Broken Spring Eye Picks

QueBota · Dec 22, 2015

Looks like it was broken for a while, it popped off the bushing when the rear wheel was lifted about 8" off the ground.

First pic shows eye laying together, second shows pieces separated for clarity, break was not shiny, quite a bit of rust.

This was the front eye, spring is laying as it would have been installed.

Would this be in a non-load bearing area during normal operation? Not sure but I would think most of the load would rest in the spring eye pocket from 3 to 9 o'clock. Would make more sense if the spring fractured where the eye meets the leaf.

Opinions appreciated.

Thanks,
Q

GLyford · Dec 23, 2015

QueBota said:
Would this be in a non-load bearing area during normal operation?

Exactly so. No idea what could have "reverse loaded" it enough to get it to break, unless maybe it was some sort of forward/back impact, like driving into a stump or rock or something.

GPintheMitten · Dec 23, 2015

So, what is the spring off of? Are you going to replace it?

A few years ago, I fixed up an old tandem axle trailer. I replaced at least one spring, and all the shackle bolts.

QueBota · Dec 23, 2015

Sorry, all that info is in the other two "spring saga" posts, should have loaded it here.

It's a 1991 Ford Ranger XLT 4x4 Super Cab 5 speed 4x4 4.0l engine 6' bed 8.8" rear Dana 35 front 3.73 gears. Pretty much the largest Ford Ranger built that year.

I purchased from a Ford Dealer in Nov. of 1993, had 21K miles on it, looked new. Hasn't really been abused, off roaded or overloaded. Currently has about 155K miles on it.

New spring was ordered and installed after a bit of a struggle. Had to reuse the factory ubolts, spring shop couldn't duplicate factory ubolts. They are working on making me a set. Plan on replacing the spring on the drivers side as time and finances permit.

My son "inherited" the truck from me, he works as an electricians helper and normally rides a Ninja. Needed something for colder weather and to expand his work options, lately he has been catching a ride in a company truck. He looked around at used trucks, nothing much out there, Ranger was pretty much just taking up space on the driveway.

We had to repair the cracking firewall and replaced the entire clutch system from reservoir to slave cylinder to put it back on the road. Slave cylinder is located on the input shaft of the tranny. Truck was sitting awaiting that repair, he was motivated to help repair to put the truck back on the road, it was quite a bit of work.

Having his own covered truck will increase the number of job sites he can work on. All parts and shipping for one spring replacement is about $150.00.

I suspect spring has been broken for quite a while, there used to be a small "clunk" when shifting into reverse, that's gone after new spring installed.

Still puzzles me why it would break at that location, any engineers out there?

GPintheMitten said:
So, what is the spring off of? Are you going to replace it?

A few years ago, I fixed up an old tandem axle trailer. I replaced at least one spring, and all the shackle bolts.