Rear Leaf Spring Noise?

LJ12530

Friends cart makes a mild "crunching" sound when the brakes are applied heavily. Also makes the sound when the cart recovers from the heavy braking. ( front pitches a bit down and then up when the cart stops ).
Does not make any noise when the cart is stopped and I jump up and down on the rear end.
Cart had just gotten new rear tires/rims a few weeks ago so we swapped them with the front tires/rims. No difference.
Removed the rear hubs, blew out the dust and lubed the sliders. Didn't fix the crunching sound.
Removed the wheel covers just to make sure they were not the problem. No difference. The brake shoes looked fine and there definitely is no metal on metal going on.
Cleaned/lubed the pedal assembly and checked to make sure the cables are ok. No problems noted.
The shocks aren't leaking and seem to function well.

The sound really reminds me of a squeaky bushing. We put a bit of lube on them. Didn't expect that to fix the problem...and it didn't. I read somewhere that the rear leaf springs could make such a sound....or perhaps it was the leaf spring bushings.

Any tips?

BGW

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macrain13

My 99 ezgo TXT did that same thing back in the summer. It did it for a few days and progressively got worse. Finially it crunched loud and brakes stopped working very well. Upon pulling the rear brake drums off, I found that the metallic pad part of the brake shoes came off the bracket piece of the shoe that is suppose to be one piece.

I only had the cart about 4 months before this happened and did not any previous problems. I went ahead and replaced shoes and drums all at once, haven't had a problem since.

macrain13

ImageUploadedByTapatalk1357706680.399858.jpg
This is a pic of what I found when I removed the brake drum. Notice there is not a "pad" portion on the shoes. I imagine it was a cheap set that was put on my cart whenever the previous owner replaced the brakes.

LJ12530

I had removed the drums and inspected/lubed the brakes. Everything looked great. Still lining material on the pads. We also noted that at one time the sound was coming from the right rear and then later it magically sounded as if it was coming from the left rear.

All bushings looked good. Is it possible that the bushings that the leaf spring attachment bolts go through are the problem? I say that because on another cart the urethane bushings that hold the front leaf spring to the king pin looked good, but upon removal crumbled.

billyb22

Yes it could be the bushings and sleeves. I'd try spraying your favorite oil in them one at a time and letting it work in. If you do them all at once, you'll not know which one. I would replace them all, not just one anyways.
- I have seen leaf springs break right above the axle and stay in place, causing a weird noise over bumps until it finally lets loose.

LJ12530

I've been looking around for info on the potential for leaf springs/bushings to make the noise I'm hearing. Found a lot of info on old car restoration sites. Seems like it is a very common problem on old Model A vintage cars.
I'm going to try the simplest "fix" first and just lube them. I have read that the front bushing bolt is almost impossible to get out without cutting off the head. That's above my equipment/skill level.
Do you have any experience removing the leaf spring bolts/bushings?

billyb22

I agree with that if you're in no big hurry - just lube each one.

I'm assuming you have a Club Car there.. The Precedent front leaf bolt - NO PROBLEM. DS carts - you have a 50/50 shot. Seems like they either fall out or you'll need to pound it out with a punch. I keep a box of spare bolts around so if one is stuck, I don't waste all day trying to "save" it. just knock it out and start over with new. A little anti - seize compound on the new one will save somebody the pain down the road.

If you have HD springs on it, maybe the leafs are rubbing against each other?? or one of the leafs is cracked within the pack?

LJ12530

His cart is a Precedent...around a '05 to '07 I think.
Pretty sure everything is stock.
I had a situation on another cart where a front bushing had failed ( couldn't tell visually ) and allowed the king pin to rub on the rim. Took out the bolt....very easy...and the bushing crumbled. Easy to replace and fixed the problem. I'm wondering if that could be what's going on. I'll do the lube. Any trick to jacking up the cart so there is no tension on the spring if I try to replace the bushings at a later date?