leaf springs

Kenneth yes most replacement springs do not have this feature. Now that you have shown more of the spring the band strap that is shown is not found on original springs and as Joe and others have indicated you most likely have a service replacement spring.


Paul 18046

Paul and Ken-----


Yes, the band says a lot. However, while this spring has certain attributes of a GM spring, I've never seen a band on a GM SERVICE spring. Also, the configuration of the "upturned" ends of the spring is very "non-GM-like" but very much like some of the Eaton reproduction springs I've seen. So, I expect that this spring is an earlier version of an Eaton reproduction spring. However, it might still be a GM SERVICE spring with a band clamp like I've not seen before.

[Kenneth H.]

Re: '70 leaf springs

As soon as I get an opportunity, I'll take a closer look at the leaf spring to see if I can get some markings off of it. However, I don't hold out much hope base on the condition that is visable in the pictures.

Thanks.

[Gary B.]

'70 leaf springs; upturn geometry

Paul, yes they do turn upwards. Is that significant?

Ken,

The upturned end on the shortest leaf in the photo on the right looks like the GM style to me. The Eaton upturn on their current repro is much sharper, and sort of kinked at the base.

Gary

[Gary B.]

Ionoklad; United Paint & Chemical Corp.

An interesting bit of history. Ionoklad was made by United Paint and Chemical Corporation, which still exists to this day:

http://www.unitedpaintonline.com/default.htm

http://www.unitedpaintonline.com/contact.htm

Gary

[Kenneth H.]

Re: '70 leaf springs

I was digging through my images and found the attached pic that shows the bottom of the leaf spring with a partial stencil. Don't know if it will help with the identification.

Thanks.

[Gary B.]

Re: '70 leaf springs

I was digging through my images and found the attached pic that shows the bottom of the leaf spring with a partial stencil. Don't know if it will help with the identification.

Thanks.

Ken,

My guess is the stencil shows the number (21-????) for the 7-leaf spring assigned by the Spring Research Institute. I may have that number on my home computer. It the stencil matches the SRI #, then I'm inclined to think it's not an original GM part, but that's just a guess at this point. As I said previously, the upturned ends look correct to me in terms of an original GM part.

Gary

[Gary B.]

'70 leaf springs; SRI spring number

I was digging through my images and found the attached pic that shows the bottom of the leaf spring with a partial stencil. Don't know if it will help with the identification.

Thanks.

Ken,

I searched previous postings on the DB and found that others have reported stencils on leaf springs (origin uncertain) with the following numbers/letters:

21-307-219-B (on a 9-leaf)

21-309-219 (on a 7 leaf)

21-209-219A (on a 7 leaf)

I believe these are the numbers assigned by the Spring Research Institute (SRI). I don't think those numbers appeared on GM production springs. I don't know if they ever appeared on GM service replacement springs. I have seen the GM part number stenciled on a 7-leaf service replacement springs. But I don't know of a documented case where the SRI # was stenciled on an original GM spring. Maybe it happened, but I can't prove it.

Gary

[Kenneth H.]

Re: '70 leaf springs

Gary,

Thanks for the info. It seems like you got it nailed down. I'll check to see if I can get any of the other stencil numbers off of the spring and let you know. Since the spring is wrong for my LT1, do you have any suggestions as to who makes the best reproduction spring for the '70 vette? Also, does it make sense to try to find an original, or do these springs wear out over time?

Thanks.

[Paul O.]

Re: '70 leaf springs

Kenneth

I would suggest finding an original used spring and restore that. You can still find them at swap meets and other places. The biggest problem would be rust or broken leafs they tend not to wear out the liners and rubber bushings are the wear components.

Paul 18046

[Kenneth H.]

Re: '70 leaf springs

Paul, thanks for the advice. I'll start my search.


Thanks.

[Gary B.]

'70 leaf spring; sources for good used springs

Ken,

What's interesting about your leaf spring is it would appear that some company used to make a repro spring with taper rolled ends that came very close to the GM style. These days, only America's Finest Corvette (AFC) makes a repro of the 7-leaf with what appears in photos to have the proper end treatment. At the moment, no company makes a 9-leaf with the correct taper rolled ends. So, if it's a 9 leaf you need and you want the correct GM look, you'll have to go the route of finding a good used spring. You might check with Pacific Corvette to see if they have any good, used 9-leaf springs. I don't have their contact info handy. Or you could check with AFC about a good 9-leaf, or ask them when they are going to start selling the a "correct" new, 9-leaf they've been teasing us about for more than a year.

Gary

[Kenneth H.]

Re: '70 leaf springs

Gary,

Although I'm not quite ready to change out the leaf spring at this time (a bunch of other things need to be done first) I was wondering what your opinion was of the Eaton 6/3 leaf spring with the rolled ends. There is a picture of the spring when you click on the "63 to 82 Corvette Leaf Springs" link on their home page, "eatonsprings.com".

Thanks.

[Gary B.]

'70 leaf springs

I examined an Eaton 9-leaf repro spring about 7 or 8 years ago and at that time the end treatment was noticeably different from GM and fairly easy to detect during judging. They had a sharper bend near just before the tip. Unless they've improved the end treatment since then, it would probably get a deduct during judging. I've not actually judged an Eaton spring at an NCRS event, so I don't know how much the deduct would be, but I doubt it would be more than 1 point. And I suspect that less knowledgable judges would miss the difference.

Gary