why bother with dirt collecting goo? why not just cut strips of nylon
material and fully line the springs between each leaf like the spring shops
do? all this goo requires frequent maintance and attracts dirt wich is
abrasive. leather gators or tape wrapped or spring steel wrapped? who
cares? it's all model A technology. go with a modern anti friction
material ! besides do you know how long it takes for the leaves of a
spring under pressure to dispense the lubricant at the main contact points?
not very long. for the amount of effort, vs. the length of sucess it's
hardly worth it. might as well spray white grease on your springs before
each drive. ;)
you need to work on numerous old cars and see the effects of abrasive grit
embedded in the lubricants applied to the springs in order to wonder what
the people were thinking. it does help squeaky springs! but only for so
long! also if you tape wrap them remember this! the decreasing number of
leavbes i na sporing pack causes a wedge effect. as time goes on the tape
tries to walk off the thicker center towards the thinner ends and to help
this along the grease tries to dissolve the adhesive on the tape. not a
very pretty sight. and horribly annoying after all the effort put forth
for a nice wrap job.
chuck.
-----Original Message-----
From larryrex <larryrex at awesomenet.net>
To: spridgets@autox.team.net <spridgets@autox.team.net>; Dave Grandeffo
<davegran@execpc.com>
Date: Thursday, January 01, 2004 3:50 PM
Subject: Re: Leaf Spring Magic
>Greetings All,
>As I've been lurking on the list, looking for tidbits that will help in
>my Lotus Eleven Replica project, I've noticed several dramas from time
>to time connected with Spridget leaf springs... people willing to go to
>almost any lengths to modify/replace/reengineer their rear suspensions.
>While it's true that the leaf spring is pretty old technology, they can
>be massaged to give results almost as good as coil springs.
>
>Back in the early days of racing, people found that the internal
>friction of a leaf spring (and thus the way it acted on the suspension)
>varied according to how dirty, wet, greasy, etc. the springs were. Some
>smart person figured out that if you do the following:
>
>1) Disasssemble the springs into their separate leaves.
>2) Wire brush all the rust, dirt, road apple residue, etc. off the
>leaves until they are very clean.
>3) Apply a liberal coating of grease to all surfaces.
>4) Reassemble the springs.
>5) And this is important: Wrap a layer or two of the very best
>electrical tape you can find around the whole assembly (think, "Mummy").
>In the very old days, they used to make a leather boot that fit around
>the spring.
>6) Install on your vehicle and marvel at how civilized and compliant
>your suspension has become!
>
>Of course, if your shocks are marginal, they won't be assisted by as
>much internal damping of the spring, and you'll probably have to
>replace/upgrade them.
>
>I did this on a Fiat Abarth 750 Zagato Double Bubble Coupe (the car is
>much smaller than the name...) with a transverse front leaf spring and
>it absolutely transformed the handling!
>--
>Dave Grandeffo
>http://kettlemorainemotorsports.com
>Southern Wisconsin, USA
>
> Thanks for the tip, however as David pointed out the HWD isnt
> so easy to come by or is it ?
> My plans are to use, what they call stove black, it's a sorta
> black wax that comes in a can. Hunters and Trapers use it
> to coat snar traps to prevent rust and make them easy to set.
> They boil the wax and use different ways to apply.
> My idea is use an old steel rain gutter, fill with boiling wax
> and dip the springs.
> Well if nothing else they will look good?
>
> Larry Rex
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