Rear Spring Replacement, 1953 Hornet

fliptop

All, how do you remove the existing rear leaf springs for repair or replacement. Not the shackle ends the side attached to the chassis.

Thanks, John

Lance

John, There is a bolt and a nut attaching the rear leaf spring at the front of the spring. The nut needs to be removed in the normal fashion and the bolt is removed by striking it with a hammer.Best way is to loosen the nut about 3/4 of the way off and then strike the nut with a hammer or a punch. The bolt head is not like an ordinary bolt head but rather  a round head with gripper edges much like a quarter.It actually presses into the spring  frame pocket. One the bolt is loosened you can remove the nut ,slide the bolt through and the spring should come out.

DavidC

Right-0.
In regard to installation, the big teaching point is to install only the inboard bushing into the spring eye first, put eye into bracket, shove outboard rubber bushing through larger bolt hole end into eye, followed by bolt itself. Then wash/nut can be reapplied, and as nut is tightened the bolt teeth re-engage on the bracket.

Uncle Josh

By the way, the left shackle is a left-hand thread is you get back there.

Geoff

But only the top part of the shackle.  Crazy isn't it!

DavidC

Yep, learned that one the hard way...
With shackle movement there must be a tendency to loosen the nut if righthand thread used.

DavidC

Oh, and it's the BOTTOM end of left shackle which is reverse thread

DavidC

one last piece of advice, make a 1/2 in spacer as Walt suggests in his tech article to avoid popping out grease nipple when tightening shackle nut

fliptop

Lance, I am still confused about removing the leaf springs from the chassis attachment point. How do you slide the bolt thru there is not a hole in the backside of the frame pocket?  

John

Rob Fayette

If I'm not mistaken, when I was doing my Pacemaker convertible it looked like there was a metal assembly welded over the area where the rear of the spring attaches to the frame.  I thought at the time that the only way to remove the rear springs would be to cut the welds that held this cover on and remove the cover. Then you could get to the rest of the removal process.  I never did remove the rear springs because of this.

Rob

Rob Fayette

Thinking about it a little more I think maybe the cover was actually the support for the whole of the rear spring but I couldn't see how to get the spring off without removing it.  It had a big nut to remove on one side but I couldn't see how you could get to the back side.  It was like there was no place for the big bolt to go even if you did take the nut off.  I wish I could remember it better.

Rob

fliptop

It looks like both the front and back side of the frame pocket are attached to the frame with rivets and tack welded on all sides to the frame. I guess i could cut the welds and drill out all rivets and replace with bolts or drill an access hole on the back side big enough to push the bolt thru. Someone out there must have faced this issue before. Any suggestions

John

DavidC

If your 53 Hornet is like mine, removal of the front attachment point of the spring does not require cutting rivets. The 'bolt' looks like an inset disc on the outboard side of the mount, The nut is there for a reason. You should be able to remove nut and washer, then tap bolt out toward side of car. The bolt has no hex head. Instead, it is press-fit into the spring bracket, and kept from spinning by grooves on the coin-like bolt head which engage on the outer hole in the bracket. I cannot imagine your car is designed differently, unless someone modified it. Look at the outboard surface of the spring mount bracket, the side opposite the nut. You should find a flat circle which represents the head of the bolt.

DavidC

My car is a typical hardtop 4 door sedan, 53 Hornet. Convertibles or other models may be different. Convertibles likely require more subframe reinforcement, and therefore Hudson was obligated to add to the existing structure. But it is hard for me to imagine Hudson installing springs in such a way they could not be removed without drilling rivets and cutting welds. Seems out of character.

DavidC

I like Lance's advice to protect the bolt end with the loosened nut before striking. Good luck, John, and keep us posted. Very curious to hear what you find.

Hudsonly,
David

RL Chilton

In this regard, convertibles aren't any different than the closed cars.  

fliptop

All, I have a few pictures attached, It seems to me that there maybe a knock out plug on the backside see the flat spot and circular ridge. David is your frame open in this location?

John

fliptop

Another possibility is that it is packed with 50 years of dirt! I have already removed a significant amount of dirt from the chassis. Dirt that was so packed i needed an air chisel to remove it. We will give it another try later today.

John

Rob Fayette

Thanks for clearing up a lot of confusion that I had going.  It didn't really make sense to me that you would have to cut metal to get the springs out but I just couldn't see how it was put together.  I'm still a little confused but I

think by the time you guys are done discussing it it will make sense.  Thanks

Rob

48Sed

I can see the round head of the bolt in the 1st picture,just knock it out but mark it first so it goes back in the same spot.

fliptop

I got it out! Lance & 48Sed were right on.

Thanks to all for the help.  After I chisled the old dirt off the backside I was able to drive the bolt out.  In the atttached pictures you can see that the bolt removed has a very large head.

Now for the next questions does anyone have a part number for the rubber bushinig?

John

Rob Fayette

Thanks for all of the great explanations and the excellent before and after photos.  You just gotta love the folks on this forum.  

Rob

DavidC

So glad you got it knocked out. WRP has the set of spring eye bushings for $72, part #103
Other related parts are...

REAR LEAF SPRING PERCH RUBBER METRO RP23G
REAR SHOCK MONROE 31094
STABILIZER BAR BUSHING Rockauto BN7A

fliptop

David, Thanks

John