Lubing leaf springs

[Mikel]

As part of my normal rust prevention, I sprayed my leaf springs with Fluidfilm (an oily spray) and it has made a noticeable difference in the vehicle's ride! The truck now bounces up and down a bit when coming to a stop, whereas before it would be like riding on a pile of bricks

[ray steadward]

Good to know....I am going to get the slip plate or whatever the paint is called and I already have the FF...

[Nailhead]

Kwai mentioned FF when I brought up ride quality after the maiden voyage last fall. I'm not sure I've noticed a difference: my back hurts either way.

[Don Cavey]

Been waiting to post this. I remember my dad (who was born in 1915, worked in a garage and at the Glenn L. Martin Co.) said that one of his friends lubed the springs in the car. After he did that, the springs broke, most likely due to the increased LACK of friction and the darn thing bouncing up and down. Remember, he was talking 30s-40s cars. Not the best materials back then.

[Mikel]

I remember some high end cars back in the day that had greased leaf springs, which were wrapped in cloth to protect the grease.



Don, I suspect your Dad's failure had more to do with bad shock absorbers that allowed more bounce and flex in the springs. Leaf springs themselves provide a lot of damping. But we are talking M715 springs

[Don Cavey]

...
Don, I suspect your Dad's failure had more to do with bad shock absorbers that allowed more bounce and flex in the springs. Leaf springs themselves provide a lot of damping. But we are talking M715 springs

He worked at Hutzler Garage in downtown Baltimore in the 30s. I think that some customer wanted their springs greased so the boys did it. Didn't end too well obviously.

And I am sure that the dampening effect of the shocks would have stopped excessive movement... had they been any good. Remember the knee-action shocks?

[12998]

I have been using an open gear grease sparingly between the leaves of everything I have owned for years. It helps a lot with spring movement, especially offroad. Also keeps them from corroding as badly between the leaves.
If you are relying on the friction between the leaves to dampen the movement then you might consider some better shocks.
I have never had any negative issues from using it. Just my experience.

[bigprojectm715]

[QUOTE=Mikel;262784]I remember some high end cars back in the day that had greased leaf springs, which were wrapped in cloth to protect the grease.




That's a Jaguar XK150 in the pic
This is one I just did the other day!



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[gerrykan]

If you had the springs disassembled, what about a dry graphite type substance between them?

Fresh out of high school, I worked at a photo processing plant and we had a graphite substance called Dri-Slide (if I remember right) we used to lube some of the machines.

My boss said it was a commercial version of what they lubed M16's with in Vietnam because of the jungle conditions.

I don't know if what he said was true, and lucky for me, the Vietnam War ended a few years before I graduated.

We also had a thin solution called Rubber Rejuvenater that would make a dry black rubber roller look brand new.

[venominjected]

"Slip Plate Paint" is a graphite infused paint...

Available at your local farm and fleet/tractor supply.