M38 Jeep Front Springs

[Mike K]

A crude and cheap but effective method of re-setting individual leaves is to use a hydraulic pipe bender, these benders are sold everywhere , made in Asia.

Years ago Tim Vibert wrote up a article describing how he reset his springs using a cheap pipe bender. Although the experts will say this is not a ideal thing to do, it does work. I have tried it and it was a good outcome. There is some risk of damage involved with cold bending spring leaves, don't be too heavy handed , be gentle.

You lay down the leaf on the floor and run a marker or chalk line along the outline, this gives you a reference point to gauge how far you have changed the shape as you go along/ You feed the leaf along the bender at small steps , being careful not to bend the centre where the hole is .

The other old fashioned method involves a anvil and a big hammer . You warm up the leaf , leave it out in the sun for a while . Lay the leaf over the horn of a anvil and basically bash it as you move it along the horn. Some people reckon the bashing has the effect of re-aligning the atomic structure of the spring steel back to the original state. Like the steel has a memory and the bashing wakes up the memory !