How to grease leaf springs?

[bikemaniac]

Hi,

What is the best method to grease the leaf springs while installed in the car?

Lucas

[Y-Blockhead]

Lucas, don't know if it is the "best" way but I use B'laster with graphite on my springs.
B'laster

It has a carrier fluid that evaporates, leaving just the dry graphite. Use caution and watch the overspray. Especially on your wheels.

Which brings up a question. Does anyone use 'spring covers'? Spring Covers

[BILL WILLIAMSON]

I, personally, DON'T worry about greasing my spring leaves. It "seems" to me, that it would cause my car to "rock & roll" easier, on QUICK turns--EEK!! Sorta' like greasing your friction shocks, so's they won't SQUEEK!--LOL
Bill W.

[Jacksonlll]

I have covers on my car because they were there when I bought it.
I think they are just something to spend money on and give you something to do.

[BILL WILLIAMSON]

Originally Posted by Jacksonlll

I have covers on my car because they were there when I bought it.
I think they are just something to spend money on and give you something to do.

Jackson,
I think the spring covers look SPIFFY. Is any dismantling required to install them?
Bill W.

[Tacoma Bob]

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I run spring covers and like them. On my new front spring I mixed up a home brew concoction of marine grade wheel bearing grease and Kroil. Speaking of Kroil they do make a product called Penofite. It is in an aerosol can and is designed to travel between things such as spring packs (leaves).

[Bruce Adams]

This following came from BRATTON'S WEB SITE.
While I see GRAPHITE here, a Spring manufacturer told ME to use HI TEMPERATURE chassis grease a couple of years ago

10 LEAF FRONT SPRING
For Year(s): 28-31

New spring. Ten leaves. Tapered ends. TO FIT IN THE CROSS MEMBER, THE TOP LEAF MUST HAVE THE TOP EDGES GROUND ON A TAPER. To disassemble, use two 'C' clamps to hold leaves together. Remove shipping center pin. Slowly release 'C' clamps. Apply chassis grease to each leaf - Use 'C' clamps to compress leaves together. Install correct square headed bolt, cut off extra length, then use a hammer to peen over bolt on nut. Most front springs are fatigued from years of engine weight. See drawing for correct dimensions. Bushings are installed and included. For the spring clamp order part #7260.

Part #07240
GRAPHITE LUBE
For Year(s): ALL

GRAPHITE LUBE - Spray this on the bottom of each leaf to help reduce the squeaks of the spring. Spring must be dissembled and painted before you apply this product.

[Tacoma Bob]

Thanks for the reminder Bruce. I also used John Deer Slip Plate!!

[Tom Wesenberg]

Originally Posted by bikemaniac

Hi,

What is the best method to grease the leaf springs while installed in the car?

Lucas

Use a 1 inch wide paint brush to brush on lots of drain oil. It will seep in between the leaves. This should work until you take them apart to grease them. I brush on Mystik JT-6 High Temp red grease, then sprinkle powdered graphite on top of the grease. I then use spring covers to hold the grease in and keep the dirt out.

[2manycars]

Spring covers not only look good, and work good, but they were a genuine accesssory. Oil the pads with some 90 weight oil and install them. No need to take the spring out, or apart, just climb under the car. I have them on the tudor, and am very satisfied with them.

http://www.snydersantiqueauto.com/spring-covers

[Tom Wesenberg]

When I installed spring covers 10 years ago, the best quality ones came from Bert's in Denver and Little Dearborn in Minneapolis.

[Jacksonlll]

Bill, from the looks of them, they just fit over the spring and you bend some tabs to keep them there.

[Patrick L.]

Take the weight off the axle and just use a grease needle. I just stick a putty knife or gasket scraper between the leaves and the needle will slip right in.

[CarlG]

Originally Posted by Tacoma Bob

... I also used John Deer Slip Plate!!

Also available at NAPA

[wensum]

I've fitted the plastic leaves between each spring leaf but have yet to see if they make any difference.
They certainly made the total thickness of the springs greater and as a result, longer U bolts were required, although, come to think of it, I also removed 3 leaves from each spring as the speedster is a lot lighter .
Keith

[2manycars]

Originally Posted by Jacksonlll

Bill, from the looks of them, they just fit over the spring and you bend some tabs to keep them there.

Yes, they come with slits for the spring clamps to stick through, and slits for the metal tabs to go through, then bend over the tabs. There is a stiff wire sewn into the sides of each cover, both to attach the tabs, and on the other side, to bend the tabs over. It is a rather easy installation, with a pair of plyers, and some tin shears to cut off the excess tab material.

