Could I BE that stupid?

What a day... Started off at 9am to install my new leaf springs, All Pro 8 way adjustable shocks and reinstall the u-bolt flip kit. Got the front wheels chocked, jacked up the back end the way I "thought" I should with a jack stand under each side of the rear axel and a jack under the frame rail of the side I was working on.
Removed the shock, no problem.
Removed the u-bolt flip kit, no problem.
Removed the break line bracket, no problem.
Removed the drivers side rear leaf, BIG PROBLEMS...

First I couldn't get the bolts out of the bushings on the leafs.
Second, I realized that I needed the frame of the truck up higher and the axels lower, but didn't have enough travel on my junk auto hydraullic jack. SO BEING SO SMART... I grabbed my hi-lift jack, jacked up my slider and tried to "help" get some separation to unload the rear springs and BAM! The unstable jack fell, truck slid a good 12" to the side, one jack stand fell over, the drivers side drum landed on the garage floor and the hydraullic jack was wedged under the truck. Somehow I got the hi-lift out, got the truck back up and got the truck stable.

Went to the autoparts store, purchased a 2.5 ton Larin hydraullic jack and two 6 ton jack stands (24" high) and placed those under the frame rails. I've got the truck stable and now I've got a "tweaked" rear axel.

I managed to remove the other leaf spring so that the rear axel "floats" as far as the brake lines and drive shaft will allow, I've gotten one of the OME rear leaf packs partially installed (it's sitting on the center pin and one end towards the front of the truck has the bolt through the leaf) and I called it a day.

Does anyone have any advice for me? The back of the leaf springs (where the shackle is) is way up in the air. The passenger side of the axel is WAY too far forward and I'm going to have to find a way to move it into the correct position w/o killing myself.

Anyone have some good tips or pointers?

Thanks GOD the truck didn't fall on me while I was under it. I didn't know that I'd need FOUR jackstands to do this job safely, but now I do!

 

yikes! glad to hear that you are okay!!

 

Chris beat me. Glad all is well and wishing you luck for tomorrow. I suggest getting a friend over to help complete the job or help with whatever else may happen.

 

In my best Tommy Boy accent, that was AWESOME!

For future reference, PLEASE USE A VIDEO CAMERA FROM NOW ON.

 

Any advice on a SAFE way to move the rear axel?

I'm such a dork... I was taking pictures and writing down the directions with the intent of posting a How To... from beginning to end.
(It turned out to be a How To... Almost Crap Your Pants...)

 

Glad you're ok!


Still could be a "How Not To..."
Those are often as valuable, maybe even more valuable, than a walkthrough showing everything going smoothly.

 

Glad you are OK , I worked with a guy that had a boat fall on him he had jacked up to work on the bottom , he broke his back ,


OZ

 

I say it would still make a great how too. I often learn way more when I have trouble as opposed to when the porject goes perfect.

 

Not recommended by the Surgeon General!

 

Glad you're ok and didn't get smashed

 

Damn, bet that scared the shit outta ya! I recommend doing one side at a time, frame on jackstands, jack on pumpkin. This way you can lower the axle and work on getting the old leaf pack out and the new one in. Then you can kind of pivot the axle to get the pin lined up and jack it up into place.

 

A good friend stopped by this morning (I skipped church) and we got things squared away. The trick was to get the bolt through the bushings towards the front of the truck on one side, set the leaf spring over the pin in the middle, install 'loosely' the u-bolt then jack up the drive shaft next to the pumpkin. This gave enough slack so that we could man handle the other side of the axel and get the 2nd spring into place. As of now I have both leafs installed, torqued properly, both u-bolts installed and torqued properly, the brake lines reconnected, torqued properly and I'm off to install the shocks tires and go for a test drive to see if the carrier bearing spacer is needed.

Now off to see posts of rear resi's installed for pointers.

All that WITHOUT further anal seepage... NICE!!!

 

Phew!

 

Well now that it all turned out okay, I'm sure I speak for all of us based on your quote:

 

So the question is, if you were making a how to and documenting your progress by camera, did you get any pictures of the truck on the ground?

 

Are you kidding? I was shaking like a leaf on a tree in a hurricane. I did get some pics up to the point where I struggled with the leaf springs and can post them up but they are all WRONG!

Edited: here is what I managed to capture...

Starting out wrong:


Removing the rear shock:


The tools needed to remove the rear shock:


Removing the u-bolts:


U-bolts removed:


Trying to remove the rear shackle:


One more of the rear shackle:


I took several more and had 1/2 of a page written up with the 12mm socket to remove the brake line clip and all of the other dimensions but that made its way into the garbage at some point...

Maybe when this is all done I'll do a write up w/o pics...