heating springs?

[1970bowtie]

im thinking about heating the rear coils on my truck,i know you need to be on level ground to do this.but is there anything else i need to know?
im thinking, set two jack stands a couple inches under the frame rails,get under the truck with a torch, and heat in the middle of the spring until it bottoms out on the jack stand?

opinions on this are appreciated

[GREASEMONKEY72]

well you can do it that way and itll work and its certainly the easiest way to lower a truck but not exactly the safest or best ride quality is what ive heard

[jorgensensc]

Just to let you know, you are about ready to be adamantly told NOT TO DO THIS! I don't know much about it, I just know no one on here thinks that is a good idea. Safety and ride concerns. Just giving you a heads up.
Shawn

[1970bowtie]

i can deal with some bumps...but i dont want a spring to break going into a corner you know what i mean?

other than ride, what is the safety concern

[Big D]

I've always heard that heating springs is a bad idea. If your only wanting to go a couple inches or so why not use blocks and longer u-bolts? I fabricated my blocks out of scrap 2 1/2 " square tubing. I still need to get the u-bolts made, I would guess they will run around 25 bucks.

[GREASEMONKEY72]

heating the steel like that can make it brittle and also just weaker than before, my vote would be with some square tubing or blocks for just an inch or 2, even 3

[1970bowtie]

well, it would just be tempoary until i got some drop springs. all i know is something needs to be done..my truck has that von dutch look.and theres not even a motor in it at the moment

[GREASEMONKEY72]

dont take this the wrong way or anything but if it doesnt even have a motor in it and youre getting drop springs anyway then why bother messing with heating the stock ones?

if youre just playing around with it and not driveing it then heat away and play with different drops

[1970bowtie]

i have a motor, i just have to get my accssories bolted up, and a few other odds and ends

[GREASEMONKEY72]

ah i see, well really its up to you if you want to do it but everything ive heard is always to not do it because its unsafe and i do know that heating the steel will make it brittle and weaker

[manimal]

DONT DO IT! My wife's dad claims to be a HOTRODDER and that is how he does it. When you heat a spring, it loses it tension and becomes unsafe. You will bounce all over the place. Do yourself(and everbody else on the road) a favor and sve for the right springs.
-Lance

[wibilly]

i say fill your box with sand. it's much easier to reverse by shoveling it back out

[70C10Toejam]

or use a cold-saw and cut one coil off.

[Longhorn Man]

you can't really cut the rear springs, they are pig tailed.
I hate to say this... but wht do you guys think they've done for the last 50 or so years?
It ain't the best way, but you ain't gonna go a kill yourself, or cause an accident that'll wipe a town off the map. We lowered so d@mn many cars and trucks in high school this way that when we ran out of Ox & Ac in the torches, the principal refused to refill them.
You'll wanna wither put a real heavy load in the bed to help with pushing down, or you'll want to pull the body down to the jack stands as you heat it. A rachet strap around the axle to the frame (2 of them actually) would work... not the little girly straps, but the big thick ones.

[Spray-Bomb]

Wow, by the sound of it I should be dead & my truck shouldn't resemble a truck anymore

I heated my coils & I drive my sh!t every day, drove it to Norwood and back And I even haul a trailer some times

And as for ride quality, maybe if you drop it 10" inches or something stupid your ride would go to crap, but I could barely tell a difference when I did mine

So it's unsafe, well just like Andy said "what do you guys think they've done for the last 50 or so years?" Yeah, maybe if you heat em up white hot & douse em with water I'm pretty sure you could get one to snap

[ohenryoh]

I've had my rear coils heated for the last 10 years with no problems - I used drop springs and shocks up front and heated the rear. I intended to get drop springs for the rear but the ride has been fine.

[Putter]

Just don't put all the heat in one spot. Spread the drop out over a few inches of the spring.

But....it isn't a question of "IF" the spring will fail....but rather "WHEN" the spring will fail.
You may not have an accident when it snaps, but it will flat out scare the dog-$#!T out of you.

[AH619]

Remember What The Sherrif Told Mater In Cars...(tonotoo)

[Scott68-93-97]

Dont do it coils are cheap, heating the springs changes the formula of the metal since it is heat treated spring steel, not saying it wont work or that it is dangerouly unsafe but its not a good thing. If you do it stay at the top to 1/3 of the way down and it wont affect your ride quality as much since it will use more of the stock spring rate until the spring compresses enough to use the top which will then be stiffer, basically your making a backyard progressive spring.

[neonlarry]

You know you are a redneck if....

[retodd7711]

I saw the same edition of musclecars this weekend.
\

[Spray-Bomb]

So all you guys that say "Oh, Don't do it ! They'll break"

Have you ever had one break after YOU heated them, or even heard of a broke spring because it was heated

Just as I said, yeah I'm sure one might break if you don't use common sense when you heat it

You all have butt holes & opinions, some are just closer to each other than others

Thats all I have to say about this subject

[1970bowtie]

Originally Posted by neonlarry

You know you are a redneck if....

some people dont have extra money laying around..so you gotta make due

[Longhorn Man]

One man's budget bolt on, is another man's entire budget.

[corn]

Cheap and easy... Cut 1 coil off front springs & find an old pair of late 60's/ early 70's chevelle, monte, cutlass, skylark stock rear springs for the rear. $20 lowered truck...