I was comparing it to when I first got this car it came with really bad shocks and only three saggy leafsprings per side, every time I would hit a bump I would hear a loud thump and the car would feel like a flat-bottom boat on choppy waters. I wonder why my car only came with three leafsprings per side when I notice everyone talking about having four per set.
It would actually be cheaper for me to make my own shackles and cross brace for my shock, and definitely be better quality than many aftermarket stuff I've seen. $$ about 15 dollars in material, an additional 10 dollars for me to make a pair of heavy weight 3/4"X2"X20" leafs. The hard part is having a place to jack up my car on jack stands, my street and driveway are slopes.
This is different. I have never heard of someone making a leaf spring. I have heard of using some from other vehicles and such. What is the process? Are you in connects with a shackle shop?
The heavyweight leaf or overload leaf is the short solid bar that sits at the bottom of the stack, keeps the leafsprings from over sagging when extra loads are applied. These have little to no arch. You start with raw carbon steel bar. When fabricating these you can shape them to follow the arch of the existing leafsprings, bend only the ends to almost reach the stock leafspring (remember to round the edges), or keep them straight cut to length of the straight area of stock leafsprings to keep it from springing any further. Remember that these are way shorter than stock leafsprings. Once you have designed your overloads and have drilled the center hole it will be time to temper them aka stiffen. To stiffen you will need a rosebud tip on your oxy/fuel torch, blacksmith's tongs, large vise, and a barrel of used burnt oil (steel 50gal drum works best). Heat bars on vise with the rosebud, color will tell you when it's heated enough (black color with slight red-orange glow for slight stiffen, bright red-orange glow for very hard stiffen). I would go slight stiffen, spring action. Once you reach your desired grab with tongs and drop in oil drum. The oil will cool the steel at a rate that it will "freeze" the molecular properties of the steel giving it its "spring" feature. Since overload springs are only to keep stock leafsprings from bending to easily at a given point you do not have to stiffen the bar if you go the route of a short straight bar.
