Posted by Clint Dixon on Wednesday, January 28, 2004 at 1:02PM :
In Reply to: Re: Interesting Spring Discovery posted by Marty on Tuesday, January 27, 2004 at 4:22PM :
That groove is called a grease groove and that is exactly what it is for. I have owned all early trucks from 1947 through 1952. My early '47 has spring leaves front and rear with the grooves. The bottom most leaf of each spring also has the spring assembly part number stamped into it, so I know these are original as they match the numbers found in the parts manual. My later '47 had the same front springs but different rear springs without the groove. Its rears were also "cut" like modern springs and not "forged" with tapered and thinned ends, and also without the greese groove. Also the number of leaves per rear spring were different. The number matched the quantity of leaves found on the higher rated springs listed in the parts manuals. Al of the rest of the trucks from '48 to '52, that I have owned, had higher rated front springs as well as rear ones. These fronts also did not have the grease grooves and were "cut" and not tapered.
These older springs with the features of taper, thinning, and grease grooves also have a 2-piece main leaf. This allows for better spring twist and deflection when the truck is "crossed-up" and one wheel on an axle is stuffed up into the fender and the other is suspended at full droop. This 2-piece main leaf feature was also eliminated on later heavier rated spring assemblies.
I believe these features found on the earlier springs are a carry over design from the military vehicles, however I am not all that familiar with the military Dodges.
Clint