Help on leaf install

Not sure if I'll be able to get this done today by myself

If anyone is really bored today and happens to be in the Vancouver area with some tools I'm installing my rear nitrochargers and Dakar leafs and can't seem to get my u bolts off as well as the front bolt on the driver side leaf. I rented a torque wrench only to realize I don't have any sockets that fit it. My roomate who I was relying on driving me around has been gone all day so I'm sort of stuck. Slim chance and late notice I know but figured I'd try haha

 

Alright well I got the right sockets for the torque wrench and got everything off except for that same front driver side bolt I was having thouble with. However on the passenger side I got everything off. I started to put the Dakars on and now am having trouble with the bottom bolt on the shackle. Somehow the first initial lip got fubarred, so the nut won't thread on... oh also my brother knocked the axle off the JAck so it's basically on the ground now.

After all that I decided to pack all my tools and wheels back up and inside until tommorrow. I don't know how to really proceed until I can get that shackle on and that driver side leaf bolt out.

At least when I was waiting for the torque wrench I got bored and did some extra stuff I've been wanting to do for awhile. Blacked out front bumper, installed black grille, color matched Toyota badge, blacked out chrome on corner lights, color matched the 4x4 on my rear mud flaps, and changed my oil. Really cleaned the front end up nice.

Any tips or help would be awesome.

 

By torque wrench , do you mean air ratchet ?

 

No, one of these

$182 CDI 2503MFRMH Dual Scale Micrometer Adjustable Click Style Torque Wrench with Metal Handle - 1/2" Drive - 30 to 250 ft. lbs. Torque Range

http://www.amazon.com/Snap--Industr...ower-hand-tools&ie=UTF8&qid=1343105428&sr=1-8

 

I read your first couple posts as using the torque wrench to remove the existing bolts , my bad

You might want to try some penetrating oil / lube on the bolts that won't come free such as Deep Creep

 

I'm not sure if I mentioned it or not but I've been spraying pb blaster on them for the last couple days and sprayed a whole can today.

 

Damn you PNW

 

Yeah and actually the truck has spent most of it's life throughout Alaska so I guess I should have seen this coming.

 

Old vs New :





Can't wait to get this all finished up and see how much better my truck will be.

 

1. Torque wrenches have a specific purpose - tightening things to a specific torque setting. They should not be used as a pry bar or a general purpose socket wrench, you can screw up the calibration.

2. for the bolt that won't come out, try renting an impact wrench. I bought mine from Harbor Freight, the ones there work very well - I think I paid $40. If this can't get it off, pretty much nothing can - you will have to cut the bolt off! Keep in mind that you need to use sockets that are rated for impact wrenches. You can also get these from HF for about $10 a set I think?

3. For the bolt that won't thread, you either need a tap and die set, or get a new bolt. Most economical path is the new bolt

4. I would recommend posting WHERE in Washington you are - if you are next door to one of us, we could stop after work

 

Use a blow torch on the stuck bolt it will loosen up the rust, I use that and lubricant and it always seems to work

 

Thank you for the response. I was trying to avoid having to buy anything else especially online as my truck is jacked up and this is pretty much the last thing I need to do before packing up and driving to fairbanks haha.

As for the bolt that wont thread, I was thinking about replacing it but it seemed to be a part of the shackle. Also after thinking about it last night I might just give it another go and see if I cant flatten that first thread back enough because I think what happened is it might have got hit with a hammer when we were trying to get the old leafs off.

Good call on location, forgot to mention that. I'm in Clark County Vancouver area, just north of Portland.

hmm if only I had a blow torch... Might be a good excuse to buy one haha

 

use a file on the messed up bolt to re shape the threads.

Cut off the front spring hanger bolt and replace it if it's being a pain.

And yeah, never ever use a torque wrench to remove anything ever.

 

Do you think I'll be able to cut off the front spring hanger bolt with a Dremel or am I going to need something else? I'm assuming I'll need something else.

Also thanks for the tips on the torque wrench I didn't know that. However I couldn't get any of the ubolts out until I used the torque wrench. And it's a rented torque wrench so I'm not too concerned about it, especially considering all 3 employees at oreillys are the ones who advised me to use it to remove the stuck bolts!

 

You will be all day with that dremel. Get an angle grinder on that.

How could the bolt be part of the shackle? don't you have to get the spring inside it? I would assume it's one of those smooth bolts where there's only thread at the very tip, but someone else needs to back me up on that one.

O'reileys is not where you go for smarts, hehe

 

Alright that's what I was afraid of.

I don't really know I could be talking out of my ass. This is the first time I've done suspension work on a truck, previous times have all been on cars so everything out back is pretty new to me. It just seemed like when I was looking that I couldn't get the bolt out the other end of the shackle so i assumed they were together.

Agreed. But it is where you go for free tool rentals

 

sawzall works best on bolts.

And you are correct, the bolts are part of the shackle.

 

^^^
It's a two-piece component. One piece is a side plate with the two pins set in it, the other is the other side plate. See attached (which also provides all torque values).

You want a breaker bar/impact wrench to remove bolts, a torque wrench to do final tighten during install.

x2 on the angle grinder on the front hanger bolt.

And grease the shit out of all those bolt shanks when you reinstall.

 

Yeah that's what I thought it was. Thanks for the pdf, should save me some time on looking up torque values.

I really was hoping I could finish this without buying more tools since I have an impact wrench and an older angle grinder back home but I guess that's not going to be the case unfortunately.

 

Well I broke down and bought an angle grinder so hopefully I can finish this up now with out too many more problems. Still need to find another bolt somewhere however