Just a shot in the dark but if anyone can help I bet someone here can! Trying to source a piece of spring steel to fix a 60+ year old snow blower. What I need is a piece 5/16 inch wide and 1/16 inch thick about 12 inches long. This is the part I'm trying to replace. Did find one online but just seeing if I could source material to make a new one on the chance I need a second one. What this "spring" does is automatically reverse a ratchet pawl in the wheel hub when you shift from forward to reveres or back again. The free diameter of the spring is approx. 4 inches. Don't really need the machine just thought it would be a "fun" project to play with!
Got to think about that one.
I think if I can find a suitable size piece of spring steel I can maybe heat it with a propane torch and make the bends then heat and quench in oil to get the hardness close to what I need. Not like it is anything running at high speeds or heavy loads and if it does fail at some point worst is I loose one of the two wheels driving the machine and I can walk it back to the shed! I've even toyed with the idea of using 3 or 4 springs made from 0.060 wire running in parallel and tack the ends together.
Briggs and Stratton 28505? Unfortunately discontinued.
https://www.mcmaster.com/products/spring-steel/wear-resistant-1095-spring-steel-sheets-and-strips/ Get bending, I'm sure you can find something the form it over to correct dimensions and curvatures with some imagination.
I wonder if the recoil spring in a larger recoil starter could be cut, heated and retempered. A small engine shop might have some used or broken springs from a wrecked engine they could give you to experiment with. I'm not sure if a spring shop or a place like Metal Supermarkets would have spring steel that small in size.
That's brilliant, how about a piece of recoil spring from an old briggs engine? Oops didn't see Daves post, but equally as brilliant.
Yep! that's the part number. A recoil spring might be a bit weaker but I suppose I could give it a try. Maybe even double over the ends. There's a good chance I have an old pull starter somewhere out in the shed to give it a try. Like I said a failure would not be that big a deal.