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 A few months back I decided to put my 1995 6.5TD GMC Yukon back on the road. She'd languished for the best part of a year unused, since she had shamed herself by breaking down. Actually it wasn't so much 'breaking down' as 'failure to go'. She would simply fail to respond to the throttle, sitting there ticking over, to be coaxed into moving only by turning the ignition off and restarting. No big deal for me really, but my wife found it a real pain, as she used the car on a daily basis. So the Yukon was sidelined in favour of a Jap 4x4.
I took the car down to a friend of mine who specialises in all things American. I asked him to give her a full service, MOT and to sort the mysterious throttle problem.
A few days later he phoned me to give me the verdict. "Well she's in pretty good order really", he said, "but you're going to need some new leaf springs". I was surprised. Apparently I'd been running around with three broken leafs in each spring! All the more disturbing really when you consider I'd been towing my caravan with her.
I got a price on a new pair of springs, which frankly was scary, so we decided to have the existing ones refurbished. My friend put me on to Brost Forge, of Islington, London. So with springs duly slung in the boot of my daily hack off I went.
Arriving at Brost Forge I picked my way through the workshops and climbed the stairs to the offices where I met Chris Wann. Chris had already said he'd have no trouble sorting out the springs and kindly allowed me to take some photos of the workshop.
The business was started in 1947 by Chris's father, Reg, together with several partners. I asked him where the name 'Brost' had come from. He told me that it was the initials of the original partners. Brian. Reg, Yossie and Towser. Chris operates the business now with his brother Mick.
Until the 1970s there were 11 companies making leaf springs in the London area, now Brost is the last.
For years Brost Forge have repaired, re-tempered and reinforced leaf springs. Until recently the core of their business was supplying reconditioned springs for London taxis. The taxis now use plastic springs and with many vehicles now using coils, Brost have moved into more specialised fields.
"Nowadays we work on anything from a spring for a diesel locomotive, to a spring for a 1887 stagecoach", says Chris.
In the picture above Chris can be seen holding a spring he had fabricated for a 1905 Oldsmobile. Naturally there are no official 'specifications' for him to follow, so essentially he relies on his experience to form a spring that will give the ride and performance desired. Actually Chris made it all sound very easy. I however, could see it was far from it!
"We do a lot of work for Mustang owners",he said and with leaf springs being the norm on so many Yanks, I think he can enjoy a steady stream of work for a long time to come.
Brost Forge are at:
Unit 7
149 Roman Way
London N7 8XH
Tel: 020 7607 2311
Check out past articles in our Auto Surgery archives:
Time to get connected
Phil's shift knob swap
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