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Leaf spring: replacement and selection

When and why it is necessary to replace leaf spring

Service life of this element is averagely 100 000 – 150 000 operational kilometers. Necessity of early replacement of the leaf spring appears usually in case of its integrity violation. Particularly, this component can break. Moreover, a new element is installed in case of significant displacement or deformation of the main spring leaf of an old one.

The leaf spring gets out of order because of car overloads and lack of necessary vehicle maintenance works including regular washing. The leaf spring can break, bend or displace because of exploitation of the car on roads with a poor-quality surface.

The following signs can point at defects of this element: car body roll on one side, lowering of vehicle smooth ride, significant reduce of the road clearance. There also can be change of wheel alignment angles, uneven wear of tyre treads, worsening of road-holding ability at straight-line driving. You can hear rattling sound or metal screeching from the suspension side during car exploitation in off-road conditions.

It is recommended to replace this element at the service station, since this process requires certain skills and efforts. In particular, it may be difficult to detach the fasteners of the front and rear leaf springs U-bolts. Replacing the leaf spring you should necessarily install new rubber-metal joints which are the elements of leaf spring fixation to the car body frame. In some cases, there’s no need change the whole unit, but a separate leaf. It may be necessary to install new leaf spring clamps.

How to select leaf spring

These elements can be torsion, coil and leaf. The main working element of the first type leaf spring is an torsion bar. Such details are mostly installed on off-roaders. In the coil springs the working elements are conical, cylinder or parabolic springs. These leaf springs are installed on some pickups and station wagons.

The leaf springs consisting of some quantity of elastic leafs are used most of all. For example, there are one-leaf, three-leaf, four-leaf springs, etc. Multi-leaf constructions provide smoother car running and larger payload capacity. Advantage of one-leaf springs is their long service life. Metal or carbon fiber-reinforced plastic are used for leaves production.

Leaf springs can be trapezoidal and parabolic. Elements of the second type are thinner and lighter. Moreover, they are characterized by increased strength.

If you want new parts to serve as long as possible, then make your choice for products of proven brands. Thus, trustworthy components are those of Bilstein and Lesjöfors.

Buying the element take into account car technical characteristics including the body type, wheel base size. Consider the spare part mounting place because there are front and rear leaf springs in the market. Also, pay attention to parameters of components when buying (width, length, etc.).