Charlotte monthly meeting feb 9th at heist brewery and barrel.

[roadstr6]

Torch just makes a big stinking mess and you could catch your truck on fire. Drill multiple holes in each bushing to weaken it, then hammer / punch it out. Works every time. I sometimes use a small, cheap bottle jack between the spring and the frame to align the spring eye with the shackle. Gotta be careful doing it that way though. If the jack slips, get your digits and face out of the way!

 

[Roxx]

Lift the truck with the jack, take tires off and put tall jack stands on the frame behind the spring. Your axle will be hanging by the shock. Loose your shackles and hammer out one side of the shackle. Now put the jack under the axle and lift enough to take the pressure off the shackle. Take a sledgehammer and hit the bolts. (It may take persuasion) but it will come out. You can use penetrating oil but it is rare when that works for me. Old shackle out them you have the jack to lower or rise the spring

 

[CUSailor]

Torch just makes a big stinking mess and you could catch your truck on fire. Drill multiple holes in each bushing to weaken it, then hammer / punch it out. Works every time. I sometimes use a small, cheap bottle jack between the spring and the frame to align the spring eye with the shackle. Gotta be careful doing it that way though. If the jack slips, get your digits and face out of the way!

Great tips. I will consider the torch as last resort. If I follow Rafael's tips below about pulling tires off, putting the frame on jack stands, and the axle on a floor jack, I shouldn't need to do the bottle jack between the springs trick correct?

Lift the truck with the jack, take tires off and put tall jack stands on the frame behind the spring. Your axle will be hanging by the shock. Loose your shackles and hammer out one side of the shackle. Now put the jack under the axle and lift enough to take the pressure off the shackle. Take a sledgehammer and hit the bolts. (It may take persuasion) but it will come out. You can use penetrating oil but it is rare when that works for me. Old shackle out them you have the jack to lower or rise the spring

Thanks Rafael, this was the technique that I used to get the front shackles out, I basically destroyed them though hammering them out with a 2lb hammer, so I'm waiting on some new greasables to come in. That's ok though because the amount of wear on those shackles had me grateful I did them now. Next step will be trying to get the old bushings out, I was going to use a torch but per Dave's suggestion I'll try drilling first. I tried using a spark plug socket attached to an extension as a kind of punch to hammer them out (one side fell out on its own) but either the rubber absorbs too much impact or the spring itself moves so I don't want to force it.

Will I have the same problems with the hanger bolts and bushings as well?

 

[roadstr6]

Great tips. I will consider the torch as last resort. If I follow Rafael's tips below about pulling tires off, putting the frame on jack stands, and the axle on a floor jack, I shouldn't need to do the bottle jack between the springs trick correct?

Thanks Rafael, this was the technique that I used to get the front shackles out, I basically destroyed them though hammering them out with a 2lb hammer, so I'm waiting on some new greasables to come in. That's ok though because the amount of wear on those shackles had me grateful I did them now. Next step will be trying to get the old bushings out, I was going to use a torch but per Dave's suggestion I'll try drilling first. I tried using a spark plug socket attached to an extension as a kind of punch to hammer them out (one side fell out on its own) but either the rubber absorbs too much impact or the spring itself moves so I don't want to force it.

Will I have the same problems with the hanger bolts and bushings as well?

You won't have to use the bottle jack to align, but sometimes it is easier to make fine adjustments by flexing just one end of the spring with the bottle jack as opposed to moving the whole axle with the floor jack. FWIW, I have changed out every bushing on one of my trucks by only using a bottle jack between the spring and frame. No floor jack. Didn't even jack it up. Never removed a wheel. One bushing at a time.

Drill three or four holes in the bushings. Then drill a hole at the outer part of the bushing near the spring eye. The drill will try to "walk" itself around the spring eye. Let it do its thing. Between the drill and a hammer and socket, the bushing will come out.

Hanger bolts and bushings will fight you just the same.

If you want to witness an entire suspension swap being done on a 40 in an afternoon (and even lend a hand if you so desire) come out to my place on Sunday. You'll get some good tips and maybe learn a trick or two. HAMOM - Sunday, 2/16 | Matthews, NC If you are interested, PM me and I'll give you the address.

 

[CUSailor]

You won't have to use the bottle jack to align, but sometimes it is easier to make fine adjustments by flexing just one end of the spring with the bottle jack as opposed to moving the whole axle with the floor jack. FWIW, I have changed out every bushing on one of my trucks by only using a bottle jack between the spring and frame. No floor jack. Didn't even jack it up. Never removed a wheel. One bushing at a time.

Drill three or four holes in the bushings. Then drill a hole at the outer part of the bushing near the spring eye. The drill will try to "walk" itself around the spring eye. Let it do its thing. Between the drill and a hammer and socket, the bushing will come out.

Hanger bolts and bushings will fight you just the same.

If you want to witness an entire suspension swap being done on a 40 in an afternoon (and even lend a hand if you so desire) come out to my place on Sunday. You'll get some good tips and maybe learn a trick or two. HAMOM - Sunday, 2/16 | Matthews, NC If you are interested, PM me and I'll give you the address.

Thanks Dave, I saw that post on another thread about this Sunday. If I get mine together I wanted to come out, I'll send you a message.

 

[Roxx]

The hanger wont be that easy. I hammer them the same way but I ended up cutting off two of them. Install those back first. You have no play with them. Put the inner bushing and leave the outer out. Once the spring is in install the outer and the new greasable pin.

Great tips. I will consider the torch as last resort. If I follow Rafael's tips below about pulling tires off, putting the frame on jack stands, and the axle on a floor jack, I shouldn't need to do the bottle jack between the springs trick correct?

Thanks Rafael, this was the technique that I used to get the front shackles out, I basically destroyed them though hammering them out with a 2lb hammer, so I'm waiting on some new greasables to come in. That's ok though because the amount of wear on those shackles had me grateful I did them now. Next step will be trying to get the old bushings out, I was going to use a torch but per Dave's suggestion I'll try drilling first. I tried using a spark plug socket attached to an extension as a kind of punch to hammer them out (one side fell out on its own) but either the rubber absorbs too much impact or the spring itself moves so I don't want to force it.

Will I have the same problems with the hanger bolts and bushings as well?