Dakar leaf springs squeaking

Dakars squeak for a few different reasons. I live near the beach so mine got sand between the leafs. Lithium grease worked well on the pads and bushings, but I had to hose clean out the tiny rocks between the leafs occasionally to prevent squeaking.

 

My Dakars squeaked horribly, I was to the point of just ordering different springs, I went ahead and sent OME an email, they responded and sent me all new pads and liners. I installed the pads, haven't gotten to the liners yet, no squeaks for about 2 months now!

 

The yellow circle pads have grooves in them for grease, but they are pretty open to the elements when the leaf flexes. Add dirt and they can gum up and squeak again. I had to dig the grease/dirt putty out of mine when I refurbished them.
Best to keep the leaves and the grease clean.

 

So I just installed my leafs (they were used) so I also replaced the old bushings with a new set of OME ones. I did the install myself with the help of a friend who does off road racing suspension. He told me it was normal to hear the squeaking because the urethane bushings. We added sufficient grease where required at the pivot points.

I guess I'm just wondering if and for how long to expect this creak/squeaking to carry on for. It's ungodly loud and causes lots of heads to turn in the wrong way.

 

For forever, until you change them for different leafs

 

Only fix is change them to deavers

 

well hell...I was really hoping it was a "breaking in period" type of thing that would eventually quiet down. Shit.

 

Lol no, they only get worse

 

Mine squeaked out. No more squeaking.

 

It's only been 2 weeks, but the squeaking has significantly quieted down! I can still hear some of it in some circumstances, but for the most part its improved to an almost unnoticeable amount.

We'll see how long this lasts...