Radiator support spring?

lalessi1 · 2014-12-03 13:16

Looking at pulling part of the front off of my Custom (leaving the fenders) trying to correct shoddy workmanship on the headlight panel repairs that prevent hood alignment. I noticed the "spring" under the radiator support is broken and half is missing. There is no load on the shims at all. Anybody seen this before? I guess I am looking for one now... has anybody made one?

RICH MUISE · 2014-12-05 08:35

It's been another lifetime since I was in manufacturing, and never really got into this type of thing, but dusting off the back part of my brain...The correct spring steel would have to be properly heat treated after forming in a fixture to maintain it's shape and correct "springyness".
in other words..not a make it at home part.
The weight of the front end is supported on that spring, and height adjustments for all the sheetmetal which is attached at the core support is done at that spring and bolt/shims ass'y. There's been threads showing correct assembly and use of the 3 shims. give a holler if you can't find it or need more info. For the assembly to function as designed the correct bolt would be needed as well..I can't tell from the pic if that bolt is the oem, which is a forged carriage bolt/shoulder bolt affair.
Looks like swap meet/ebay/salvage yard time

lalessi1 · 2014-12-06 09:57

I would imagine it is spring steel as well. I have talked to one salvage guy and he told me most of the cars he has parted out had broken springs. I did get a PM from 57chero yesterday and he has the silly thing, shims, bolt, and all. I realized the whole front clip is supported by the spring and was curious if it was really a common point of failure.

RICH MUISE · 2014-12-06 10:01

"I did get a PM from 57chero yesterday and he has the silly thing, shims, bolt, and all. "
Awesome...that was easy..you didn't even have to post in the wanted section

djfordmanjack · 2014-12-09 16:47

mine has sagged some too, but fortunately it is not broken. First I thought this to be ****, but it is a straight forward clever design, keeping the chassis flex (from road/a arm travel and engine torque) off the front fenders and hood. therefore keeping an even gap on the a pillars/doors. make sure to shim the spring , so the fenders will perfectly align with the doors/cowl.

lalessi1 · 2014-12-09 20:16

The design makes a lot of sense given chassis flex and torque. Quite honestly the design made no sense to me until your insight. I have been worried about the fenders holding up the whole fricking front wondering who thought of that? I sent 57chero a few coins for the springs,shims, and bolt to make it right. Thanks man!

Ecode70D · 2014-12-09 20:39

I couldn't find mine when I was putting the car back together so I used the top leaf off of a 34 Ford front spring. It's working fine.

MrArt2u · 2014-12-16 18:35

I just looked under the core support of our wagon and it seems to also be missing that spring, the bolt has plenty of play in there. Can someone point me in the direction of the previously mentioned threads with more information on these things, I'm not exactly sure what to type in the search box...

Thanks,
Art.

RICH MUISE · 2014-12-16 20:10

Here's a thread we were running a while back. It should have the info you need and then some. Note the first page has a reference to a technical bulletin in our tecnical info section.
http://57fordsforever.com/smf/index.php?topic=4534.msg31343;topicseen#msg31343

lalessi1 · 2014-12-16 21:42

Quote from: lalessi1 on 2014-12-06 09:57
I would imagine it is spring steel as well. I have talked to one salvage guy and he told me most of the cars he has parted out had broken springs. I did get a PM from 57chero yesterday and he has the silly thing, shims, bolt, and all. I realized the whole front clip is supported by the spring and was curious if it was really a common point of failure.

I got the parts from 57chero yesterday. Couldn't be more pleased, thanks Clayton. Now thanks to Rich I have assembly intructions!!! Thanks guys.

djfordmanjack · 2014-12-17 03:24

great info from Rich, thanx !

MrArt2u · 2014-12-17 11:35

That IS great info in that thread, thanks Rich!

Lynn, can you post pics and maybe some measurements of the parts you received from Clayton before you install them. It would be nice to have those saved as a reference.

Thanks all!
Art.

lalessi1 · 2014-12-17 12:56

Art, My pleasure.

The bolt major diameter is nominal 5/8", the threaded end is 3/8"NF. Overall length is 4", threaded length 5/8". Shims are
2 1/4" square 1/8" thick. Am I missing anything? The rubber part is compressed from age.

hiball3985 · 2014-12-17 13:20

Mine didn't have a spring either when I got it so I just have a couple of rubber donuts wedged between the radiator support and frame. Can the bolt be removed from the radiator support after removing the radiator so the spring and other related parts can be installed? The bolt on mine feels like it is in there solid by some method and I didn't really look at it when I had the radiator out last time..

lalessi1 · 2014-12-17 13:51

There is a "push on" nut hat holds the bolt in place, look at the link in the post below, it shows how it is assembled. You can see the push on nut in the parts picture.

Quote from: RICH MUISE on 2014-12-16 20:10
Here's a thread we were running a while back. It should have the info you need and then some. Note the first page has a reference to a technical bulletin in our tecnical info section.
http://57fordsforever.com/smf/index.php?topic=4534.msg31343;topicseen#msg31343

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Radiator support spring?