25-06-2023, 09:10 PM
I note Ruairidh’s comments endorsed by Duncan, and I must admit I have heard this argument against oiling road springs before. When I was an apprentice, my first boss, who was a real motor engineer, always insisted that leaf springs were lubricated with a mixture of old engine oil and paraffin. When I first bought my Series 3 Landrover, now almost 30 years ago, the springs had never been lubricated and were already rusty and beginning to swell. They all broke within the first twelve months of ownership and had to be replaced. Since then, I have painted them with oil and have had to replace the two rear springs about five years ago as they were getting tired, and , just recently a front spring, which had cracked a leaf. As it happens Leon dismantled the spring for some steel for one of his projects and I did not see any overt wear, despite the spring having seen more than a couple of decades service. I have seen springs where the ends of the leaves have worn grooves into the leaf above, but I have always put such damage down to lack of lubrication rather than the reverse.