[TR] TR3 Leaf Springs?

[TERRY SMITH]

Hello, everyone.


Sourcing a "new" pair of springs doesn't have to be from a new supplier.  There are a number of Triumph used suppliers who may have what you want without paying "new" prices, that are old stock, but still very much serviceable.  You can try Mike Bonaduccie in Bradford, Vermont (802-439-5815), as one of these.  No financial interest and all that.  I've used and can recommend because he's been the closest to me. 


Terry Smith, '59 TR3A

New Hampshire, where we had 20 inches of snow on Tuesday/Wednesday.  The first day, my John Deere loader used to clear the 300 yard driveway started, but wouldn't go forward or backward.  Crawled in the cold and snow under it and finally discovered the issue was ice in the transmission fluid.  Drained and replaced, worked great.  Second day wouldn't start.  Issue was dead battery (must have left the key partly on AC after turning it off on Day One.)  Gadfrey!!!!!!!  But all fine and cleared now.

> On March 16, 2017 at 4:32 PM Randall <TR3driver at ca.rr.com> wrote:
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>     > If I took my old ones to a spring -
> 
>     > maker here in the Portland (Maine) area, what data would I need to
> 
>     > provide to them, along with my old springs? It's obviously possible to
> 
>     > make them look right but still be too stiff...
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>     The drawing in the workshop manual should be enough.  Page 203 here
> 
>     https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B2H2NJt34OffYWZiN2VlZGMtNTkxMi00NGUzLWE4NzMtMGRkODRkYzU3MDU1
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>      
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>     The ones I got from TRF appeared to have two problems:
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>     1) The leaves were not tapered in thickness as shown in the drawing.
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>     2) (More importantly, I think) The leaves were just a bit thicker than given in the drawing.  Not by much, but apparently it doesn't take much.  I found an on-line site that would calculate leaf spring stiffness (sorry, I've lost the link).  When I put in the measured thickness of the new spring leaves (along with all the other data), it came up with a spring rate very similar to what I had measured.  When I put in the numbers from the workshop manual, the result was much closer to the rate in the manual.
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>     In case anyone is interested, here's a photo of my lashup to measure spring rate.
> 
>     http://s258.photobucket.com/user/TR3driver/media/Tools/DSCF0008.jpg.html
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>     Two needle valves (one is hidden in the photo) allow adjusting the amount of air in the cylinder.  The resulting force can be calculated from the air pressure displayed (times the area of the cylinder piston), and the deflection measured with a ruler (not shown).  Cost for the whole contraption was only about $50 (the used air cylinder was $25 with shipping from ebay).
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>     As it happened, I got given a pair of original springs, so I kind of lost interest in the quest for new ones.  Unfortunately, they seem to be sagging pretty badly, so I need to be working on this topic again soon.
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>     -- Randall
> 
>     56 TR3 TS13571L daily driver
> 
>     71 Stag LE1473 - awaiting engine rebuild
> 
>     71-2-3 Stag - awaiting gearbox rebuild
> 
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> 


 

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