diff --git a/org.springframework.expression/src/main/java/org/springframework/expression/spel/ast/IntLiteral.java b/org.springframework.expression/src/main/java/org/springframework/expression/spel/ast/IntLiteral.java
index fc62b517e0f..dfc0be7ad13 100644
--- a/org.springframework.expression/src/main/java/org/springframework/expression/spel/ast/IntLiteral.java
+++ b/org.springframework.expression/src/main/java/org/springframework/expression/spel/ast/IntLiteral.java
@@ -17,33 +17,18 @@ package org.springframework.expression.spel.ast;
 
 import org.antlr.runtime.Token;
 
+/**
+ * Expression language AST node that represents an integer literal.
+ * 
+ * @author Andy Clement
+ */
 public class IntLiteral extends Literal {
 
-	private static String[] suffixes = {"UL" , "LU" , "ul" , "lu" , "uL" , "lU" , "U" , "L" , "u" , "l" };
-	
-	private Integer value;
+	private final Integer value;
 
-	public IntLiteral(Token payload) {
+	IntLiteral(Token payload, int value) {
 		super(payload);
-		// TODO properly support longs and unsigned numbers
-		String toParse = payload.getText();
-		try {
-			value = Integer.parseInt(toParse);
-		} catch (NumberFormatException nfe) {
-			for (int i=0;i<suffixes.length;i++) {
-				if (toParse.endsWith(suffixes[i])) {
-					value = Integer.parseInt(toParse.substring(0,toParse.length()-suffixes[i].length()));
-					return;
-				}
-			}
-			throw nfe;
-		}
-	}
-	
-
-	public IntLiteral(Token payload, int radix) {
-		super(payload);
-		value = Integer.parseInt(payload.getText().substring(2), radix);
+		this.value = value;
 	}
 
 	@Override
diff --git a/org.springframework.expression/src/main/java/org/springframework/expression/spel/ast/Literal.java b/org.springframework.expression/src/main/java/org/springframework/expression/spel/ast/Literal.java
index f72865ef41f..094b76ac13d 100644
--- a/org.springframework.expression/src/main/java/org/springframework/expression/spel/ast/Literal.java
+++ b/org.springframework.expression/src/main/java/org/springframework/expression/spel/ast/Literal.java
@@ -16,8 +16,10 @@
 package org.springframework.expression.spel.ast;
 
 import org.antlr.runtime.Token;
-import org.springframework.expression.spel.SpelException;
 import org.springframework.expression.spel.ExpressionState;
+import org.springframework.expression.spel.SpelException;
+import org.springframework.expression.spel.SpelMessages;
+import org.springframework.expression.spel.internal.InternalELException;
 
 /**
  * Common superclass for nodes representing literals (boolean, string, number, etc).
@@ -53,4 +55,47 @@ public abstract class Literal extends SpelNode {
 		return false;
 	}
 
+	/**
+	 * Process the string form of a number, using the specified base if supplied and return an appropriate literal to
+	 * hold it. Any suffix to indicate a long will be taken into account (either 'l' or 'L' is supported).
+	 * 
+	 * @param numberToken the token holding the number as its payload (eg. 1234 or 0xCAFE)
+	 * @param radix the base of number
+	 * @return a subtype of Literal that can represent it
+	 */
+	public static Literal getIntLiteral(Token numberToken, int radix) {
+		String numberString = numberToken.getText();
+
+		boolean isLong = false;
+		boolean isHex = (radix == 16);
+
+		if (numberString.length() > 0) {
+			isLong = numberString.endsWith("L") || numberString.endsWith("l");
+		}
+
+		if (isLong || isHex) { // needs to be chopped up a little
+			int len = numberString.length();
+			// assert: if hex then startsWith 0x or 0X
+			numberString = numberString.substring((isHex ? 2 : 0), isLong ? len - 1 : len);
+		}
+
+		if (isLong) {
+			try {
+				long value = Long.parseLong(numberString, radix);
+				return new LongLiteral(numberToken, value);
+			} catch (NumberFormatException nfe) {
+				throw new InternalELException(new SpelException(numberToken.getCharPositionInLine(), nfe,
+						SpelMessages.NOT_A_LONG, numberToken.getText()));
+			}
+		} else {
+			try {
+				int value = Integer.parseInt(numberString, radix);
+				return new IntLiteral(numberToken, value);
+			} catch (NumberFormatException nfe) {
+				throw new InternalELException(new SpelException(numberToken.getCharPositionInLine(), nfe,
+						SpelMessages.NOT_AN_INTEGER, numberToken.getText()));
+			}
+		}
+	}
+
 }
diff --git a/org.springframework.expression/src/main/java/org/springframework/expression/spel/ast/LongLiteral.java b/org.springframework.expression/src/main/java/org/springframework/expression/spel/ast/LongLiteral.java
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..01654815b77
--- /dev/null
+++ b/org.springframework.expression/src/main/java/org/springframework/expression/spel/ast/LongLiteral.java
@@ -0,0 +1,39 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2004-2008 the original author or authors.
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+package org.springframework.expression.spel.ast;
+
+import org.antlr.runtime.Token;
+
+/**
+ * Expression language AST node that represents a long integer literal.
+ * 
+ * @author Andy Clement
+ */
+public class LongLiteral extends Literal {
+
+	private final Long value;
+
+	LongLiteral(Token payload, long value) {
+		super(payload);
+		this.value = value;
+	}
+
+	@Override
+	public Long getLiteralValue() {
+		return value;
+	}
+
+}
diff --git a/org.springframework.expression/src/main/java/org/springframework/expression/spel/internal/SpelTreeAdaptor.java b/org.springframework.expression/src/main/java/org/springframework/expression/spel/internal/SpelTreeAdaptor.java
index a7714fe6489..c6e45ba203e 100644
--- a/org.springframework.expression/src/main/java/org/springframework/expression/spel/internal/SpelTreeAdaptor.java
+++ b/org.springframework.expression/src/main/java/org/springframework/expression/spel/internal/SpelTreeAdaptor.java
@@ -28,9 +28,9 @@ import org.springframework.expression.spel.ast.ExpressionListNode;
 import org.springframework.expression.spel.ast.FunctionReference;
 import org.springframework.expression.spel.ast.Identifier;
 import org.springframework.expression.spel.ast.Indexer;
-import org.springframework.expression.spel.ast.IntLiteral;
 import org.springframework.expression.spel.ast.Lambda;
 import org.springframework.expression.spel.ast.ListInitializer;
+import org.springframework.expression.spel.ast.Literal;
 import org.springframework.expression.spel.ast.LocalFunctionReference;
 import org.springframework.expression.spel.ast.LocalVariableReference;
 import org.springframework.expression.spel.ast.MapEntry;
@@ -94,9 +94,9 @@ public class SpelTreeAdaptor extends CommonTreeAdaptor {
 			case SpringExpressionsLexer.REAL_LITERAL:
 				return new RealLiteral(payload);
 			case SpringExpressionsLexer.INTEGER_LITERAL:
-				return new IntLiteral(payload);
+				return Literal.getIntLiteral(payload, 10);
 			case SpringExpressionsLexer.HEXADECIMAL_INTEGER_LITERAL:
-				return new IntLiteral(payload, 16/* HEX */);
+				return Literal.getIntLiteral(payload, 16);
 
 			case SpringExpressionsLexer.NOT_EQUAL:
 				return new OperatorInequality(payload);