What about grease ? ? ?

[Tom @ Snake River]

In the previous post, Hingsing talks about tearing the spring packs apart and regreaseing them as you reassemble.
Question for discussion is : What kind of grease would you use for something that you want to last for many years ? ?

I have worked around farm machinery all my life and when we tear stuff apart, it is very rare that we see any amount of grease residue after many years.
I am just saying that ordinary, off the shelf grease does not last that long.
For many years now I have been useing the silver "anti-seize" and a couple of years down the road when you tear back into an assembly, it is still there.
Cosmoline seems to stick around quite a while. What is you guys opinion ? ? ?

[DJ]

I wouldn't grease the springs ,the grease would attract and hold mud and dirt.

[Tom @ Snake River]

I agree, I would not grease the springs. In fact, if the center bolts and hardware are intact, I would just sand blast and paint and not bother tearing apart.
If for some reason you do tear them apart, cleaning and a good paint job is about all you need.
I run a fleet of 5 ton trucks and it takes a lot of abuse to tear up a spring pack. Single rear axle trucks are actually worse than tandams.

[Master Yota]

I wouldn't use grease either.

Small sheets of UMHW or teflon between the springs will help them move more smoothly and not chafe against each other. They also make a teflon pad that can be placed at the top end of each spring to facilitate movement of the springs. I would go this route. In reality though, they've already lasted several decades with just a coat of paint, so if done that way again, they should outlive you...

[HingsingM37]

Not sure where I got the idea about the thin film of grease between the leafs when servicing. I have always done that with leafs? Probably something I picked up along the way from somebody. Anyway, I used Lubriplate gearshield because I had several tubes. I never thought about the dirt factor. Me, get my M37 dirty?!

[MSeriesRebuild]

If you want to lubricate the leaves in a spring pack; the best thing I have found for such applications is dry film graphite. Several suppliers offer this in aeresol cans. It has a quick evaporating liquid carrier, sprays on wet like paint, then dries in a few minutes leaving a nice dry film on the part. KANO Labs offers a good product. On trucks where we have to disassemble packs, we blast, powder coat and reassemble the packs. Not much use in lubricating in my view; unless you intend to disassemble and reapply lubricant periodically; I don't think many figure on doing that.

[hbb]

Sand blasting the spring pack when together might give you some grief down the road causing rust build up from the aggregate that will be left behind drawing in moisture.taking the springs apart and cleaning the leaves then installing the Teflon strips and reassembled would be the last time they would need to be touched.They will not squeak and will not gather dirt but that is a whole lot of work!

hb

[Juan]

I would disassemble the packs, sandblast them, powder coat them and buy the teflon pads for leaf spring packs of modern trucks, drill the needed holes for the pads. My RAM has those pads and you can see the difference in the smooth sliding of the leaves when you ride empty.
I think that's the best you can do for an M37 leaf spring pack.

[Joe]

I read in one of the old Chrysler manuals that they used to place zinc sheets between the spring leaves to quieten and "lubricate" them. I suspect that it would also act as a sacrificial metal and protect the steel springs from corrosion. I've never tried it but it sounds like a good idea. I live in Florida and dirt and sand are everywhere! When I used to ride off-road motorcycles I found that grease and oil attract and hold dirt and act like sand paper on moving parts. On exposed surfaces I was much better off using graphite or other dry lubricants or even NO lubricants than using oil or grease! OTOH grease and oil also help prevent corrosion and dry lubricants don't give that protection so that was sometimes a problem. I never did find a satisfactory solution.

Teflon sheets between the leaves might work but dirt and grit might also embed itself in them and then they'll act as sandpaper. You need to use something hard enough that dirt and grit can't be embedded into.

[rickv100]

I will have to check the manual but I believe that the TM states to apply grease prior to assembling the spring packs.

Rick

[hbb]

I will have to check the manual but I believe that the TM states to apply grease prior to assembling the spring packs.

Rick

Sure it does! it is a Military vehicle that was to only to be in service for 15-20 thousand miles not 60 Years, so what if there is a little dirt build up they had a motor pool to replace anything that was needed.
hb

[MSeriesRebuild]

I will have to check the manual but I believe that the TM states to apply grease prior to assembling the spring packs.

Rick

Sure it does! it is a Military vehicle that was to only to be in service for 15-20 thousand miles not 60 Years, so what if there is a little dirt build up they had a motor pool to replace anything that was needed.
hb

You've hit the nail square on the head. What the book says is not always the better way to go now as the trucks are in a much different setting now. The sand and grit that will be attracted as a result of grease will do far more harm than good. Think about it; grease that is kept in a clean environment does much good, however in the opposite, everything changes quickly.

[rickv100]

I am sure the Chrysler engineers had a good reason to put it in the manual when it was written in the 1950's. Is it possible they where thinking of rust prevention when they specified greasing the springs? The springs would get wet from fording operations.

Rick

[MSeriesRebuild]

Greasing isn't a good idea, of course you can do what you like based on whatever info you want to use. We don't know if these engineers thought about the issues greasing would cause.

My answer comes from many years of operating equipment in the environment of dirt, dust, sand, etc. If grease is applied through a fitting that can be re-greased frequently in an effort to keep foreign matter flushed out, that is one thing, however you can't do that with spring packs. Any debris that passes by will readily adhere to grease and oil. You may as well install sandpaper between the leaves. It's a proven fact that some areas are better off without a grease or oil type of lubrication, as it will wear less without lube at all than it will with a grease and sand mixture. A dry lube such as graphite, or installing teflon between the leaves as suggested already is the only thing you can do that won't attract grit and cause a much bigger problem.

[rickv100]

For reference, TM9-8031-2 page 292 paragraph 198 c 1 states to apply GAA grease to spring leaves prior to assembly, step 5 states to wipe the excess grease from the front leaf stack after assembly. It also states the same for the rear leaf stacks as well under paragraph 201.

Rick