• Hi Guest!
    You can help ensure that British Car Forum (BCF) continues to provide a great place to engage in the British car hobby! If you find BCF a beneficial community, please consider supporting our efforts with a subscription.
    There are some perks with a member upgrade!
    **Upgrade Now**
    (PS: Subscribers don't see this gawd-aweful banner
Tips
Tips

Creaking rear suspension

Share this page

M

mgtf328

Jedi Hopeful
Country flag
Offline
I had new rear springs fitted to my BJ8 about 3 months ago (rubber bushes). Lately the rear end has started creaking when I bounce the rear wings. I've tried tightening up the bolts and have applied WD40 to the bushes but it still creaks. Any suggestions as to where to go next would be much appreciated.
AJ
 
HI:

Separating the spring leve and coating the mating faces with Coppa- Slip and slightly radiusing the mating spring ends will work

Similarly,, soft metal anti squeal shims can be made at a spring shop and added between the mating faces of the springs.
 
I had some type of soft metal, very thin slices of metal between my spring leafs. I agree, they work. Also, I use Blue-Emu on my elbows.
 
Don't lubricate the rubber bushes! They are supposed to flex, not act like a bearing. Lubricating them will destroy the rubber.

There should be soft metal (zinc) or plastic between the leaves.

You might disconnect the shocks and move those to see if they creak.
 
John Turney said:
Don't lubricate the rubber bushes! They are supposed to flex, not act like a bearing. Lubricating them will destroy the rubber.

There should be soft metal (zinc) or plastic between the leaves.

You might disconnect the shocks and move those to see if they creak.
Click to expand...

Yes but wouldn't it be a good idea to put anti-seize between the various pins and their metal bushings?
I've had maritime high-pressure teflon tape between my leaves since my springs were new 15 years ago. Still good.
 
Anti-seize is fine for metal-to-metal (although that wouldn't be "original"). Just don't try to lube the rubber.
 
John Turney said:
Anti-seize is fine for metal-to-metal (although that wouldn't be "original"). Just don't try to lube the rubber.
Click to expand...

Most if not all of the bushings have a metal sleeve - I'd lube the pins with anti-sieze and not get any on the rubber.
 
Last edited:
All above - good advice, but also check the shock fixings, in the past I had an irritating squeak and found the shock bolts needed tightening, all good after that.

:cheers:

Bob
 
Hi All,

This thread has been enlightening. In the late 1980, I refinished my rear suspension and leaf springs. In the process, I noted that the leafs were rusted and, what looked to be galvanized strips inbetween the leafs, also showed signs of wear and rust. I decided to eliminate the formation of rust in the future and substituted the galvanized with Stainless Steel from a roll a friend gave me that had a width almost exactly that of the original Galvanized. After finally completing my Healey's rebuild and driving on the road, I noticed the creaks from the rear suspension. Spraying the leaves with WD40 was a failure and, since I had no idea where the creaking was specifically coming from, my only alternative was to increase the radio volume.

Now, at a stage of life where I have enough creaks coming from my body that I don't need to hear any additional coming from my Healey, I intend to reinstitute the galvanized strips …. or were they Zinc? Please advise which?

Ray(64BJ8P1)
 
I've had this tape between my leaves since 2005 it works great! Never a squeak or groan:
One side is really slick; the other sticks well. Supplier is Annapolis Performance Sailing.
No idea why it's "New" - looks like the same stuff I bought then...

screenshot.1447.jpg
 
I believe they were zinc. We rebuilt the springs for our BN2 and procured some zinc strips that someone had cut to the correct width. Galvanized has a thin, sacrificial zinc plating but that probably was gone fairly quickly.
 
John Turney said:
Yes, zinc is correct. The teflon tape or polypropylene works well too.
Click to expand...

Provided it is specified for high pressure applications.'

Teflon as a material it's most notorious characteristic is cold flow.

It simply flows away from high pressure points.

Consequently in spite of its high dielectric strength it is used as wire insulation in only very highly controlled mechanical applications.
 
Back
Top