Teflon
New Member
Leaves should be free to slide against each other; so stripping them, wire brushing off crud and re-assembling is a good idea periodically.
Oiling & greasing them though is a bit of old 'lore' that many bar room experts will tell you is essential and will make old leafs better than new coils!
It wont; it will reduce a bit of 'sticktion' Iinitial resistance to movement) between the leaves, and reduce the stack's internal damping (making the shocks underdamped); and after about twenty minutes and a bit of road dust has got in there, the lubricant will make a nice fine grinding paste to accelerate the wear on the springs.... which WILL keep them supple, becouse the gaps between the leaves will get looser!
The 'Chamoise' wrap, winding an oil soaked chamois leather around the leafs was a 1930's racing 'trick'; the chammios acted as a damper; which in the days before the girling 'hydraulic' was pretty advanced stuff!
Surprised no-one has mentioned the other old mechanics tales about putting bits of ply wood, or old inner tubes, between the leaves, making a leaf 'sock' out of an old inner tube, or wrapping them in plastic bin bags!
Best improvement you'll get though is from renewing the spring eye and chassis bushes, AND making sure that the pins aren't rusted into the sleeves, and the shackles can actually turn in the pins rather than twisting the bush rubber!
Oiling & greasing them though is a bit of old 'lore' that many bar room experts will tell you is essential and will make old leafs better than new coils!
It wont; it will reduce a bit of 'sticktion' Iinitial resistance to movement) between the leaves, and reduce the stack's internal damping (making the shocks underdamped); and after about twenty minutes and a bit of road dust has got in there, the lubricant will make a nice fine grinding paste to accelerate the wear on the springs.... which WILL keep them supple, becouse the gaps between the leaves will get looser!
The 'Chamoise' wrap, winding an oil soaked chamois leather around the leafs was a 1930's racing 'trick'; the chammios acted as a damper; which in the days before the girling 'hydraulic' was pretty advanced stuff!
Surprised no-one has mentioned the other old mechanics tales about putting bits of ply wood, or old inner tubes, between the leaves, making a leaf 'sock' out of an old inner tube, or wrapping them in plastic bin bags!
Best improvement you'll get though is from renewing the spring eye and chassis bushes, AND making sure that the pins aren't rusted into the sleeves, and the shackles can actually turn in the pins rather than twisting the bush rubber!
