On the front ones, the best way to do it....is to get someone else to do them! lol...I cussed, fussed, bloodied knuckles, and almost threw tools before I was done. I wound up taking them out in pieces. There is a very thin steel sleeve surrounding the rubber of the factory pieces, and that invariably rusts itself to the inside of the leaf spring eye, and makes the whole project a lot more fun! I didn't have an air chisel at the time, but that looks like it would be a good choice to try anyway. As for intstalling the new ones...I made me a "press" so to speak, with a couple of pieces of flat plate, and some all-thread. Worked great for getting the new ones in. Getting the front ones out was just trial and error...well...mostly error...but they eventually came out! Good luck! PS...for some god forsaken reason, I was trying to do them while still on the car...I'm guessing that if you remove them and have someone press them out...it would go a whole lot smoother. I'd sure try that if I had to do it again!!!!
The easiest way to get the front ones out is to burn them out, just let them burn awhile and you can push everything right out.
Just dont try opening the eye of the leaf by pounding a punch into the gap where it wraps around and meets itself. A younger teanage version of myself tried that, cost me 6 stitches and almost my eye when the punch flew out from the spring pressure.
I took mine to the spring shop where I bought the bushings. They used a BFH and a piece of pipe (the right diameter) as a drift pin. They had to REALLY employ the BFH to get them out...and back in. I think they charged me $5 or something nominal like that for labor. After seeing wehat they had to do to get them in and out, there is NO WAY I could have gotten it done at home.
Thanks guys!!!! Now how should i go about jacking up the car can i just jack up the rear end and take them lose?
Jack the car up and support it under the frame rails with jack stands or solid cribbing, then manipulate the height of the jack so that you find the "sweet spot" for the springs where there is no real pressure pushing up, or hanging down on the bolts. If you just put your jack under the rear and try to remove the spring bolts without supporting the actual weight of the car on the frame rails, you're going to get a surprise, as all the pressure will be on the spring bolts you are going to be removing! The car could potentially fall off of the jack...or at the very least, move enough to scare the living crap out of you!
Also, it'll be a lot easier to pull one spring at a time while leaving the other in place and bolted up.
YOU GUYS ARE GREAT!!!!!!!!!!!! THANKS I was worried i couldnt do it now that i have all this great info it sounds alot easier Will let you know how it turns out
HM JUST did my bushings last nite. The fronts, I used a long threaded rod, with a nut,welded to threaded rod, piece of pipe same dia as sleeve in the spring, and a flat 1/4in plate a little digger than pipe. Put threaded rod thru sleeve, with a 1/4 thick washer same size as rubber bushing.Then a nut. Used inpact gun on the end with washer only. The washer pushed out everything into pipe. Did reverse to install bushing.Took a little time to figure it out but second spring is easier.
Yea, you're all ****s and giggles now. Wait til you've fought with it before saying anything further. The REAL problem you'll run into is the thin steel sleeve surrounding the eye bolt, not the sleeve surrounding the rubber bushing. The sleeve rusts itself to the bolt and the sleeve is just large enough in diameter to not fit thru the eye bolt holes in the frame. Take your pick, cut the bolt with a torch, hacksaw or diegrinder with a cutting disc. Those are the three choices in removing these bolts. The bolts are extremely hard, so cutting with a torch (prepare to be burnt doing it, the bushing will burn profusely until you put it out) or the grinding wheel are the preferred methods. Or buy lots of hacksaw blades before starting.
