I was surfing the web looking for beadlock rims and came across this guys youtube channel.




and this one


Does anyone think these are trustable? Namely the re-arched springs for a 4" lift? Personally I'd rather get new, but it's another option maybe for budget builds.

 

If you're a professional at modding it might be ok but if you ain't I would get from a company or find a reputable modder....who has insurance. Lol.

 

research on Pirate if anyone has done this and what they liked/disliked. I like the thinking outside the box. just wonder how functional this truly is.

 

Really depends on the condition of the steel itself. Old, weak and tired steel can break when re-arched. If it doesn't break than re-arching will give you the height you are looking for, (to a certain point) but old steel will sag and you will start losing that height.

It's really a judgement call. We do a lot of re-arching, adding leafs and custom work with suspension. It almost makes me not want to watch videos like this because of what could go wrong when they are doing this. We have had situations where a leaf breaks in a press and the amount of force of the steel and the press will make it shoot out and crack a cinder block in the wall.

As you can see in the video the kid is bending that leaf and putting himself in the worst position possible. If that thing breaks a certain way he can say goodbye to his manhood.

 

When shopping for leaf springs last year went through quite a few sites and re-arching was kind of a dirty word. What people usually mean by re-arching is also called "cold forming". It does work, though said not to last very well.

True re-arching is labor intensive and involves heating each leaf back to cherry red and quenching, shot peening and the rest of it. Maybe doable for rare or unusual spring restorations.

 

The word you have to keep in mind is fatigue, when you're dealing with alloys and steel in general there are too kinds of deformations that occur during use: elastic and plastic. Elastic is the one that normally occurs on leaf springs, they change their shape, then return to their original form, plastic is the deformations that occurs when you go above the tensile resistance of said material, then the deformation will be permanent and an augment of hardness and fragility will occur. Normally with the constant use and forces applied to leaf springs a minimal plastic deformation is induced with normal use, which finally over a long period end up with a failure... To make it short, re-arcing won't recover a leaf spring, get new ones. The only way to recover a leaf spring is applying a scientifically controlled heat treatment and tempering to rejuvenate the steel.