An Introduction: Chris Collins and Morris Tilly Project

[jack neville]

Hammered them cold Mike. I got shown how to do it years ago and have done quite a few different types with success. Just seperate all the leaves and take the two main leaves and draw an outline on the ground in chalk. Hammer at close intervals from one end of the leaf to the other working a tighter curve. Each lower leaf needs about a 6mm gap from the leaf above it with the ends touching the leaf above it. Then when you clamp the centre bolt it will pull them all together and the spring will have a tighter curve. There is a bit if guesswork involved and you don't need to worry too much with the shorter leaves. Helps if you know what the distance from eye to eye should be. I couldn't find that spec in the Tilly manual so I just positioned the spring shackle in what looked like the right position and took that measurement. They may settle a bit but we will have to wait and see. I did my jeep springs like this years ago and they have lasted well. If you do heavier truck springs it pays to enlist the help of a young man to do the hammering. I have a heavy steel block with a couple of pieces of steel welded on the end spaced about 50 mm apart to form a bridge to hammer on.

[Mike K]

You have taken on a mammoth task with those tillies .

Yes hammering . I have heard about it . Apparently its best to warm up the cold leaves by leaving them in the sun . There is a risk of a leaf cracking if theya re cold, like in the Winter .

I think they used to use a anvil , the horn on the end for the spring hammering ?

Can you post a pic of your bit of steel you use ?

Looks like you have a Hercus 260 lathe ..very nice http://www.lathes.co.uk/hercus/index.html

[jack neville]

Yes Mike. Just acquired the lathe recently. It is in very good condition.

The Tillies do require alot of work but Chris has been very lucky to get his hands on plenty of parts sufficient to rebuild two of them. They are however easy to work on and not big heavy components to lug around.

The steel I use for resetting springs is actually a bucket wheel pin, a relic from a floating gold dredge that used to operate on the Avoca River at Amphitheatre back in the 50's-60's I think. The dredge sank in mysterious circumstances and was broken up for scrap. An uncle of mine who was working on it around that time told me they found bungs missing from the pontoons when it was scrapped. My father who was a local plumber in Amphitheatre at the time acquried the pin and used it as an anvil. It is a little over 2' high and 5 1/2" in diameter. The smaller legs were added for stability. I welded the two pieces of flat to the top to make the bridge and hammer the spring leaves between them as I move the leaf across the top. You can see they have distorted from use. Works well.

[jack neville]

Body primed and upside down to repair a couple of rusty sections in the right side chassis rails. You can see where I started to cut out the rust with tin snips. Also shown is the reinforcing piece for under the passenger seat and the seat bracket mounts in position of where they need to be welded in.

[Mike K]

OK and thanks for the pics .


There seems to be little information about on cold spring resetting.

I found this:

http://redcliffesprings.com.au/springs-suspension

The other method in use is to bend with a cheap hydraulic pipe bender . You bend each leaf individually, similar to hammering . Mark out with chalk on the floor, the camber you started with and use this as a guide .

I reset a series 1 land rover rear spring with a cheap pipe bender . On the UK LR forum a guy objected , writing that it would not be a effective fix .

I'm not sure if Jacob spring works in Oakleigh, Melb. is still there

I read somewhere that spring steel has a 'memory' . The hammering process disrupts the molecules and they go back to their original position.

[Lynn Eades]

About 45 years ago, I bought a low light Morris Minor and re set the back springs with the back of the axe, at the chopping block, with a section of RSJ as an anvil (Dad gave instructions and left me to it) I overdid the job and ended up carrying a couple of bags of cement around in the boot, to stop the shackles turning inside out. They did settle a bit, but she was certainly nose down when I sold her a year or two later.

[Mike K]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FS0XgPTyU3A

this guy is hammering