Front Leaf spring & Shock replacement

[Blast-n-cast]

Had to put new front leaf springs and shocks all the way around my truck. My old leaf springs and shocks were shot. Since I don't have access to a vehicle lift and didn't feel like throwing a bunch of cash at someone else to do it we improvised. My buddy has an overhead 5 ton lift at the shop of his work so we hooked up a heavy duty strap around the front frame of my truck and routed it over my bumper and lifted my truck that way. Then we used (2) 3 ton floor jacks to move the axle as needed. We used a forklift as a backup under the bumper in case something went wrong with the strap. It was kinda hairball at times and some of the parts were not cooperating in the removal process but we managed to get it done. My suspension is much stiffer now and the new hardware eliminated a lot of the bounce I had before. Here are a few pics. Sorry I only had my phone so the picture quality is not that great.

[Bill]

It was kinda hairball at times and some of the parts were not cooperating in the removal process but we managed to get it done.

No more hairball than us lifting size to side my son's 78 Powerwagon an big, wooden blocks from construction beams, and then getting praying there was not an earthquake and it falling when we were underneath it putting on new front springs for a 6" lift. Those axles are heavier than they look!

[lxlaw]

Wait till ya get to replace the wonderful front bearing asseblies!!!

[Blast-n-cast]

Wait till ya get to replace the wonderful front bearing asseblies!!!

Haven't done it on mine yet but I did my dads F350 and my brothers F250. Not too bad a job. The worst part was getting the (4) old bolts out to use on the new one. Now I know to just go spend the $12.00 and get new ones instead of messing with trying to get them out.

[pigkillin]

must of took all day, it was probably worth it

[Blast-n-cast]

It took a few hours. I had some U-bolts that gave us he!! and then we ran into a problem with the bolts on the front leaf spring hangers. Once we figured out we could remove the brackets on the radiator it was all gravy.

[Bill]

I powerwash the dirt off and then spray a project like that a day ahead of time with penetrating oil. I've found a product called Breakfree CLP sold for firearms is an awesome penetrating oil for crudded up bolts.

I bought one of the AutoZone 110V impact wrenches with the savings from one of my big car projects, and believe me it makes getting those big, ugly bolts off much, much easier. Just wear eye protection, I've seen regular sockets blow up years ago. Scary stuff when that amount of energy is released.

[Blast-n-cast]

I powerwash the dirt off and then spray a project like that a day ahead of time with penetrating oil. I've found a product called Breakfree CLP sold for firearms is an awesome penetrating oil for crudded up bolts.

I bought one of the AutoZone 110V impact wrenches with the savings from one of my big car projects, and believe me it makes getting those big, ugly bolts off much, much easier. Just wear eye protection, I've seen regular sockets blow up years ago. Scary stuff when that amount of energy is released.

Thats a good idea. I didn't think about powerwashing it first. I did spray some PB blaster on the bolts the morning of the project a few hours before I started, but I will have to check out the Breakfree. I was worried about using my regular sockets so I bought two (10) piece sets of impact sockets (standard, metric) for the job. You are right the impact it the way to go although I did have to take a braking bar to several of the bolts to get them started and then get at them with the impact.