70 rear spring liners

[Bill L.]

My original spring has about 120k miles on it and the liner between the bottom two leafs looks pretty worn. It is split at the ends.

I may have an opportunity to pick up a spring with about 80k miles. Is it worth using the liners from the lower mileage spring to replace my originals?

What is the life expectancy of the liners?

I ask because in reading the posts on the liners, there is no exact replacement.

Thanks,


Bill

[Joe L.]

Re: 70 rear spring liners

My original spring has about 120k miles on it and the liner between the bottom two leafs looks pretty worn. It is split at the ends.

I may have an opportunity to pick up a spring with about 80k miles. Is it worth using the liners from the lower mileage spring to replace my originals?

What is the life expectancy of the liners?

I ask because in reading the posts on the liners, there is no exact replacement.

Thanks,




Bill

Bill------


I think you'll find the liners in the 80K spring are just about as bad as the ones in your spring. When you disassemble the springs you'll likely find the liners worn completely through where the upper leaf ends bear on them.

New reproduction liners are about your best bet.

[Bill L.]

Re: 70 rear spring liners

Thanks Joe.

I was afraid that was the case.

Bill

[Alan S.]

Re: 70 rear spring liners

Hi Bill,
If you decide to use the reproduction liners you MAY find that the precut sets are cut a little bit too short compared to each piece of the original liners.
I ordered an additional long piece, and was then able to cut each succeeding pre-cut piece to match the original length of the next shorter piece of liner.
Good Luck.
Regards,
Alan

[Jeffrey S.]

Re: 70 rear spring liners

Contact Eaton Spring. They sell this liner by the foot. You can cut your own to match the originals.
Jeff

[Bill L.]

Re: 70 rear spring liners

Thanks Alan and Jeff,

Whose liners did you go with Alan and did it affect the bolt length? I read on the board that some are too thin and the one pair of bolts in the blind holes may have to be modified.

Bill

[Alan S.]

Re: 70 rear spring liners

Hi Bill,
I bought the set of liners and an extra piece from Quanta.
I didn't run into any problems putting the spring back together or bolting it in place.
I've read that the reproduction liners wear very quickly, but haven't driven nearly far enough to see if that's so.
Good Luck!
Regards,
Alan

[Bill L.]

Re: 70 rear spring liners

Just an update.

First I love relatively rust free cars from down in the southwest.

I was able to remove the center bolt with no problem. I can see why the bolt head has to be a certain size to fit up in there.

Just as Joe said, the three bottom liners are worn through the ends and the others are paper thin.

Quite a bit of the gray paint is still there between the springs.

R there any dates on the spring?


Thanks, Bill

[Joe L.]

Re: 70 rear spring liners

Just an update.

First I love relatively rust free cars from down in the southwest.

I was able to remove the center bolt with no problem. I can see why the bolt head has to be a certain size to fit up in there.

Just as Joe said, the three bottom liners are worn through the ends and the others are paper thin.

Quite a bit of the gray paint is still there between the springs.

R there any dates on the spring?


Thanks, Bill

Bill------


No dates I know of on the springs.

The gray "paint" is not really paint. It's a special, very zinc-rich coating called Ionoklad. It used to be available from Quanta Products but I understand it is no more.

[Alan S.]

Re: 70 rear spring liners

Hi Bill and Joe,
Here's a picture of what appears to be.... GM - 0.
It exists near each end, on the same edge, of the longest leaf of the std. suspension spring on my mid January built 71. The letters were very flat from original since there was very little rust on the spring except for surface rust, so I didn't flatten them at all by grinding.
I don't think I've ever heard this mentioned!?! Joe?
Regards,
Alan

[Joe L.]

Re: 70 rear spring liners

Hi Bill and Joe,
Here's a picture of what appears to be.... GM - 0.
It exists near each end, on the same edge, of the longest leaf of the std. suspension spring on my mid January built 71. The letters were very flat from original since there was very little rust on the spring except for surface rust, so I didn't flatten them at all by grinding.
I don't think I've ever heard this mentioned!?! Joe?
Regards,
Alan

Alan-----


Yes, I've seen this edge coding before. Usually, it identified the supplier of the steel used to fabricate the springs.

[Alan S.]

Re: 70 rear spring liners

Hi Joe,
Thanks for the info.
Regards,
Alan

[Gary B.]

Re: 70 rear spring liners

Hi Bill and Joe,
Here's a picture of what appears to be.... GM - 0.
It exists near each end, on the same edge, of the longest leaf of the std. suspension spring on my mid January built 71. The letters were very flat from original since there was very little rust on the spring except for surface rust, so I didn't flatten them at all by grinding.
I don't think I've ever heard this mentioned!?! Joe?
Regards,
Alan

Alan,

Joe Lucia and I mentioned the GMU letters in an article we wrote for the Restorer about 4 or 5 years ago.

Gary

[Bill L.]

Re: 70 rear spring liners

Hi Joe,

I did a little searching and there are some high zinc content gray paints out there. Rustoleum, Krylon, and Grainger has a couple more in their catalog. They range from 93-97% zinc content.

The color looks very close, if not exact, to what remains on my original spring. Quite a bit remains so I should get a good color match. It is a very light gray.

I may give it a shot.


Bill

[Patrick H.]

Re: 70 rear spring liners

Hi Joe,

I did a little searching and there are some high zinc content gray paints out there. Rustoleum, Krylon, and Grainger has a couple more in their catalog. They range from 93-97% zinc content.

The color looks very close, if not exact, to what remains on my original spring. Quite a bit remains so I should get a good color match. It is a very light gray.

I may give it a shot.


Bill

Any part numbers for the paint you found?

Patrick