I'm shaking out leads on spring manufacture and repair. We want to replace one leaf on a spring and re-band it. Philly Spring will do the work for us but they do not have a source for a leaf that has the slots in each end. The used to bring in raw steel and make them, but due to a number of factors they stopped doing so. Among these reasons are springs are replaced as a whole unit and the environmental and safety upgrades to keep doing it legally.

The plan was to order a single leaf from Benz Spring in Oregon and have it shipped to Philly and have them take the spring apart and install it. Unfortunately Benz Spring is out of business and we're back to looking for a supplier for a single leaf. The guy at Philly Spring is working on a few leads and I am as well.

If anyone has a supplier please let me know.

Thanks,

The commercial truck spring guys should be able to help you, if you can find one. You might want to think about replacing the 2 nearest springs as the broken spring would over stress it's neighbors with point loads instead of the load being spread across the length of the next leaf.

Rich C.

I have used Betts Spring here in California:

2843 South Maple Avenue | Fresno, California 93725
Phone: 559.498.3304

http://www.bettsspring.com/leaf-springs
http://www.betts1868.com/

From design to execution they do it all, including slots.

We had a spring shop here that could do that work, I guess there used to be a lot of them, they are gone now.

An internet search brings up these people:
http://www.palmerspring.com/spring-repair-services.html

they claim to have a 'blacksmith shop' to make any spring needed.

Steam Into History had new springs made for their York #17 locomotive this summer...might want to check with Bob or Alex at Steam and see who they had make the springs.

Make sure the the new leaf has the same load carrying capacity as the old one, this can be quite tricky, as some of the new replacement springs we received had almost twice the load carrying ability of their originals due to the difference in the materials they were made with, even though they were physically the same size. The free height was correct, but when the rated load was placed on them they did not deflect at all, which made them unusable.

Mike Tillger

We have had some luck with Stanley Spring in Harrisburg, PA 717-257-5050

I have been using AB Spring Service in Grand Rapids, MI for years. Both for trucks and rail equipment. They have some smart people their, and great service. 616-534-3399

I am puzzled by Tillger's report of too-stiff springs made from a different material. The modulus of elasticity is the same for all steels, about 30,000,000 psi. This says that all steels will deflect the same amount under the same load. However, the point at which the spring yields (takes a set), depends greatly on the grade of steel and the heat treat. This is the difference between spring steel and coat hangers.
Could there have been some other difference?

There's such a thing as "spring rate" which is a measurement of how much a spring will change size under a given amount of pressure. I generally quote this when I order a spring - you can put an old broken spring into a press and compress it a given amount - say an inch - and measure the pressure of the press to determine this.

I've checked every lead. We've still not found a supplier. I'm working on a few more leads. The plate is 4-1/2" wide which is no longer made. That is our problem.

Try Palmer Spring Co. in Portland, Maine. They claim to be the oldest spring company in the U.S.
http://www.palmerspring.com/

They have a blacksmith shop and can make most anything.

Keith

These guys seem to have a lot of spring steel stock:

http://www.admiralsteel.com/

.

Good response Kelly! Is kind of where I was going with it.

When we are working on these things, it's good to remember that 100+ years ago they were getting all this done without CNC machines, digital thermometers, CAD software, exotic alloys, and bad internet advice ;).

Springs are 'simply' medium to high carbon steel, annealed and heat treated. (and of course trimmed and bent to the correct shape). All possible in a turn of the century blacksmith shop.