HELP....Military wrap leaf spring gap making a clunk?...

I took off my leaf pack to install new BAMF shackle hangers and in the process I wanted to figure out why I had a clunking noise like something was loose and rattling when I go over bumps (small or large). The noise has been there ever since I installed the leaf pack (a couple years ago!).

So after looking at the leaf spring eye (forward end) I noticed a small gap. It's about a 3mm gap that I'm thinking may be enough to make the rattle when I go over bumps.

Here's a look at the gap. The weight of the truck pushes up in the roughly 2 o'clock position in the photo.


Here's a short video of the movement...



My question is does anyone think this could be the rattling noise I'm hearing? I suspect the inner military wrapped band is moving up and banging into the outer wrapped leaf. I have seen some gaps on military wrapped leafs but not quite this much.

Thoughts?......

 

Bump.....Anyone even know what a military wrapped leaf is?

 

I saw someone with all pro expo springs have the same issue

what springs do you have

 

They're custom leafs from National Spring. I bought them from another TW member.

 

That is absolutely a problem. That bushing should be firmly installed. From the factory, they are pressed in. Looks like the wrap may have opened up.

 

The bushing does look firm.

a temp fix may be a spring clamp holding the two leafs together

 

You could try to heat and hammer the leaf closer

 

I thought about that. I'm thinking of taking the leafs apart and heating the outer wrap up and hammering it a little smaller.

I'm wondering if the steel will stay as strong if I do that.

 

If you dont quench (correctly)it will lose hardness

 

The bushing is tight in the inner wrap. It's the outer wrap that seems to have "stretched" and allowing the inner wrap to bang around inside the outer loop. Does that make sense?

Thanks for the help.

 

How do I do that? I'm not a metal guy.

 

Heat it to 1200* then dump it in an oil bath. That will keep the steel tempered. It would be safer and easier to get a new leaf pack.

 

Since the first and second leafs are clamped together at the axle, the gap at the forward eye needs to exist to avoid binding up the two leafs when the axle moves up and down. On the Icon RXT pack, for example, the second leaf is curved to form a slot, such that there's more freedom fore and aft but little room up and down:

 

So the movement on mine seems abnormal. Correct?

 

I haven't seen enough aftermarket leaf packs in person to say for sure. Could be just a matter of manufacturing tolerances. The OME Dakars catalog photo shows more gap up and down, for example:



Maybe send a photo to National Spring and ask if this is typical for their leaf packs?

Have you ruled out other sources of clunking, like a dried driveshaft slip joint? Axle wrap is usually worse with 6" lift, so a lot of these movements will be more pronounced.

 

That company isn't in business anymore so I can't ask. I've gone over everything else. Like I said, I got these from another member that I trust and the noise was there when I installed them but I thought it was something else. This is where I am now. Thanks for the reply .

 

Judging by the looks of yours, and the fact they the two are not nominally the same, if it is in your budget, get new ones.

 

Sorry to bring this back from the dead, but did you figure out if this was the source of the clunk, and if so, how did you fix it? I’m experiencing the same thing I believe

 

@justinlovetice The cause was the end wraps were hitting each other as the wraps had opened a bit over hard trail driving. I placed some self-lubricating shims in the gaps around the military wrapped ends to fill the gap. It has been noise free ever since. Let me know if this is confusing.

 

Glad you figured out your problem, I thought my clunk was the same thing but it wasn't. Mine ended up being my kings not being charged with nitrogen...