The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area General Truck Talk How to prepare springs

I'm wanting to prep my springs for painting or what ever. I have a bead blaster, should I dismantle, bead blast then paint, or is powder coating recommended? I'd like recommendations on how to recondition them. Dave

No matter what you do, paint, powder coat, grease, etc.... they will eventually start to show rust if you drive the truck and get them wet. To keep this to a minimum, you can have a spring shop punch holes in the ends of each leaf for a teflon wear pad, or you can add teflon strips that cover the whole leaf. These will eventually wear out if driven enough and cause the same rust problems.

Do not sandblast or bead blast with out taking them apart or you will never get all the rust and grit out.

Joe

Thanks, I planned on pulling them apart, teflon sounds good, I'll have to look at that. Dave

Homer52, how hard was it to get shackle bolts out? I was cleaning them today and noticed a shake on right front, since I have my axel out and will be adding new shocks I was thinking about replacing 2 that won't take grease.

We are not meant to sandblast springs-can lead to the initiation of cracks, better to heavy wire brush, phosphoric or other acid, use etching paint plus teflon pads as was mentioned. I know, lots of people do it.

Acid should never be used on highly stressed parts such as springs, steering and suspension components, cranks, cams, etc. unless properly treated afterward. It creates a condition called hydrogen embrittlement which can cause sudden failure.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydrogen_embrittlement

Dave Evans
52_3100

A light blasting shouldn't hurt them, if they are like mine, they are so hard even coarse cleaning wheels hardly touch them!

Joe

That's whtat I was thinking.

If you're getting hydrogen embrittlement on your springs from cleaning with acid you should be writing a metallurgical journal paper about it. Granted, I would use the wire brush or wheel or sandblasting instead, but a light cleaning with acid is not enough to cause hydrogen embrittlement to spring steel.

what constitutes a "light cleaning" vs damage causing exposure to what exactly? the article mentions phosphating and pickling which probably has something to do with phosphoric acid, which is what would most likely be the substance used to remove the rust. This might bear a bit more looking into, as the springs are pretty crucial to the well being of your truck and YOU

I think I'll just lightly glass bead blast them and call it good.

46gmcpu,
If only a "light cleaning" i.e. wiping down before painting is involved, you're right. If pickling a spring in phosphoric acid to remove scale, it's not a good idea. But I'm certainly not trying to force my opinion on you. I was only trying to help the gentleman with his question.
Dave Evans
52_3100

"pickling" is a process that involves hydrochloric or sulphuric acid, not phosphoric alone, and results in flash rusting, which is why most new plate steel you buy has an oily coating .... the ortho-phosphoric acid used for rust conversion [not removal] doesn't cause hydrogen embrittlement because the hydrogen is dissolved in the water not incorporated into the metal .... just don't heat the solution

Bill

Homer52, some say don't paint, some say don't do this and dont' to that...and all are probably right to soem degree.
For me, I gave my rusty old springs a good blasting, painted them and put the poly liner between them. I didn't want "rust dust" weeping out between the springs and I figured the poly liner would help the springs work better since they showed some wear. I figure that will give the next owner something to do!!!!

Do what you think is necessary and to ge what you would like to have. Let us know how you do.