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Oiling springs to improve the quality of life.

To: dknox <DKNOX@UGA.CC.UGA.EDU>
Subject: Oiling springs to improve the quality of life.
From: Greg Meboe <meboe@wsuaix.csc.wsu.edu>
Date: Fri, 14 Oct 1994 10:15:29 -31702 (PDT)
On Thu, 13 Oct 1994, dknox wrote:
>    The article recommended that one wire brush their rear-leaf 
>springs and spray the springs with oil for a smooth, comfortable ride. If the 
>operation of a leaf-spring is considered, the lubrication makes sense. The 
>leavesin a clean, oiled spring will slide over one another easily as the 
>spring is deflected. 
> David Knox

I must cry foul on this one. The loads induced into the spring are on the 
order of hundreds and sometimes thousands of pounds.  The sideways 
frictional forces produced by some gunk infront of the path of the spring
is no match. 
        If you follow trig, you'll know that the spring pushes out with 
force that is proportional to the tangent of the spring arc ***** NO 
STOP, SOMEONE PLEASE MAKE HIM STOP!!     
        Ok, I'll stop.  
        
        I do suppose that oiling your spring for improved ride quality 
has about the same order of magnitude effect as putting a second coat of 
wax on the front of your bonnet to reduce wind drag.  
        
        Greg Meboe  
        Dept of Mechanical and Materials Engineering
        High Flutin' Univ.
        '67 Spit-6   '74 TR-6



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