guitarman376

I have disassembled my shackles and removed my leafsprings 3 times now trying to get them to stop squeeking. Each time I coated everything in chassis grease, and assembled per Ford manual spec at 60ft/lbs for eyelets and 22ft/lbs for the shackles. I just finished doing this. Before I torqued them they were a lot quieter. I set the car on the ground, jounced the rear end, and then torqued the fasteners. Then went on a 5 minute drive, only to have the squeeking back already! There goes a day of work for nothing. What the {expletive} am I missing here? My original springs never squeeked.

guitarman376

Still waiting on your home squeek remedies guys. Is there any reason NOT to spray everything down with silicone lubricant? Other alternatives?
The interwebs tells me that silicone lube is good for this. I think I'll get some lock nuts so that after I spray the shackles/leafs down I could just install locknuts loosely and take it from there.

69mach1377

What kind of bushings are there?

groho

OK, this is ole skool thinking from very ole skool shade tree mechanics. Don't hold me to this cuz I've never done this myself but the thought process seems reasonable. The squeak is probably coming from between the leafs, not the eyes or shackles. The proper way is to dismantle the leafs, wire brush, and put a light coat of grease between them, then reassemble but obviously that labor intensive. To avoid all that work, I've also heard an ole skool technique of putting grease along the length of the leaf, both sides, then wrap the leaf in cloth or burlap and drive the car for a few days. The movement of the suspension will help the grease penetrate between the leafs, and the cloth will keep the grease encapsulated and keep it from getting all over the bottom of your car and rear end. After a day to three, remove everything and wipe down the leafs with a light coat of cleaner to get the excess grease off the exterior. What the heck, it's a cheap fix.

groho

If you're using poly bushings, they require a light coat of grease inside and out to prevent squeaking.

guitarman376

I'm using rubber bushings, so there's no reason for it to squeek so much. I will try silicone lubricant and use lock nuts to incrementally tighten. I hope its not coming from between the leafs. I had heard about that greasing between the leafs before, but I inspected the plastic slider thingies between the leafs and they look ok. I've heard that once you grease them like that the cloth stays on forever because if dirt/debris gets in the leafs I've heard it isn't good. I will update thread at some point.

guitarman376

Today I discovered that my leafs themselves are causing the squeeking. I am in no mood to disassemble leafsprings so I will be spraying them and possibly wrapping them. Anyone know what's used to wrap leafsprings to hold lubricant in?

Mustangdemon67

just get a straw and shoot wd40 in between them best you can. that probably wont get rid of the squeak but it ll improve at least

bop11

Another suggestion dry lubricants Slip-Plate from Superior Graphite (www.slipplate.com), ZepDryMoly, McKay's graphite, SLIP Plate from superior graphite (item 1022). Some people Parkerize the individual leafs to and a phosphate layer and then use graphite.

guitarman376

I solved the problem by cleaning between the leafs with brake cleaner and spraying in silicone lubricant with teflon. Then I wrapped up the springs with electrical tape creating gaitors. Now I will loosely cover electrical tape with duct tape to make it last. Works great so far, left small slits where I can periodically spray lubricant.