Leaf spring creaking woes
 

Annoying problem. Simple cause. Need a permanent solution. Here we go:

2004 F150 SCAB 5.4L 5.5 bed, 170K

I few months ago I noticed a creaking/groaning noise from my truck when going around corners or whenever the frame would flex. After some troubleshooting I located the problem to the rear leaf packs. Every leaf has some sort of nylon pad/shim at each end where they stack up against the one above it. I'm guessing they were put there to allow the leaves to slide smoothly along the others to prevent noise and wear. Mine sort of "pop" when the leaf stack flexes. Back in about May I addressed this problem. I used a pry bar to wedge the leaves apart and cleaned out the dirt, sand, and dust. Once they were as clean as I could get them I flexed the leaves again to see if it helped. It didn't. So I put a little grease on them. That made them quiet and the noise was gone! I drove very happily for about 2 months with no noise.

Over the last 2 weeks it has come back. I kind of expected this to happen because A: grease attracts dirt so I knew they would get dirty again and B: these little nylon pads are worn pretty thin, there isn't much left to them so I knew this wouldn't be permanent. Now I am looking for something more permanent. I could replace the leaf packs, but that seems excessive for a little noise. I can't find those little nylon pads anywhere online and even if I did I would have to basically disassemble the packs to replace them. Is there a particular grease I could use that would last longer? (I used regular old grease that I use on ball joints and things)

Anyone else have this problem too?

I think I'm having this issue as well. Passenger side leaf spring. My thought was those pads as well. I only drive it on thr weekends and it's over larger bumps so I've just been keeping an eye on it.

im also having this problem

Back in the old days .... way back ..... when roads were oftener dirt .... it was not uncommon to see leaf spring packs wrapped up. They were greased between leafs and wrapped to keep grease in dirt out. Often it was heavy burlap and some had thin sheet metal pieces over top of the burlap.

All that went away with the nylon or plastic sliders. Old car fans still do it for points, originality, and just because it works still.

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/t...prings.427129/
http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/t...-tape.1019494/

I have not done it on my '07 or '77 but I have in my younger years used a angle grinder with sander disc and rounded and polished the spring leaf ends and packed with grease and called it a day.