Leaf spring grease zerk???

[Callahan Offroad]

just to clarify what exactly is a "zerk"?

 

[Tapage]

Adding small pads of a low friction material at the leaf tips and adding spacers between the leaves the size of the spring perch at the center pin is the way to go about this.

I would like to have space material or kind of grease/paint that you can apply in between leaves that lower the friction but keep working long period ( more than year ? too much to ask ? )

 

[haryv]

zerk is basicly a grease nipple. Google it

 

[deucemonkey]

I would say something harder, something like rubber would drag instead of slide.

Plus rubber tends to break down. I would say something more like UHMW

You're right. I would hate for the spring pack to get loose because the rubber broke down. The spacers on the 63s appear to be some kind of plastic. I wonder if I could use thin gauge steel instead. Plastic is cheaper than steel so it makes sense that chevy would choose plastic.

Would having steel plates the size of the spring perch between the leaves hurt the spring rate or cause the springs to perform poorly or break?

 

[ntsqd]

The GM spacers are steel. The tip sliders are unknown to me, but I'll venture to guess that they are one of the acetal family, so Delrin, Celcon, Turcite, something like one of those trade names.

Posies used to sell a shallow "C" shaped liner to go between the leaves to reduce friction.

The later tip sliders are held in place by either a hole that the slider has a tab which fits thru it or by simply being in a pocket formed into the end of the leaf. I don't see the latter being easy to duplicate by many people, but the former could be done by machining the sliders from bar stock and using small socket head flat head cap screws with nylocks. Holes would need to be drilled in the leaves, but an old friend has had excellent results from using a hammer drill. I believe that he uses masonry bits as well, but I don't know that for certain.

Note that the GM springs also have anti-friction liners on the spring keepers.

I have 275/78 valving in the Bilstein 7100's under my 'glass shelled Mini with the 63's. They are just about right. If I pushed the truck harder than I do I might be able to gain a bit more from messing with the valving more, but I'm trying to not work that truck quite so hard these days.

 

[deucemonkey]

you're right, pulled the 63's apart this morning. Off to get metal to duplicate it for the 62 springs

 

[Wile E Coyote]

you're right, pulled the 63's apart this morning. Off to get metal to duplicate it for the 62 springs

On the junkyard springs I refreshed, I just used some scrap 18ga sheet metal cut and drilled to fit...just needs to be thick enough to provide leaf separation.

 

[CruisinFJ60]

You're right. I would hate for the spring pack to get loose because the rubber broke down. The spacers on the 63s appear to be some kind of plastic. I wonder if I could use thin gauge steel instead. Plastic is cheaper than steel so it makes sense that chevy would choose plastic.

Would having steel plates the size of the spring perch between the leaves hurt the spring rate or cause the springs to perform poorly or break?

The FJ62 springs have plastic between the leaves at either end of the springs. plastic is used over metal cause the plastic will wear vs the metal causing wear onto the spring. If you take a set of 60 springs or 40 springs that have some miles there will be little indention's in the springs from metal to metal wear over how many ever thousands and thousands of miles. also a hard plastic will still last a really long time.

and why would you want plates in between the leaves? I assume you mean in the middle where the spring pin already is so that is stays located? this wont benefit you anything what so ever, not even a little bit. It will also likely alter spring rate some also will vary more or less depending on how thick the spacer or whatever u wanna call it that you use. I somewhat see (I think) where you were going with this idea. however this will not lower the coefficient between the springs. That is why on factory or aftermarket springs that have the plastic wear pads they are placed at the ends of the springs where the most movement between each individual spring is found.

 

[ntsqd]

snip.....

and why would you want plates in between the leaves? I assume you mean in the middle where the spring pin already is so that is stays located? this wont benefit you anything what so ever, not even a little bit.

Clearly you have never heard that inter-leaf friction occurs along the whole length of each leaf and not just at the tips. Nor have you analyzed why the GM 63's are so supple. Using a spacer between the leaves to create an air gap between them removes a vast portion of this friction. It will not change the spring's rate, but it will feel like it has because the suspension will move much more easily. That inter-leaf friction loss is also why the shocks must be valved a bit stiffer. Without the spacers a leaf spring has a fair degree of internal "damping." With the spacers that "damping" is gone and that makes the spring more compliant and more supple, but do not confuse that with being a loss of rate.

 

[TobyB]

I was just thinking that making some channel out of something likd Delrin sheet would be really easy.
It'd look goofy, but hey, if it works...

and +1 on the greasable pins- they don't take long to make, and if you channel the
hard (Delrin, in my case) bushing, the grease goes everywhere it needs to.

t

 

[Cruzerman]

Any pictures of what people have done?

 

[Hank]

Use caution with greaseable shackle and leaf bolts. My Heystee lift came with shackles with greaseable bolts. I have now broken three of them and replaced the rest with normal bolts. These were not home made. I feel it weakens the bolt significantly and will never run them again.