80 L-82 rear leaf spring

[Steve W.]

Help!!! The liners, between the leaves, on the rear leaf spring of my 80 L-82 have worn thin. The spring squeaks and groans badly because of this. I cannot find any supplier that has the liners for the 2 1/2" springs. I thought about a new spring assembly but I can only find one with 9 leaves, mine has 10 leaves. I know that I should put a fiberglass spring under it...but I want to keep the car original. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Steve.

[Joe L.]

Re: 80 L-82 rear leaf spring

Steve----

The liners used for your spring, GM #462589, were a metallic-type liner and have been discontinued for many years. They are difficult to locate.

My suggestion would be to go to a leaf spring repair or manufacturing shop and see if you can get them to sell you some bulk spring liner material. I don't think that you'll be able to find the metallic type, but I believe that you can use the polyethylene plastic type and it will function fine. You will want the flat type material, unless you're lucky enough to find someone with 2-1/2" wide material with edge ridges. The flat material will work just fine, though.

[Steve W.]

Re: 80 L-82 rear leaf spring

Thanks Joe...I have called the only leaf spring shop in the Chattanooga area and the only lining material they have is for the narrow standard leaf springs for passenger cars. I will try to locate some shops outside Chattanooga. Thanks for the advice Joe. Steve

[Joe L.]

Re: 80 L-82 rear leaf spring

Steve-----

Try Eaton Springs at 313-963-3839. They manufacture a lot of custom springs in-house (they are also the GM Restoration Parts licensee for Corvette springs but I don't think that they manufacture these in-house).

[Steve W.]

Re: 80 L-82 rear leaf spring

Thanks Joe, I will give them a call tommorrow. Steve