stands for replacing leaf packs

Just pulled a rear wheel off to measure the u-bolts to get the new ones sized for my new leaf packs, and realized in the process that my jack stands probably aren't tall enough for how high I'm going to need to lift the frame for replacing the leaf packs and shocks (going to a 2" lift).

Anyone out there who did their own leaf replacement, how did you get the frame high enough and safe to work on? There's no way I'm going to trust my hi-lift to hold the truck up for suspension work, and I can't just hold the rear end up with stands under the axle for this particular job.

 

What size are your jack stands?

Pretty sure I used my 6 ton HF stands and had no issues, axle was supported by a floor jack.

 

I use the same 6 ton harbor freight stands.

 

I've got three pairs, all different brands. I didn't pull out my other two sets for the measuring, but the ratcheting pair I got from HF (only the 3-ton, though) recently wouldn't get up to the frame in front of the leaf mount with the wheel still on the ground (stock spring not yet at full droop), lifting the frame with a "SUV" floor jack set on top of a 4.5 inch stack of lumber (3 pieces of 2x12) at near full extension. I had to use another floor jack to lift the axle to get the tire off, which is workable for just pulling off a tire, but not workable for swapping the suspension.

looking at the HF site, the 6-ton stands look to be 7 inches taller than the 3-ton, which I'd imagine should be enough to make the difference. Guess I'll need the lower stands for the axle anyway, though since it seems like it'd be a lot easier to do the swap with the tires off.

I'm assuming it'd be safe to lift the back end of the truck (bed empty except for 100# or so of semi-permanent stuff like the softtopper) by the pumpkin, but how much can the axle housing withstand? would lifting one end with a bottle jack dent the axle housing or would that be OK to do? Seems like once I get the new springs on the frame, it's easier to lift the axle to the springs than to lower the whole truck to the axle.

 

I jacked under the pumpkin, IIRC. Sounds hot, I know..

Had no issues doing it that way. 6 tons went on the rear frame rails, then unbolted the rear leaf spring hanger from the frame and then unbolted the leaf mount in the front (cab side), took those aside and pulled the hanger off of the leafs completely and then reattached it to the new leafs. Stuck it back under the truck, fed the bolt through the front mount (cab side) and then swung the rear into place and bolted the hanger back in.

Probably 30 minutes per side with hand tools.

 

I installed Dakars which gave me 2.75", I don't remember if I was able to put the wheels back on without lifting the truck with the floor jack again though, I would assume I didn't have enough clearance under the hubs to get the tires back on with just the height of the stands, so make sure your floor jack is setup in a way that will make sure you're able to get the tires back on, if it needs to sit on some boards, do it in the beginning!

 

Did you unbolt the springs from the frame with the axle still attached to the springs? Or did you take off the u-bolts first, and lower the axle out of the way then unbolt the springs from the frame?

How hard was it to knock the bolts out of the spring mounts? Did it take a hammer and punch or will the usually slide out by hand?

I know I can lift the axle high enough with a floor jack to get the tires on/off, jacking the frame is trickier in the back since the beams swoop up into the wheel wells, unlike jacking under the cab, but that tends to lift the front end more than the rear (which I'll also need to do to put in the new coilovers, but I know I can get the front pretty high with the level of the frame under the cab).

 

U bolts first, then drop the axle on the jack so you can have more space to maneuver the leafs. You will probably need to tap the bolt out of the mounts - the reason I unbolted the hanger instead of the rear leaf mount was because it was way easier to access that bolt than it was the leaf spring bolt on the rear mount, not sure if that was for removal/install or because I needed space to get a torque wrench in there, or a combo - but that's what we ended up doing and it was easy.

 

When I did my suspension last month, I stuck the jack stands under the frame, which was far enough forward that I didn't encounter issues, and left the jack under the differential for support. Worked well enough that I didn't have any issues