Best way to repaint/rebuild leaf springs

[Hybrid]

I am about to start tearing apart my 24 nash leaf springs to repaint them. I have heard of others putting teflon or nylon between the leafs prior to reassembly. Is there any benefit to this? Also what paint type and primer would be best since they take a lot of movement once together.

[Guest]

Teflon could change your spring rate. It could cause you to have a lot of bounce. The old time books said to paint the faces of the leaves with graphite. This provided some anti friction but not too much. As you probably know the thickness and number of the leaves carry the weight but the friction between the leaves does the springing on multi leaf springs. Did your car originally come with gaiters. My did and they wore out in the fifties and I'm now in the process of making new ones because I think they will eliminate most spring maintenance.<BR>Happy hobbying

[Hybrid]

What are gaiters? And no I didn't know that it was the friction that caused the springing. So by putting graphite between the leafs that will give less bounce?

[ply33]

It is the steel of the leaves that provide the spring in leaf springs. When an axle rises on one side more than another it will also twist a leaf spring. When that happens the wider the spring the more likely it is to break. For this reason, in the old days the often went with fairly narrow springs and used multiple leaves to achieve the desired spring rate.<P>But the leaves of a multiple leaf spring rub against each other as the axle move up and down. That does two things: Provides friction and wears the leaves out.<P>The friction between the leaves provides for damping. So on many early cars there was no "shock absorbers". "Shocks" are actually a misnomer. "Dampers" would be a more correct term for them.<P>Since friction between the leaves causes wear, you want some lubrication between the leaves. As mentioned earlier, there was often a graphite based lubricant that was applied between the leaves on assembly.<P>In the field you were supposed to apply new lubricant periodically. This generally was and is still a difficult thing to do. One set of instructions I have seen calls for removing the bolts from those U clips that keep the leaves aligned, then spreading the leaves apart with a special wedge shaped tool and pumping grease in between the leaves. Other set of instructions had you painting the springs with a graphite/oil mixture and hoping some would get between the leaves. Another solution, typically used on more expensive cars, was to wrap the whole spring in a leather cover (gaiters) that were used to keep lubricant in and dirt out. In later cars there is usually some sort of permanent lubricator installed between the leaves. On my 1933 Plymouth, there were little oilite buttons between the leaves. I believe on newer cars there are lubricant impregnated pads. For springs consisting of a single leaf and for coil springs you need none of that, but you definitely need external damping to control the ride.<P>So what happens if you put a material between the leaves that reduces the friction too much? You will get a softer ride that may be under damped (the car keeps moving up and down long after the bump). This may also result in more wheel "tramp" at high speeds. And, if you hit a bump hard, the springs are more likely to reach maximum extension, especially on the rebound. If your springs are poorly designed (too wide for the angle the axle may achieve) then you may be more likely to break a spring.<P>In general, we drive our antiques much more gently now than how their original owners drove them new. For that reason, I would not worry about breaking springs. We do, however, sometimes drive them at higher speeds than was feasible in the old days and better damping is required to keep the wheel rolling smoothly at speed.<P>So you can argue both ways about putting teflon between the leaves. On the whole, I would lean toward putting the teflon in so that I get a smoother ride at low speeds. I would especially consider doing that if the car came equipped with some sort of shock absorbers: The very fact that the factory equipped the car with shock absorbers indicates that they anticipated low spring friction and were externally controlling it.<P>If you plan on having you car judged, make sure that the teflon is not visible and make sure that it will not work its way to an edge where it could be visible after you drive the car a ways. They did not have nylon or teflon in those days and it will knock you down on points when the judges see it.

[ronbarn]

When I did the leave springs for a couple of my cars, I toyed with the idea of teflon and decided to trust the engineering judgement of the manufacturer. I painted the leaves individually and then put some grease between the leaves and left them alone. The ride fine on today's roads and no problem. For judging you may need to touch up the section at the end of each leaf where wear shows. The friction is actually an important part of the leaf spring function and I would not recommend messing around with the teflon.

[1937hd45]

I can't remember where I read this, but there is a paint product sold in tractor supply stores that acts as a lube for leaf springs. If I find the product I'll update this post.

[Guest]

to lubricate the springs, raise the car by the FRAME thus allowing the axle to drop down. This will gap the leaves a little bit near the ends. Use a tire tool or large screw driver to spread the leaves and insert some appropriate lubricant.<P>If u r going to use the teflon or nylon pads then u mite want to consider installing very thin ones out near the ends of the leaves and not thru out its entire length. Be careful NOT to get the springs mixed up from rite to left!!! OR frront to back (of the spring itself). In some cases one side of the car mite have a heavier leaf or one extra leaf or something.<P>THe centre bolt is of prime importance. Make sure it is not erroded. Some leaf springs have a centre bolt nearer the front of the spring to accomodate caster settings.<P>When installing the springs to the car make sure that the car weight is setting on the springs BEFORE u tighten the schackles. DO NOT tighten the shackles with the wheels suspended from the ground.

[Guest]

one more thing: If u need to replace a leaf u can use one from another spring provided its sized is appropriate of course.<P>Can cut one thats longer if need be. This is what most spring shops do. HOWEVER, the spring shops will usually cut them with a torch. I dont like that. Use a cut off wheel. ROUND THE CUT ENDS OF THE LEAF!!!! Put about a i/16 radius on them and slightly angle the corners. Look at the leaves u have now. They are most likely with such end dressing as i have described.

[Hybrid]

Thanks for all the input. And I thought I was just going to blast them, paint them, and bolt them back together!

[Guest]

how did u manage to wind up with three Nash's???????

[Hybrid]

An addiction is the only way to describe it. When in university the cheapest thing around to drive that was different was a Metropolitan. From there it just sort of happened.