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Ford E-250
5.4 L v8
116,000+ kmFrom time to time I have over loaded my vehicle. The other day I heard squeaking noises coming from the back of my vehicle where the leaf springs are located. I inspected the springs. I did not find any cracks in the spring but I noticed that the paint coating is coming off them. In the even it’s the leaf springs do you have any tips of advice for me if I have to replace them. Thanks in advance.
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A guess is that it may be coming from the spring eye bushings located at each end of the leaf spring. To isolate the noise you might try spraying a good amount of either silicone spray or WD-40 in the bushing ares and see if it changes anything. Tips for changing the springs are to have heavy duty breaker bars to remove the nuts from the saddle U bolts. Soaking them down with rust penetrant well in advance of the job can help this, also do this at the ends of the springs where they mount to the vehicle. On my end there is a truck spring shop that also does light duty work and they have always been worth the money they charge for the labor-reasonable and quick. Maybe you have such a business in your area. Still want to DIY then have access to a 3/4″ drive impact and maybe a torch.
Great tip. I will start with spraying the WD-40 into the spring eye. Perhaps the moisture may eliminate the squeal. Thank you for your information.
Leaf springs are no joke. There is a LOT of potential energy stored in those springs. They can, and will break anything in their way when you release them if you haven’t relaxed that tension.
If you are going to do the job yourself, you need to be able to lift the vehicle high enough to get the wheels off the ground, then set it back down just enough to get the tension off the springs. That point is a judgement call, but if you get it wrong, when you unbolt the spring from the eye, then end of the spring will move, either up or down, depending on which way it has tension, and it can do so violently.
I have done leaf springs on passenger cars a few times, when my full size van needed them, I was more than happy to pay someone else to take that risk. Think carefully about this job before you jump on it.
Thank you for your advice. You sound just like me. Complex jobs don’t ever get me flustered. But when there is a significant amount of potential DANGER. I let other take the risk. For instance changing springs over. I would rather let someone else do it.
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