The Stovebolt Site Forums The Parking Lot Big Bolts Springs

I have had the spring packs apart many times on these old trucks. On my own I noticed that it rode hard for a few days after being put back in service after winter, then smoothed out. So the next time I had the springs apart I polished all the rust off and lubed them with an aersol product known as open gear grease. It dries hard and is used on bulldozer tracks, mining equipment drive chains etc. I let it dry for a day and reassembled the spring pack. WHAT A Difference! I learned this working in the shop in a logging operation. The old KWs and Petes I worked on didn't have shock on any axles. Anytime we had them apart they got the grease treatment. There is so much friction in a nine leaf pack that many lighter trucks didn't have shocks either. Mine didn't. Rear shocks were an RPO xxxx along with heavy duty air filters, other than green paint ,etc.

As you no doubt have discovered, springs are expensive. Open gear grease is about six bucks a can last time I bought some (been a long time). One can will do all your springs with some left over. In time the rubbing at the tips of the leaves will wipe off the grease but by then they are smooth and shiny and slide easily against each other. There used to be a greasing wedge that had a zerk fitting on one end and a hole in the wedge on the other. You'd jack the rig up and insert the wedge between the leaves and squirt in some grease. My 50 Studebaker had sheetmetal covers for the rear leaf springs with two zerks each. After a grease job the ride was much improved.