VCCA Home Forums TECHNICAL - 1945 AND EARLIER 1937-1945 Leaf spring restoration

My plan is to disassemble the rear leaf springs on my '37 as part of the process of installing a 3.73 rear end, and wire brush the rust, repaint and insert Teflon liners between the leaves. Questions: Can the metal covers be removed without destruction to them -- should they be reinstalled? If so, what is the suggested way to bind them (I would guess some sort of clip). Second question: What is the proper paint color for the leaf springs, if they were indeed painted from the factory. My car is a Master Deluxe Town Sedan.

Jim, Removing the covers will more than likely destroy them.If the covers are in good condition I would suggest just lubricating the springs with grease .To do this you use my method .Refer to my reply in the 1946-48 9-14-'02 reply to Larry Stumph.If the springs are greased every 10 years it seems adquate.The springs were not painted from the factory.

Thanks Gene. Sounds straight forward enough. Saves me some work and time too (which I can always appreciate). Jim

I think that the idea of not lubricating springs came from before the days of shock absorbers.Lubricating them was said to cause the car to bounce too much.The 1934 Master instructions (first to have covers as standard eqp.) say the covers improve riding qualities by keeping the spring rates uniform ,maintaining constant lubrication and excluding water and dirt.Then it was recommended to lubricate every 1 1/2 or two years.I do my cars about every ten and use Moly grease.At one time Chevrolet gave instructions as how to mix graphite in with the grease...Oh-but my cars ride nice :arrow: