Rear Leaf spring rebuild question

[Greg H.]

Re: Rear Leaf spring rebuild question

Hi all,
I have made good progress on my rear spring. I found all of the long pieces have the GLS stamp on the edge of the leafs. I used Gary's tool to swage the bushing retainers with good success. My biggest concern is the paint. I have used the krylon zinc primer described by others. But the primer seems to have very poor adhesion. Just pre-assembling the leafs with the sliders I am getting bare metal showing from rubbing against the slider edges. It seems like this is going to rust pretty easily after assembly and further wear during the process. I have sandblasted the leafs, wire brushed them to remove some reappearing rust, then wiped them down with lacquer thinner immediately before applying the paint.

[Brian K.]

Re: Rear Leaf spring rebuild question

Hi Greg, I painted mine different than you. I used SEM green color self etch primer over my glass beaded leaves, then used LIC Rear spring gray paint then I top coated with Eastwood's satin diamond clear. I had no problems with paint adhesion and my spring is install in the frame now.

[Bill L.]

Re: Rear Leaf spring rebuild question

Hi all,
I have made good progress on my rear spring. I found all of the long pieces have the GLS stamp on the edge of the leafs. I used Gary's tool to swage the bushing retainers with good success. My biggest concern is the paint. I have used the krylon zinc primer described by others. But the primer seems to have very poor adhesion. Just pre-assembling the leafs with the sliders I am getting bare metal showing from rubbing against the slider edges. It seems like this is going to rust pretty easily after assembly and further wear during the process. I have sandblasted the leafs, wire brushed them to remove some reappearing rust, then wiped them down with lacquer thinner immediately before applying the paint.

Highly recommend the high zinc content cold galvanizing spray available at home depot. I do not believe the factory primed the leaves. They used a high zinc content paint no longer available. I have since removed my spring to do some more rear suspension work and the cold galvanizing spray is intact.

Bill

[Greg H.]

Re: Rear Leaf spring rebuild question

Well it seems I bought the wrong Krylon product. I have a high zinc primer, not the cold galvanizing high zinc material. So I will wire brush back to bare steel and recoat them. Better to learn this now than after I assemble them.

[Ken C.]

Re: Rear Leaf spring rebuild question

Not to hijack thread but In same boat with painting rear spring. Went to HD and found 2 cold galvanizing high zinc paints. one in spray can as others have mentioned and once from Lanco called Galvancon oil based in quart size. Any benefit from one or other

[Greg H.]

Re: Rear Leaf spring rebuild question

Ken, I can't comment on the brush on product. I did remove the krylon product and applied the rustoleum cold galvanizing spray. I found it to be about the same in terms of color and also easy to scratch off. I'm disappointed since I had already coated all my leafs to recoat with something basically the same in terms of durability. Even with gentle handling during assembly I have several small scratches through the coating.

[Bill L.]

Re: Rear Leaf spring rebuild question

Ken, I can't comment on the brush on product. I did remove the krylon product and applied the rustoleum cold galvanizing spray. I found it to be about the same in terms of color and also easy to scratch off. I'm disappointed since I had already coated all my leafs to recoat with something basically the same in terms of durability. Even with gentle handling during assembly I have several small scratches through the coating.

Greg,

I use cheap cotton gloves when reassembling and wrap the spring in old towels for re-installation. It is almost impossible to install the spring without some scratches unless one goes to great lengths. I recently had to pull my rear spring out again and will re-coat with the rustoleum cold galvanizing spray.

The original factory coating was incredibly durable and thick but unfortunately no longer available. When I restored the spring on my 70 there was still quite a bit of the original coating and I took great care not to remove it.

Bill

[Greg H.]

Re: Rear Leaf spring rebuild question

Bill, thank you for those tips. I will proceed with caution. It will be a while before I get the base plate painted and need to order some replacement bolts as two of mine came out with damaged threads. The scratches are minor but just gave me the feeling it would not hold up well... I will still drive on it. I'm not doing this for the car to sit parked. I'm also still dealing with a 50 year old spring which has some pitting and wear from the liners being damaged. I hope it lasts a few more years at least. I'm not going to sweat any more on this particular item. There is still so much more to be done.