Suspension springs

[whitehillbilly64]

I read on restorations, series owners stripping, cleaning, Painting individual springs and rebuilding.
But is it really necessary, for my Daily driver ????
The 70 odd Klms to and from work, daily, are on Country, winding roads.
After a clean and paint, fully assembled, wont they wear and 'bed ' back in anyway.
Love to hear your thoughts on this. Or am I just cutting corners ????
Thanks.

whitehillbilly

[JDNSW]

Depends largely on what state they are in. The major reason for pulling them apart is to deal with interleaf friction. This comes from two sources - rust, and steps worn in the overlying leaf. The second of these can be dealt with only by stripping the spring and grinding the step smooth, but unless the rust is really bad, it can be dealt with by lubricating the springs. While best done by stripping the spring and greasing each leaf, especially to start with, it can done pretty effectively without removing the spring from the vehicle by using oil (but needs to be done more frequently - perhaps every service, depending on conditions. It will be messier, but not unduly so. If you don't strip the spring first, expect to have the springs always covered in rusty oil, and it you like them to look reasonable, paint them before adding oil.

The springs should be oiled with no load on them, even better with negative load to separate the leaves (for example disconnect shocks and check straps and let them hang under the weight of the axles, or even better, jack the spring away from the chassis - but careful not to stretch the brake hoses).

The type of oil does not matter much - something light and penetrating is best if you can't take the load off, but don't expect it to last long. Possibly the best would be chain and bar oil, as it is designed to stick in place. I use engine oil, often the oil I tip out of the aircleaner - OK, its got dust in it, but not as much as it will have fifty metres down the track!

[Phil B]

I overhauled the front springs on my S3 not so long ago. Strip, grind, chamfer paint and reassemble both took 2 days. The resultant ride quality is far better and the shocks now have something to do!!
Highly recommended

[gromit]

Leaf spring spreaders used to be common so that you could grease/oil them. I've also seen wedges that had a hole in them so you drove them between the leaves & injected grease.
Model T Ford Forum: ACCESSORY OF THE DAY 01/24/10 KNOWLSON LEAF SPRING SPREADER TOOLS (http://www.mtfca.com/discus/messages/118802/122693.html)

There is some debate as to whether the grease or oil attracts dirt and causes additional wear.

On 'high end' cars you used to see gaiters on the leaf springs, kept dirt out & grease in Welcome to Wefco Gaiters (http://www.wefco-gaiters.com/) I dread to think what they cost now but surprised to see Wefco still in business.

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2017/05/443.jpg

Colin

[Phil B]

Leaf springs are still used extensively in the USA on muscle cars and I looked at lipped teflon spring liners that are available at a reasonable price there. They are only available up to 2 1/4" wide so I didn't get any but the friction free (almost) leaf interface has an appeal.

[Dark61]

I dont bother with the grease etc - the enhanced bumpy ride saves me having to whack the end of the fire extinguisher from time to time.
cheers,
D

[JDNSW]

Spring gaiters, to my mind, are mainly effective at keeping water in rather than dirt out. However,if you have a flash car with oiled springs, they stop, or at least reduces, the drips.

I used to think that oiling or greasing springs increased wear, but I have since come round to the view that they are better oiled, especially if not in daily use. Actually, I think the best is probably greased, but this means stripping the springs regularly to redo it - unless they are in full gaiters fitted with grease nipples!

[gromit]

Spring gaiters, to my mind, are mainly effective at keeping water in rather than dirt out. However,if you have a flash car with oiled springs, they stop, or at least reduces, the drips.

John,
The lowest point is just held together with a leather strap & buckle so they wouldn't be water tight.

My Dad used grease tape, used to wrap gas/water pipe joints on pipes buried underground. Grease the springs, wrap with the grease tape then a coating of dust/dirt built up on the outside but inside the springs were protected.
The Wefco gaiters were more for the Rolls Royce, Bentley, Armstrong Siddeley brigade where you had 'your driver' fit & maintain them.


Colin

[rover-56]

I have been using moly spray on the S1, very thin when sprayed, and the solvent evaporates leaving a deposit containing molybdenum disulphide. I suppose a similar product containing graphite would work well also.
Terry

[JDNSW]

Should work well for lubrication, and does not hold dust - but does not do anything to prevent rust like grease or oil does.

John

[1950landy]

Leaf spring spreaders used to be common so that you could grease/oil them. I've also seen wedges that had a hole in them so you drove them between the leaves & injected grease.
Model T Ford Forum: ACCESSORY OF THE DAY 01/24/10 KNOWLSON LEAF SPRING SPREADER TOOLS (http://www.mtfca.com/discus/messages/118802/122693.html)

There is some debate as to whether the grease or oil attracts dirt and causes additional wear.

On 'high end' cars you used to see gaiters on the leaf springs, kept dirt out & grease in Welcome to Wefco Gaiters (http://www.wefco-gaiters.com/) I dread to think what they cost now but surprised to see Wefco still in business.

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2017/05/443.jpg

Colin
My 1949 P3 Rover had gaiterson the rear springs, when I memoved them to wash , inspect & grease them they were like new no sign of were or rust. The origional gaiters were made of leaver that had gone hard so my wife made me some out of black vinal.

[whitehillbilly64]

Thanks for the replies.
Any links to the strip and rebuild process.

Whitehillbilly

[Johnno_p]

I was discussing this with a guy I know that has been in the 4WD suspension game from the early days.
He recommends after stripping and cleaning the leafs to use a zinc rich grey primer, then paint black and use a graphite grease during reassembly.

[reachjatt]

I followed this when i recently did mine apart from wrapping with tape my leaf spring refurb | Rover P5 Club Forum (http://roverp5.proboards.com/thread/3538/leaf-spring-refurb)

[cjc_td5]

Has anyone used Teflon spring pads (or better still, Teflon strips) on series springs? Would involve drilling a hole near the end of the leaves to locate the pads.

[JDNSW]

Have fun drilling the holes - the spring leaves are hard!

[Timj]

Has anyone used Teflon spring pads (or better still, Teflon strips) on series springs? Would involve drilling a hole near the end of the leaves to locate the pads.

There is a US site called Expedition Landrovers, lots of interesting information, including using stick on teflon tape between the springs. Only thing is that it would add some thickness to the springs and might need some change to the U-bolts and will also need some changes to the shocks since the standard shocks rely on the friction between the springs to provide some shock absorption. This is the same if you put parabolics on, no interspring friction therefore different shock required. I looked at the tape a few years ago but it was very expensive so I ended up chamfering the ends of the leaves and diamond cutting them to make them work a little better.

Cheers,

TimJ.