I did a search on this topic and it was mostly about leaf removal rather than the removal itself. I got into my rear brakes for a rebuild when I noticed that one of my springs had two broken leafs. So I want to re-do the springs and make them happy.

I recall that rear spring removal was considered a serious pain in the a$$.

It's a '49 F1. Any experience or recomendations to share?

 

Its not that terrible. Just remove the locking bolts and get yourself a big long punch and a hammer. There are holes in the frame to accommodate the punch so that you can knock out the shackle bolts. The front pin will be hard to hit because the crossmember blocks a straight shot at it. I stuck a cheap socket wrench extension in the hole and laid a piece of plate steel over and knocked it out (hard to describe without showing you)

 

It's not really that bad of a job, but you have to support the weight of the truck by the frame. It sounds obvious, but you wouldn't be the first one to support the truck on jack stands under the rear axle, then un-bolt the axle...not a good thing.

Sometimes the U bolts are pretty rusted, so it'd be a good idea to put some penetrating oil on those a day or so ahead of when you plan to do the job.

I think it is a good idea to replace the U-bolts with new ones while you're doing this job.

Dan

 

Ernie,
There is a shop in OC that has had a booth at the Western nats the past few years...they do complete spring systems and are priced within reason. Not sure if you already have the new springs but if not you may want to get in contact with them. I believe that either Ed Oe or Chris from the OC chapter has used their services are were very pleased. My truck is going up there just as soon as it's ready to hit the road.

 

I think Havi mentioned this in another thread, but it worked for me on my 55. Get a bolt just smaller than the hole in the frame and long enough that it sticks out past the frame rail a bit and hit it with a BFH. If you need, you might use a couple of bolts of different length to get it all the way out.

It worked slick for me. Of course after I bent my punch. (cheap Harbor Freight ones) I didn't have a bed on it though which helped.

 

Here is something helpful that i read in a previous post and copied for future reference. I forgot who originally posted it. I know that I have followed these instructions and they work every time.

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Here's a few things you can do to get the pins out of the hangars;

1. go out to your shop and get a coarse wood rasp, if you're right handed start with your left hand, make a fist, then take the rasp and make several passes across your knuckles, now switch over and do the other hand, don't stop until you are bloody
2. get a handful of sand and other debris (preferable something with a bunch of rusty crud in it) using one bloody hand hold the eyelid of one eye open and pack the sand mixture in until you are seeing stars and your eye is watering uncontrollably
3. pour remaining sand mixture down the collar of your shirt
4. smack your head against the wall several times to mimic busting it on the frame as you try to sit up in a hurry to get the sand mixture out of your eye.
5. place your hand on the bench and repeatedly smash your fingers with a hammer until numb

OK, now you are ready to tackle the spring perch.
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Be sure it's a wood rasp, I tried the bricks on my house and it still didn't work. After I bought the wood rasp, everything worked fine.

Here is that thread:
https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/8...g-removal.html

And havi's instructions:

 

Come on Dawg! if you aint bloody and your eyes aren't full of crap then you aren't doing it right

Good luck
Bobby

 

Man I'm kind of surprised by the "passion" this topic brings out. Lol. In my opinion, yes its hard to knock those shackle bolts out. But I would rather do that than tackle another set of door hinge pins.

 

$10 Harbor Freight air hammer made quick work of them after a couple of days screwing around with a BFH, a punch, and heat.

 

I endured this agonizing task late last year. As you can see in the picture below, a crossmember is blocking a clear shot at the hole for the front shackle pin. I used a 1/2" drill bit to drill a hole approximately where the shackle pin hole is located. I then widened the hole by using an expanding drill bit (the cone shaped one with different sizes - bought at Harbor Freight). After the hole was widened, I bought a 12" long bolt and whacked it with a BFH against the shackle pin. The pin came out after a few hard whacks. All of this after speding a few hours the evening before trying to get it with a short punch. I repeated this process a few weeks later when removing a set of springs from an F1 truck.

It's harder to remove the left side shackle pin on Panel trucks because of the fuel tank being located near the front shackle. It's easier on conventional trucks, and even much easier with the bed removed.

 

Yeah...... I got a better idea....... Have my 30 year old son-in-law wail on those suckers.

I appreciate the input from you folks. All good ideas. Drilling an access hole did occur to me. I had in my inventory a set of reversed eye top springs that I wanted to install. I just wasn't too excited about installing them until I found the broken leafs. Now I gotta get mid-eveil on the SOB. This truck (or I should say the ten trucks that make this truck up) is a Desert-Rat and while the sheet metal is rust-free, the crud-factor is world-class. This truck was well used. Check out this pristine Pitman Arm.... I went Toyota Power but this part is a keeper.

 

Lord Have Mercy !

What a job ! Took everyones advice. Drilled access holes and sacrificed an extension for my impact gun. Glad I decided to do this as the Spring Bushings were totally shot. They moved 2" side to side after I got the rear end out of the way.

And yes Bobby, Eyes and Ears were spared the crud because of protection but the rest of me looked like a dirt-ball......

Thanks !

 

Dawg,

Congrats on getting that done! On the bright side....you won't have to mess with that again....ever

Bobby

 

I used to browse this site before i became a member lots of good info but found it annoying that all the pictures were blocked so i joined. guess what? still blocked. Why? do you have to be a "premium member" to get the pics? if so thats lame