QUOTE
Zeke wrote:
As far as 180s being 140s, are you subtracting the begining fraction of a coil at each end to compensate for "dead coils?" You may be taking off too much. There is very little physical difference between 180# and 140#.
If that was for me, well, I didn't use "formulas" to figure out the rates...I used known weight values stacked on top of the spring to compress it one inch...I also verified my initial readings by adding twice the amount of weight it took to achieve a 1" reading. (went to 2" to insure a correct rate)
50# spring takes 50#'s to compress one inch and 100#'s to compress 2"'s
my 140 springs took 140 to compress one inch and 280 to compress 2"'s
much more accurate than trying to do the math...which I did try to do, but the numbers never seemed to jive as I thought they should