Leaf Springs

hey yall,

Jumped into my leaf spring swap like it would be any other vehicle. Of course it's not.

Anyone have some tips for getting the 4 bolts out of the hangers that go through the bushings? We've already gotten one out but ruined two with a hammer (myself and a friend both did a side and he didn't know to leave the nut on before beating it). They're soaking in PB blaster right now.

 

That bad eh?

 

Theyre probably not soaking in pb blaser if you just sprayed them. Maybe the bolt head is.

Just chop them off and put in new bolts. Much easier.

 

Sounds like you haven't met the main spring eye bolt yet... that one made me howl like a banshee, finally heat, sawzall and summoned gorilla strength got it out in a couple pieces

I'm remembering something silly about those leaf spring hangers, like you only want take off one side and then hit out the pins instead of taking all four nuts off....too long ago now

 

Sprayed the shit out of em... Il give it another bath tonight

It's a new leaf pack, just gonna rip the whole thing out. They're 2 piece hangers right? Was gonna zip tie swap em so I don't scare myself haha.

I'll probably just cut them off... Just worried about a little Lubbock dealer getting the new bolts quick. Truck is a DD and need to get it driving by Tuesday or I'm fuuuuuuuuucked

 

Just pick up some grade 8 14mm bolts. Most hardware or nut & bolt shop should have them in stock.

 

What about those goofy thread things at the end of them?

 

Thats what I was talking about... that part of the bolt is meant to stay in the hanger plate, so if you try and smack one bolt out, the other one is still press fit in which will make it seem like its frozen, kinda like how lug bolts are set in...

Like others have said, it don't matter now...cut everything that wont budge and start fresh

Nothing like new leaf packs

 

Like this:

 

Best way for the hanger bolts I found is cut both ends of the bolt off .

Bend the hanger on both sides enough the bolts pop inside the hanger pry the spring out

I just cut all the u Bolts off

Last I bought Hanger Kits from Toyota they were not that expensive

 

Oh fricken hell yeah... cut those all off. I tried to get the ones off that I put on new with my Wheelers leaf pack, just 4 yrs. old, and they wouldn't budge, tried one for awhile and it ended up shearing off... yeah, ouch on the o'l knuckles for sure, damn near sucker punched the backing plate for brake drum

I never got replacement OEM hangers; went with heavy duty ( thicker plate material) greaseable shackles with poly-urethane bushings from Wheelers. Have worked great and comparable in price to stock with a lot more beef

 

We got the u bolts off no problem and I need it done this weekend so ruining the hangers isn't an option. We found some bolts I think will work, gonna cut the two front ones out and hope for the best

 

Yeah buddy! sounds like you got this

 

One sides off! On the negative side, the other size is complete seized. On the bright side, the front is done!!!!

Hopefully the new bolts we got worked. Buddy is currently burning the bushings out gonna hit it with an impact

 

The u bolts are bowing around the axle when going back on... Any advise?

 

Heat did not work for me. Tried that the first time I did this job. Just cut them off cold with a fine tooth metal blade. You may break a few until you clear out enough bushing for the blade to move freely. You just have to stay with it. Get a set of greaseable bolts and put them in before these have a chance to seize up. And it may sound silly, but don't forget to grease the greaseable bolts!

 

Got it!!!

 

I don't really ever check torque again after a wrenching mission, but leaf spring/ubolts/shackle nuts will all move around like mofo's cause of how much the rear end cycles.... its a good thing to recheck everything in a bit...cause if you don't, you might end up with a leaf spring perch that looks like this