Hi All,

I had to replace the rusted-out rear leaf spring mounts on my '93 recently and figured I'd post my experience in case anyone else is attempting this job. I found a lot of info on the 'net that helped but also discovered a few gotchas of my own. This forum has helped me immensely over the years so I hope this helps someone else. Unfortunately when I did this job it was freezing cold so I did not stop and take my gloves off to take pictures, but I think you will get the idea. If something is not clear let me know.

I replaced both the mount and the shackle as both were pretty rusty.

While everything was still together, I used an impact wrench to remove the nut from the bolt in the end of the spring. It was pretty rusty and I wanted to use the spring to stabilize the bolt so I could hold one end with a wrench and drive off the nut. Air tools were my friend for this part of the job.

i did one side at a time by jacking up the axle enough to get a jackstand under the frame rail just ahead of the wheel. If you do this be sure you get 3" or so of clearance under the wheel when you lower the jack. If you don't then you run the risk of not being able to remove the shackle bolt that goes through the end of the spring (the one I just took off above) since the spring will still be along side of the frame. I did this the first time and it is a major PITA trying to bend the spring down to remove the bolt.

Leave the jack in place lightly under the end of the axle you are working on. When you take off the old mount you don't want it to just fall down and also you will need to re-position the axle to get the new mount on.

Once you have the tension off the spring I found it easiest to I discovered there are 3 ways to get the old rivets out.

• Torch - if you have one, know how to use it and DON'T have the rear tank, this is probably the fastest way. If you have the rear tank, it is too close to the rivets for my comfort level.
• Cut Off Tool - use to cut off the head or back side of the rivet
• Air Hammer - ditto

I had neither cut-off tool nor air hammer but decided the air hammer would be most useful to me for other jobs so I bought a Chicago Pneumatic 714 and a 3/4" chisel. Since I had a fuel tank between the frame rails I had to chisel off the rivet heads on the outside. It took a while but eventually they all popped off.

Most of the heads came off and left the rest of the rivet still in place. Take the corner of the chisel and place it on the shaft of the rivet and goose the air hammer and it will drive the remaining part of the rivet through the frame and out of the way.

Once the rivets are out, you can lower the jack to get clearance to remove the bolt from the end of the spring and take off all the old parts.

The new mounts attach with bolts using deformed-head lock nuts. I decided to put the bolt through the frame with the nut on the outside since it would be easier to see if I ever had a nut come lose (which is unlikely). With the rear gas tank though it was far easier to take long-nose pliers and put the bold through the top holes, then screw the nut on from outside than vice-versa.

I bolted the mount first, then installed the shackle to the mount, then attached the shackle to the spring. It was pretty easy to get everything lined up by using the jack to adjust the axle. But doing it this way I had to put the spring bolt in from the outside vs. from the inside like it came from the factory. I don't think this makes much difference but if you want to put the new bolt back in the way the old bolt came out, put the shackle on the spring first, then bolt on the mount and attach the shackle at the mount.

I lowered the truck back to the ground before tightening either of the shackle bolts so that they would not be twisting the rubber in the bushings.

Overall, this was not nearly as complicated as I thought it would be. The air chisel and impact wrench helped a lot.

Hope this helps somebody out!