greasing rear spring

[david lewis]

hi all,i am in the process of refurbishing a gt6 swing spring to put in my 13/60 and am wondering should i grease the spring leaves,a friend suggested an aerosol can of the grease used on motorcycle chains as it is water resistant and sticky--what do you think?.

cheers

[John Bonnett]

On my GT6 I used graphite grease between each leaf and wrapped the spring with Denso tape which kept the grease in and the water out. It worked really well.

[Pete Lewis]

Springs are in general left dry, grease attracts road dirt and wears the pads and a leafs

 

they are not greased from new and theres no service requirement

 

so i would advocate grease and a wrap or no grease

 

pete

[david lewis]

Thanks guys

[juppy]

I would second the Denso tape solution, wonderful stuff, I used it in Civil Engineering back in the mid 80's for protecting joints in cast iron pipes underground. Messy stuff to use but does it's job well.

[Herald948]

Springs are in general left dry, grease attracts road dirt and wears the pads and a leafs

 

they are not greased from new and theres no service requirement

Perhaps that is true with the swing springs? I don't know. But "painting the spring with used motor or gear oil" WAS a regular maintenance item on the earlier cars with the fixed spring.

[dogsbody47uk]

I have rebuilt the rear spring on my Vitesse Mk2, greased it and covered it with grease tape. Is this likely to give me problems with an MOT tester as he can no longer see the spring leaves? Cheers, Dave.

[Pete Lewis]

A good point, maybe we wait till you find out ,

[Unkel Kunkel]

My first car,a 1937 Ford with transverse leaf springs was greased via a grease nipple on the central bolt which was hollow and had openings to allow grease to come out between the leaves.I don't think later ones had this.

(Squeaking leaf springs in dry weather and the whine of low gears - sounds of motoring's past)

I do remember that some folk painted their springs with old engine oil.I did -once.

 

Other cars have / had plastic between the leaves.

 

The old car fraternity in the US seems to favour dry lubricants like graphite suspension

There is "Slip Plate" is an aerosol spray - dries after being sprayed on (graphite and maybe some molybdenum disulphide I think)

so does not attract grit /dust