Leaf Spring Question

[hp246]

I'm looking to make a scraper blade. In looking at the scrap pile, I see I have some old pickup truck leaf springs. Wondering if I heat them and de-arch them if they'll be usable for my purpose, or will they lose all strength?

 

[whistlepig]

They will lose their temper. The steel won't be as hard. They will still have the strength of steel but not the temper of a spring.

 

[hp246]

Thanks. I'm not looking for it to have a spring temper, I just want to be able to straighten it a bit and put an edge on for scraping. I've put a torch on coils before, and they just kinda collapse into a big mess. Didn't know what to expect with leafs.

 

[Taylortractornut]

We use large truck leaf springs all the time for building up loader teeth and excavator teeth in gravel pits. I built a 5 foot grader blade a few years ago to clean up a section of woods buy grubbing out sapplings and cut down some hard ground. I made thhe blade out of a half lf a 24 inch pipe wich gave me an agressive cutting action. But it wasnt grubbing right and I couldnt cut the clay. I cut off several leaf springs into 4 inch teeth and welded them to the cutting edge. I cut down several hills with it and the teeth showed very little wear over the year. I sold it to a customer of mine that has been clearing the woods around his house the last couple years with it and he finall wore 2 of te teeth off with the cutting edge.

 

[hp246]

We use large truck leaf springs all the time for building up loader teeth and excavator teeth in gravel pits. I built a 5 foot grader blade a few years ago to clean up a section of woods buy grubbing out sapplings and cut down some hard ground. I made thhe blade out of a half lf a 24 inch pipe wich gave me an agressive cutting action. But it wasnt grubbing right and I couldnt cut the clay. I cut off several leaf springs into 4 inch teeth and welded them to the cutting edge. I cut down several hills with it and the teeth showed very little wear over the year. I sold it to a customer of mine that has been clearing the woods around his house the last couple years with it and he finall wore 2 of te teeth off with the cutting edge.

Did you use the spring as is, or did you did you heat it first?

 

[pat32rf]

Watched an old guy in a spring shop straighten/re-arch them with a hammer mill. No heat to give problems. You could also do it on a hydraulic press a bit at a time....(preferably an electric press)

 

[hp246]

Watched an old guy in a spring shop straighten/re-arch them with a hammer mill. No heat to give problems. You could also do it on a hydraulic press a bit at a time....(preferably an electric press)

I don't have access to a press or mill. My options are to try to make work as is; heat; find something else to make the blade out of.

 

[MikeD74T]

Watched an old guy in a spring shop straighten/re-arch them with a hammer mill. No heat to give problems. You could also do it on a hydraulic press a bit at a time....(preferably an electric press)

Typically in a spring shop the metal is annealed before shaping then rehardened. Are you sure of what you saw.

hp246, Check with your highway dept or a grading contractor for a worn cutting edge from a plow or grader. MikeD74T

 

[Gary Fowler]

County road maintenance go thru a lot of grader blade that still have plenty of life left in them. You can likely get them for free if you ask. I was driving down a gravel road a few months back and every bridge and culvert had a grader blade or 2 sticking up on each end to mark the edge. It must have been a hundred grader blades on that 10 mile stretch.

 

[brucewj]

County road maintenance go thru a lot of grader blade that still have plenty of life left in them. You can likely get them for free if you ask.

That's what I use. They usually have stacks of the used blades and they let me have all that I want.