Hi,

I just installed a set of new leaf springs under my '73 valiant. I bought them at JCWhitney. The only error was that they sent me a nice set of five leave springs instead of the four-leave they advertise.

So far so good. Handling dramatically improved and with the propane tank in the back the car has just the right hight. Only one thing... It squeaks!

It sounds just like an old farmer's wagon. The left spring seems to squeak at the front pivot bolt. The torque on the bolt is right and when i spray it with PFTE or WD-40 it stops for a day or two. Then it starts all over again. When I brake, when I drive slowly, when I move when at the traffic lights, when I reach for the glovebox....It is driving me nuts! Please help!

Roelof

Rubber bushings? New hanger hardware or the old?
Frank

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Scrapple: Because a mind is a terrible thing to waste.
73 Duster - Race Car
66 Dart Wagon - DD
178" FED
82 D150
All Slant powered

An old trick is to lube rubber parts with dry soap. Most rubber bushings really want to be dry so the rubber grips the metal and flexes with it. If the old bolt going through the bushing was rusty and pitted it will be a noise problem. It is the slippage between rubber/metal that causes a squeak. You should not use oil / petroleum based lube as it may attack the rubber(and collect dirt)-unless you know what the rubber is made of. If the bushing has a metal sleeve inside it that the bolt goes through good luck. If I had access to a lathe I would put two grooves into the metal sleeve for some o-rings and then I would put a little grease in so it would be sealed. After all that it may just wear in after a little while if you do nothing.....

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50 chrysler,54 Plymouth, 64 Valiant conv 4 speed, 66 Valiant V8 wagon, 70 Challenger R/T 440+6 conv 4 speed,80 Colt, 98 Neon ACR,84 Honda V45 Magna
Taking care of 57 300C conv,48 T&C conv. Missing my 67 GTX and 36 Ply coupe

If the spring stack was built without the zinc and/or plastic interliners between the leaves, you'll get squeaking. New interliners can be had separately.

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Too many people who were born on third base actually believe they've hit a triple.

All bushings and hangers are rubber and new. The front bushing is fixed in the eye of the spring and has a metal sleeve. I used little grease on the bolt. The springs do have plastic interleaves.

I cleaned up the hanger and painted it. Maybe it's the paint...

Hi Roelof. Whatever you do, DON'T LUBRICATE THE SPRING LEAVES! There is a lot of useful info on leaf springs to be found at eatonsprings.com's site. Among the info you'll find there, is that the steel that is usually used for leaf spring production, SAE 5160 High Alloy Spring Steel, reacts chemically with petroleum products, so any kind of greasing between the leaves will cause a premature failing of the spring. A tip for lubrication for noisy poly bushings is the lube sold by polybushings.com, I don't know if it works for rubber bushings as well, but it may work on your bushings. Be aware of the fact that some of the bushings earlier delivered as rubber actually is mass produced in a rubber-like synthetic material today, often without the distributors knowledge, maybe because of the prices of raw materials or something similar, and the poly lube may be the right thing for them as well.
Olaf

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Aspenized

Well my 36 Plymouth and my 50 Chrysler both have "Gaiters" on the rear springs. That means that the rear springs are totally incased in grease, wrapped with burlap and finally inclosed in a articulated metal cover. And then at each oil change and chassis lube you shoot more grease in. I do know that you never paint the spring leaves as that causes ride problems.

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50 chrysler,54 Plymouth, 64 Valiant conv 4 speed, 66 Valiant V8 wagon, 70 Challenger R/T 440+6 conv 4 speed,80 Colt, 98 Neon ACR,84 Honda V45 Magna
Taking care of 57 300C conv,48 T&C conv. Missing my 67 GTX and 36 Ply coupe

They started using the SAE 5160 High Alloy Spring Steel in the late 50's, but surely not on wrapped springs. A lot of cars used greased and wrapped springs in earlier years, Rolls Royce and Bentley are among manufactorers that have used it quite recently, as far as I know.
Olaf

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Aspenized

So how can you tell which steel the leaf springs are made of? Are the ones I bought 2 years ago the new alloy or the old one? If they are replacement springs for the originals they should be ok with grease?

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50 chrysler,54 Plymouth, 64 Valiant conv 4 speed, 66 Valiant V8 wagon, 70 Challenger R/T 440+6 conv 4 speed,80 Colt, 98 Neon ACR,84 Honda V45 Magna
Taking care of 57 300C conv,48 T&C conv. Missing my 67 GTX and 36 Ply coupe

Uugh, tough one! I guess the manufacturer must be the best to answer such a question, I don't know an easy way to test that. Sorry I can't help with that. :shrug:
Olaf.

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Aspenized

My father drives a '64 rover that has greased leaf springs, but the English tend to use very traditional techniques.

First of all thanks for all the replies. I didn't lubricate the leaves. I guess it's just the metal sleeve moving in the hanger that I hear. And the rubber bushing is fixed to the spring eye, so I wouldn't know how to lubricate it.

This weekend I'll disassemble it to see if I can find any marks.

...and when I finally found the time to disassemble the spring the noise suddenly stopped. Just some break-in noise I guess.

Thanks for the helpful replies anyway

roelof, are you tightening the hardware with weight on the springs or up on jacks with the springs hanging unloaded ? ronnie

I did it just like the FSM says, with weight on the springs.

Roelof