The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Engine Shop To Teflon springs or not. That is the question

Opinions and 1st hand experiences sought. I'm re-doing the front springs in my 50 3600. Spring eyes apear to be ok, bushing worn some. The leaves I've looked at so far don't appear to have any stress cracks. I would like to re-bush and clean up. I have read opposing opinions on teflon lining between the leaves. Some say it makes the springs to "lively" even with gas shocks. The local spring shops say that their needs to be friction between the leaves. The factory shop manual says not to lubricate (except for the factory lubricsation) the leaves,it will make the springs too lively. I have looked at the Eaton site, but it does not address this question. The original plan was to dis-assemble, wire brush each leaf, then paint with zero rust. I'm trying to make up my mind on the teflon. This will be a daily driver w radial tires.

Listen to the local spring shop. Don't use the teflon, and I don't know about the zero-rust on a wear surface. Hopefully someone here can chime in on that.

Don't paint them. I pulled the spring packs apart and wirebrushed them, then wiped them down with WD-40 before reassembly. That alone made them "lively" beyond belief for a few weeks, so teflon would dribble the driveline unless you have 4x4 shocks under it. After a while the WD-40 loses it's viscosity but it still protects the steel; over a year and not a speck of rust has formed.

I did the same thing as Hedgehog, but instead of using WD-40, I used spray graphite. Worked very well and after it dries, stays in place a long time.

That was a good question to ask, dave s. These little details are good to know. Geez, the catalogs all make those polyliner things sound like the cat's [censored], smoother ride, etc. Just goes to show that firsthand experience is always the best place to get advice.

Regards,
Wannabe

In none of the preceeding posts did anyone say they had done the teflon thing or not .

I have teflon strips in between every leaf on the '40 pickup , quality gas shocks and I get a superior ride to the original setup. This truck is the daily driver , very comfortable to cruise in , nice steering , easy cornering ( radial 700R15LT ) fully controlable.

I also did a Toyota Landcruiser wagon , on that I just fitted 2" dia buttons under the tips of the first 2 leaves , only on the front , that also needed quality gas shocks to tie it down . Front suspension performance was much superior to original also . This truck I had for 6 years and used extensively off road .

This modification is not to be compared with coil springs , 'cause there is no comparison , you still have a cart sprung vehicle , just a smoother one.

I have to second Dusty's experience. I installed Teflon "E-Z Glide" liner strips between each spring leaf after cleaning and painting the leaves with POR-15. Results were a much improved ride and no "lively" behavior, and no apparent loss of load capacity. NAPA gas shocks were installed at the same time.

I'm not sure a spring shop would be an unbiased source on this. They don't make any money by advising customers to install their own backyard solutions.

How are the teflon strips or pads kept in place? Don't they tend to walk out from between the sring leafs?

The liners I used had a lip on each side - kind of like the letter "H" which keeps them in place.

My teflon strips were cut from a sheet , so there is no lip to retain them ,, after over 30,000 miles , a couple have migrated out a bit , but not enough to be a bother .

Another big problem with old leaf springs is that over the years the tips of each leaf have worn a step into the bottom of the leaf above it. Then the leaves can't slide past that step. I take each leaf and "ski-nose" and radius the ends and grind any steps smooth. Then I grind or wirebrush them smooth and paint with Rust-Oleum. Reassemble with polypropelene or teflon strips and grease. On my '40 1/2-ton I also removed 2 leaves on each corner of the truck. Very smooth ride with tube shocks and radial tires. Truck does squat more with a load or a trailer on. After 12 years of driving, a few of the polypropelene strips have started to work their way out. Maybe I should have wrapped the whole spring with electrical tape to keep dirt out and the strips in? Next time I might try the H-strips or teflon or nylon buttons. The ultimate in low friction leaf springs might be the mono-leafs. Some of the roundy-round cars around here use mono-leaf rear springs with sliders instead of rear shackles for a good working spring.