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Early Front Springs
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S'more Spring Stuff
Since my main leaf was cracked, and replacement not an option short of making a complete spring replacement, I bought a later-style one piece main leaf from VPW. This leaf is flat as a board, and would push the axle 3/8" forward of the Pass side spring if not arched- my truck would now turn right instead of left. Trying to pull it down with the centerbolt would REALLY preload it, and guarantee a surprise upon disassembly, so I had it "cold arched" with a press.
The easy way is of course the wrong way, and will give you a "V" shaped spring (pic #1). The spring has to be arched at a number of points along its length- we used 12 points 2" apart, starting 7" from each eye (pic #2). The angle iron supports were spaced 14" apart. The bend was started on line 2, moving to lines 4, then 6, and then the spring was turned end for end and lines 12, 10, and 8 were done (pic #3). We skipped the centerbolt line.
It took about 10 pumps on each line to start noticing noticeable arching- the ram moves about 90 thou each pump. 10 pumps equalled about 5/8" ram extension, we went 11, 12, and 12 1/2 before stopping at 15/16" extension. The leaf now has the same arch and distance between eyes as the original leaf, we'll see what happens when the weight hits it!
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I can not confirm what set up the 46-51 trucks had, but by the time my 1952 winch truck was built, it had a solid spring on one side, and a three-piece on the other. Interestingly, my 1954 non-winch truck had one piece springs on both sides.John
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I have an issue where one rear corner is lower than the other on my '52 PW.
I suspect one side has lost its arch.
I plan on pulling the packs off and checking for broken leaves, but does anyone know the stock arch on the rear?
I think the front arch is 5.25".
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re swivel frame
Originally posted by polaris400cc View PostMine is also a 54 but w/swivel frame. One front side was 3 piece and the other was a one pc. So I guess this is not an oddity then.. thats good
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Not to hijack this thread, but If your swivel frame came from Florida and it doesn't have a data plate with serial number, it may be a copy. The Truckstell design is specific to the Power Wagon and not as heavy as the earlier Willock units. Reportedly, 40-50 units of this design were made for the Florida Division of Forestry for use in the Florida Everglades. A machine shop, possibly the same shop that made the original Truckstell units, also made some copies. I think I have one of these copies. It came out of a junk yard in Lake City, Florida that had several swivel frames. I know of at least three other trucks with swivel mechanisms that came from this junk yard. Some had data plates. Some didn't. Some routed the fuel and brake lines through the collar of the joint. Some routed them underneath, through two brackets. Several of the units in the junk yard had been welded back together so they would not swivel, probably for insurance reasons? The reason I think mine is a copy is because it has no data plate and it was installed backwards in the frame! The cut-outs for the drive shaft clearance were on the driver side. Dan Mininger used mine to reproduce 10 units. I think he has now sold all 10 units. Not sure. Steve Swan has a swivel frame and had some replicas of the data plates made.
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Sorry. I just realized you are in Canada so you probably have one of the earlier Willock units. The data plate was on the driver side bedside. I tried to attach a photo. You can google images and see the data plates on a yellow truck owned by Jonas Smith and on a promotional photo.
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