Emu leaf spring troubles

02 x cab 4x4. Have emu leaf packs for both sides, is there a trick or video on how to install? Can’t for the life of me get these things on. Can get the front and rear bolts in but middle bolt is nowhere close. Have tried putting front on then going for the back and vice versa, no luck.. can someone help me out here? Thanks

 

Some more clarification might help, front rear middle bolts?

You have front eyelet, its towards the front of the truck, bolt is horizontal, you have a rear, again, bolt is horizontal, and then in the middle of the pack, is where the axle/perch/ubolts go.

Is the leafpack turned 180? Pictures might help.

 

Yeah have the horizontal able to go in but the middle bolt that compressed the leaf pack will not come close to dropping into the hole. Don’t understand the 180 question. Have the military eye to frame and the longest part of the pack is going towards rear

 

your just gonna have to play with the axle. if its too hard, just make a mark on the driveshaft and flange and disconnect the shaft. more work but it will go on easy.

 

What do you mean the middle wont drop in? The center pin? You cant get the center pin of the leafs into the axle leaf perch mount plate? How far off is it? Tires are off the truck, driveshaft is supported by something, and the axle is on a jack right? You should just be able to man handle the axle into position. I have rebuilt my leaf packs on the truck numerous times no problem. Its not the most comfortable thing but just man handle that bitch in.

 

Quite possible OP got the wrong Springs !!

The hardest part is getting the spring hanger bolt cut to get the old ones off

 

The front hanger bolt has always been seized on every 1st gen I've ever worked on.
As someone mentioned above, Mark the driveshaft and yolk, disconnect it and then try lining up a pin on one side. Tighten up the u bolts a bit and man handle the other side in.
Personally, I just leave the tires on and kick them till the pin drops in.

 

as others said, get some pics. also make sure the arrow points towards the front (I had to say it)

 

Odd. I didn't see any arrows on mine. Just the +/- for left and right. Longest is always towards the front.

 

Oops. maybe I'm spreading misinformation. My bad.

 

I like the, man handle the bitch in, to answer ur questions, yes to all above sir. I too have seen a few rear ends over time. Have verified with the vendor I purchased from as to correct part numbers in which they r stamped correctly. Now, am I correct with the military eye to frame, longest end of leaf goes towards back of truck? Now it is stamped along with part number with an A on one set and a B on the other pack, does this reference driver or pass. side? I guess I’ll have to contact ARB which has been a joke up till now to much to get into on an already long post. Thanks folks

 

from ARB's website:

INSTRUCTIONS

Old Mane Emu parts do not come with instruction guides for installation. (say what now?, glad I never bought from ARB cause I got instructions with mine from Wheelers) Old Man Emu parts are engineered and designed with a different end goal than most other manufacturers. Our specifications are well within the factory geometry, which allows them to be installed just as the Original Equipment (OE) parts as per the vehicle’s factory service manual. If you do not have access the factory manual, we would suggest picking up a Haynes or Chilton’s manual. They contain all the necessary information such as bolt torque and proper leaf and coil spring procedures.

SPECIFICATIONS

A/B Fitment

As a general rule, the A springs have a higher free height than the B coils. This is to allow the fitter to compensate for driver weight, aftermarket accessories, vehicle weight distribution, and chassis twist. We suggest taking measurements at each corner before fitting the new suspension components. This will allow for more accurate A/B fitment.

In vehicles with front and rear A/B springs, most of these vehicles will be happiest with an A coil fitted to the front, driver corner and the opposite rear, passenger corner. In vehicles with only rear A/B springs, most will end up with the A spring on the rear, driver corner.

It must be understood that due to the A/B variation, the first spring selection may result in the vehicle to be unlevel. If this is the case, swapping spring locations is necessary before trying other trimming methods.

Leaf Springs

“+”, “0”, or “-“ markings signify a manufacturing load test result. They identify whether the spring is precisely normal (0), slightly above (+), or slightly below (-) specifications. Every spring undergoes this test to determine if it is within engineering tolerances. The range of this tolerance is +/- is 3mm.



This is a Military Wrap

Military wrap end of the leaf spring is to be installed to the fixed pin chassis mounting point (this is the non-shackle mount). Non-military wrap springs have a yellow mark on the end of the spring to be installed in the fixed pin chassis mount point.

also more info

http://www.cruiseroutfitters.com/tech_OME_leaf_tech.html

 

When i did mine I disconnected the axle from the truck so i could move it around much more freely. Did not disconnect the drive shaft from the axle thoughz

 

Well...



Sooo...



Successful install on my '03 from a couple of years ago...took this pic specifically for "future reference."

 

This has some good info, good reading, very helpful, thank you sir for posting

 

Well damn, thanks for posting the pic that’s exactly where I’m at, but, mines white and my springs are laying to the side Thanks man!

 

Hi, I just did this install 2 months ago. It was a bit harder than expected, but here are a couple tricks that I used to get it done.

1) The passenger side was pretty easy, I left the driver side tire on while I did it. Drop the axle and raise the truck until you can get the spring in there. (Watch out if you have the driver side wheel off and haven't disconnected the break line, you can stretch and break it.) Once there was enough room, the spring was pretty easy to get on. I used a heavy duty ratchet strap attached to the frame in the front to pull the axle forward to line up the pin once the spring was on.

2) Driver side was more tricky... because I was lazy and didn't want to mess with the break line. I did detach the line from the axle to give it a little more drop room. In hindsight I would definitely just extend the break line ... and put the spring in while the line was detached. I used some heavy duty clamps to flatten the spring a bit because there was no way it would go in without dropping the axle past the point where the break line would be damaged. I did the front first then the back at the shackle because the shackle gives it a little more play. Once both ends of the spring were bolted in I used the ratchet strap again to pull the axle forward and line up the pin.

However... I am now having some problems with the driver side spring not springing back, so I wonder if using the clamps messed it up somehow... so probably best to do the break line.