The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area General Truck Talk front suspension

Does anyone know what would make the front end on a 1951 1/2 Chevrolet truck so stiff? I can bounce on the front bumper and the truck will NOT move. Any help will be greatly appreciated.

rust? actually those springs are pretty stiff in stock form. You can loosen them up by taking them apart, cleaning them up with a wire brush, put poly liner in between them. I removed 3 leafs off the front stacks and really softened up the ride.

While you have the springs out check the shackles & pins, if they are rusted up you don't get much movement.
Fred

My '53 was the same way. I crawled under and discovered that I had broken leafs and the rubber bumpers were actually sitting on the frame.

Waldo
Let me ask a few dumb sounding questions? what is poly liners? and where do you get them? Which springs did you remove, you said 3, top 3, bottom 3, every other one? is there any trick to taking them apart?

There are a few books available at Barnes & Noble and Borders on auto restoration that do a good job of covering not only spring refurbishing and mods, but also many other common items ou will run into. I usuually "audition" these books by looking up a topic, like the springs, and see if the author's style and assumptions about the reader's expertise are a good fit for me or not.

One of those books will help you a lot.

Jim G

Poly liner is a heavy duty plastic which you can buy and insert between the spring leaves. If you can insert them the full length so much the better.
On my 49 I found that the front and rear edges of the upper spring leaves were wearing notches into the lower leaves so I only put them plastic where they rub. I never took the springs apart and if I had I would have run the full length.
As to obtaining the poly, it could be had at a few places but what I did was find a child's roll up toboggan called a "Magic Carpet" at a garage sale and cut 1 3/4" strips from it. The "Carpet" cost me 50 cents.

I'm just throwing this out there, but whats the possibility that the shocks would be the cause?

Also if you have a local spring shop stop by and ask them what they think. I followed Waldo's advice putting mine back together. I used vinyl baseboards I had cut into strips for a liner. Haven't installed as of yet but think it will work. Have fun and good luck! Couple pics here
Dan

They make a graphite engrained paint that's call something like "Slide-Ease" or whatever that I paint spring with. It's available at the farm and fleet type tractor supply stores.
Scott

It's called Slip-Plate. I've used it myself, namely coating the kingpins (before installing) and the guts of my impact gun.
I agree with what's been said, rust/dirt in the leaves and possibly dry/binding shackles and pivot pins. Rebuilding the shackles and pins, plus cleaning the springs and adding liners to the packs will amke the springs work very smoothly, like they should. Shocks will not make them that stiff. There are shocks on the market that are very stiff, but they still only serve to dampen the action, not add to the spring rate, unless they are the "helper" style with a coil spring on them, or an air shock.

Hey Bill,
I don't think it's the same stuff. You wouldn't put this stuff on the king pins. It's actually a paint, flat black, that has graphite powder in it. Even after it's cured, the gray graphite will be on your hands after handling. Works great on springs thoug,
Scott

What I have is a similar product, a spray on graphite paint. I only coated the pins themselves, not the bushings, and then only a very light coating. Seems to work well, but I do keep things greased well, also. I've also used it on a slide plate on an on car brake lathe at work,

Thanks everyone, I did clean the springs on Saturday and removed 3 springs, 1,3&5 from the bottom. The result better steering and better ride.