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MG Midget and Sprite Technical - rear spring and bush lubrication

Anyone remember the TV advert where an annoying squeak was traced to the co-pilot's ear-ring?
Well I have a similar problem, although not caused by 'er indoors' jewellery!
Rear springs and associated bushes... what's best to keep them lubed-up.....and stop the damn things squeaking?

thanks
Dave
David Cox

If the bushes are rubber, then the only lube you want to get near them is silicone grease, as dinosaur oil based grease will break down the rubber (rubber softens and swells when exposed to oil).

The trick is how to get something like that in to the bushes, as the fronts are very well hidden up inside the body structure. Maybe it would be easiest to attack the leaf springs first and see if that solves it.

The springs ought to have resin slip sheets between the leaves, but those can go missing, and anyway, after enough rust has formed their effect can be defeated - the tricky part is how to get grease in between the leaves.

If you jack the car up so the springs are a bit relaxed, you ought to be able to spray liberal doses of lithium aerosol grease in there pretty well, and maybe that will solve the problem for you!

Norm
Norm Kerr

was it a WD40 advert (?)

Dave I think this has been discussed and debated before so will be in the mysteries of the Archives too

of course I can't remember the concenus (if there was one)

I find these noises can come and go so they tend to be forgotten about and then annoy the next time

I had one in another car that only started after going through a deep puddle then went away and was forgotten until the next deep puddle and I've now got noisey brake pads that really annoy me but then take a rest
Nigel Atkins

Thanks Both.
Pleased to say that attention has been drawn away from trivia such as annoying spring squeaks... my seat collapsed today so there's another welding job to do...
Life with a midget, eh? ...never dull!
David Cox

There is a view that putting any sort of grease or oil on the springs causes road grit and dirt to stick to the grease and results in wear to the spring leaves. The place where wear is focused is where the shorter leaves end, resulting in a groove in the adjacent leaf that acts as a stress riser and the spring eventually snaps.

How true is this? I don't know. But certainly cars of an earlier age often had greased springs then wrapped in leather or Denso tape gaiters to keep the grease in and the grit out.
Guy

The best way of oiling/greasing the springs is to wrap or bag them as they used to do on old Rolls Royce's and the like. The springs were sewn into a cloth, I think, bag that had a certain amount of grease in it. That way the grease stayed were it should be, but was kept clear of road muck.

As for greasing the bushes, the only way is to either take them out and re-grease them, or see if you can get grease nipples fitted so you can get a gun on them.


S Overy

This thread was discussed between 24/02/2012 and 26/02/2012

MG Midget and Sprite Technical index

This thread is from the archive. The Live MG Midget and Sprite Technical BBS is active now.