Squeek from rear leaf spring area

[zwilke]

I am guessing its a bushing from the leaf spring. Is there anything i can put on it to stop the noise.

thanks

zack

[Alex Topousis]

I just spray mine with wd40 when they start squeaking and it usually stops it for a couple weeks. If you really wanted to go crazy you could take the bushing out and grease it up

[zwilke]

ok i sprayed it and its still squeeking, i was also looking and the leaf springs and they look wavy ( not sure if thats normal or not).

[DamnHippie]

Wavy like W-shaped? Are you using lift blocks or shackles?

Another thing that might squeak back there is your shock mounts, especially if you have aftermarket shocks with poly bushings.

I'm trying a new kind of synthetic waterproof grease I found at Advanced Auto Parts, it's called like "green grease" or something like that. It's thick and sticky, like hot bubble gum. So far it's held up well on my UCA bushings, I did some water splashing that would normally wash out the grease I used to use, and so far no squeaks.

[frontier2k1]

Some nice earplugs may help with the squeaking.

[zwilke]

Wavy like W-shaped? Are you using lift blocks or shackles?

Another thing that might squeak back there is your shock mounts, especially if you have aftermarket shocks with poly bushings.

I'm trying a new kind of synthetic waterproof grease I found at Advanced Auto Parts, it's called like "green grease" or something like that. It's thick and sticky, like hot bubble gum. So far it's held up well on my UCA bushings, I did some water splashing that would normally wash out the grease I used to use, and so far no squeaks.

Ian,
I have the shackles and i have rancho shocks. As far for the springs they look wavy dont really know how describe better.

zack

[ChefTyler]

Take a picture :D

[ChefTyler]

Here's a picture of the springs in question...hosed.

[zwilke]

Here's a picture of the springs in question...hosed.

Ok this is not good,so i guess now i need to ask more questions.What are my options for fixing these? Junkyard,buy new? Looks like i will have to ride them out due the the lack of $$$$$.

[DamnHippie]

Uhhh. Wow. I wonder what caused that? That's not normal damage from lift shackles, that overload leaf is bent more than I would have thought possible outside of a traffic accident or something.

I have some spare frontier leaf packs sitting next to the house if you need to install something quick. I'm actually not quite sure where they came from; they weren't mine (mine are there too, at least the one that didn't break, but mine had a hard life). What I'm getting at is I don't know if they're good enough to call it "fixed" or if they're just good enough to use while you look for something better. But you're welcome to them.

[zwilke]

i think that both are bent the same way

[Alex Topousis]

Ok this is not good,so i guess now i need to ask more questions.What are my options for fixing these? Junkyard,buy new? Looks like i will have to ride them out due the the lack of $$$$$.

you could drive up to foco and see if mine will work for you. The centering pin is not offset though

[zwilke]

the truck i have is a 2000 frontier crew cab with the 3.3 in it if that makes any difference

thanks

zack

[Alex Topousis]

I'll sell you them for cheap if you can use them

[zwilke]

Do you think they can be re arched?

[CurleyMan]

Holy axle wrap batman are you heavy on the throttle or what? And no they cannot be re arched an antiwrap setup would probably help but new springs are a must. Have you ever over loaded it. Do your rear brakes grab more then the front brakes? Something has to have led to the deformation of those springs.

[zwilke]

cant say i am heavy on the throttle.I never had it overloaded. As far as braking goes i dont feel the rear brakes grabbing more. I really dont know what could have caused this either.And what is a anitwrap?

[Packman5280]

only spring i've seen like that are ben's which don't count (elliptical) and some that had really tall blocks. wow, that's a messed up leaf spring right there.

[Bill Potter]

mine looked like that after pulling to many leafs trying to get it to flex...then one snapped on spring creek....it sucked.

I would replace that quickly.

[zwilke]

i looked tonight at the other side and its the same way.Are the frontier spring strong enough to support shackles??

[DamnHippie]

A lot of people use longer shackles on frontiers. I did but I also had lift blocks, and that ruined my original springs (the blocks more than the shackles). Then I used Clay's original springs with single-leaf AALs and short shackles for a while, but the single-leaf AAL always breaks the spring eventually. Now I have alcan springs and longer shackles again.

[DamnHippie]

Well, after seeing the springs in person I'd have to say they weren't quite as bad as what that picture makes it look like. Even in person if you look along the length of the spring like in that picture it kind of exaggerates the appearance of the bend. But in person the problem looked more like normal old worn-out springs, and the shackles probably contributed a bit to the demise.

It turned out that I had Jarrod's old springs (by way of Bill, who got them from someone else who ended up not needing them or something). We added a leaf from an old 90s hardbody leaf pack to stiffen them up a bit so that the shackles don't wear them out as quickly this time.

So with a donation from Jarrod and a donation from Ryan's old parts truck, Zach is rolling again, and is still gonna have a few bucks to buy xmas gifts for the kids. Can't beat that. :bannana:

[ChefTyler]

Good news!

[bogof]

Good to hear. I'm glad the spring worked out for him.

[zwilke]

Just wanted to say thanks to everyone that threw in some info, and a big thanks to Ian for helping install the springs and to Jarrod thanks also for the springs.

zack