[Kurt in NJ]

Ford spring lube was not grease--- M4628 spring lube has it's ingerdiants listed in the 36 service bulletins, 77-1/2% ice machine oil (from what I can find 10wtoil), 20% talc (talc is a lubricating, polishing and filler, it also came up in my searches as an ingrediant in a Slip Plate product), 2-1/2% pulverized asbestos

Grease wouldn't work well with spring covers---but thin oil will soak into the felt pads in the spring covers ( I don't know how the repros are made, but original spring covers have a felt pad that is in the top of the covers

Another often forgotten lubrication place is in the hand crank bearing ---oil squirted in there goes down the centerbolt and onto the spring leaves

[Henry's Lady's Man]

I purchased an interesting tool that was made by Charles W Manzel. It reads Pat. Oct 18 1916. I can't find a patent number; just this. I have some pictures. The blade was placed at the juncture of any two leaf springs and hammered in over 1/4 inch. The split in the blade is where a hole allows grease to come out while the leafs are slightly separated. The handle turns on threads. Grease is in the handle, and as you turn the knurled handle, grease enters between the leaves. I like your sprays better! Sheesh, how many places would you have to insert this little tool over and over?
It was made in 1916, so it was for the Model T's and such. Don't think there is any appreciable difference in springs on the A. Will the Wizard of A's tell me how to post my pics? They are in my Mac's photo library, but this forum wants an "HTTP://" type address ~Chuck

[Henry's Lady's Man]

/Users/mac/Pictures/iPhoto Library.photolibrary/Masters/2015/06/17/20150617-215521/DSCF1981.JPG
/Users/mac/Pictures/iPhoto Library.photolibrary/Masters/2015/06/17/20150617-215521/DSCF1982.JPG

This is my first attempt of copy and paste a pics into the forum. Please have patience with me. Chuck

[Henry's Lady's Man]

Ok, mine looks like this.

[Henry's Lady's Man]

http://http://www.ebay.com/itm/FORD-...-/371314663252
Last try, folks!

[updraught]

http://www.ebay.com/itm/FORD-MODEL-A...p2047675.l2557


One of these with some PTFE (Teflon) spray fairly often might work.

[Y-Blockhead]

Henry's Lady's Man, go to "Advanced", then to bottom of page to "Manage Attachments" to post your pictures.



You can't paste directly from iPhoto.

Also I fixed your link;
http://www.ebay.com/itm/FORD-MODEL-A...p2047675.l2557

[nick c]

Recently I removed the front axle and spring, disassembled everything and sand blasted the leaves individually to remove rust then I took a small grinder and tapered the underside of each leaf. Then I sprayed a lite coat of rustoleum black lacquer. I tried using a small amount of slip plate but after 7 days it was still oozing out, so I took the spring apart and used a small amount of grease.
carry on nick c

[Henry's Lady's Man]

Y-Blockhead, Thanks for the tip.

This tool is the REALLY OLD WAY to grease the springs. If I never use this, I will still have a collectable item.

[Y-Blockhead]

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Installed a set of Spring Covers today. I soaked the felts with some 'Low Mileage' 600w gear oil that I had drained from my trans and saved. Easy job and looks real nice.

[Diastole]

The Ford Model "A" Instruction Book for the 1930 year on page 35 says:

Care of Springs
The springs should be lubricated occasionally with oil or graphite. This will restore the original flexibility of the springs and improve the riding quality of the care.

Victor Paige's book echoes this and advocates using spring covers with the felt pads saturated with lubricant.

Diastole

[Diastole]

here is the pic from the instruction book

[nkaminar]

I have the exact same tool that Henry's Lady's Man uses. I used it to grease the front springs in my Fordor about a week ago and it made quite a bit of difference. The springs actually moved when jumping up and down on the bumper. This was in preparation to adding modern shocks in the front. The car handles a lot better now. I just used some greasy grease that I used to grease the rest of the car. I know this will become a maintenance thing. I jacked up the car under the frame rails to help separate the leaves.

[Tom Endy]

Here is how we did it to the rear spring on my grandsons 1930 Tudor.

https://www.santaanitaas.org/wp-cont...ration-PDF.pdf

Tom Endy

[Pete]

Grease is not a good long term lube for leaf springs, even if the spring has a cover or is wrapped.
When grease gets old it dries out and loses most of it's lube properties.
It is almost impossible to apply effectively to an in service spring. It also attracts airborne dirt which is very abrasive.

Many people use Slip Plate for spring lube. It is a spray type dry lube that the base lube ingredient is graphite.
While graphite is good, there is something that is far better that coats to the molecular level.
It is Molykote. It combines molybdenemdisulfide AND graphite. It comes in a spray can and can be applied by brush also by just spraying on a brush and applying to such as model A springs. It has excellent penetrating qualities so readily flows between spring leaves if applied heavily to the sides of a spring. If you do not care about overspray, you can just spray it on very heavily and let it soak in.

And, no, I do not have stock in Dupont. I just use the stuff on parts we manufacture because it is good.

[Ruth]

I did a Google search and there appears to be several Dupont Molykote products.

[ddelproop]

Same here. Not only do the spring covers keep the springs lubricated but also very clean

[katy]

They used to make a tool for spreading spring leaves.