48 F1 - On the rear leaf springs, how do you remove the spring eye pin from the spring hanger? (the one with the frame crossmember in the way).

I was able to punch out the rear one, but the front pin on the rear leaf spring has the crossmember blocking the hole. And I was just starting to make some progress again....


What has worked for everyone else that has torn theirs apart?

Thanks

 

What I did was remove the grease fitting and then put in a bolt and used that to pull the pin out.
Good luck
Bill

 

Oscar,
The previous owner must have had some problems with mine in the past, there were some cleverly placed (but danged ugly) holes torched in the crossmember so I could actually get a punch in there to bang them out. It would have been nice if the previous owner would have torched the holes in line with the pins....
....previous owners...gotta luv 'em (yea right)

Bobby

 

Bill's method is the most common, but you need to make sure there is absolutely no weight or force on the pin. They get grooved and are pretty stubborn. A slide hammer really helps.

Since you clearly want to replace it anyway, before you break out the "hot wrench", try a sawzall or a bare hacksaw blade and just cut through it on each side of the spring. With a sawzall it goes quickly, by hand you'll be sore. But then the spring will drop down with part of it inside, and the other pieces can be driven out.

 

If you look at the crossmember (from under the truck) there is a hole in the crossmember, this is there so you can insert a long punch or drift and tap the pin out with out destroying it. (first unbolt and tap out the lock pin!)

 

Mine came out pretty easy. I had already removed the bed. That made it very easy to get a good swing at them. Take the back ones out first and have a helper "wiggle" the spring pac while you wail away. (use a quality punch and wear your safety glasses) Soakem with your favorite break free spray before you begin and good luck.
Later...Randy

 

Hey...You gotta think with a handle like "REAMER" he's GOT to know what he's talking about!!!
My 54 had the holes thru the frame as well, I soaked with several doses of penatrant....then a brass drift and a two pound hammer and away you go.
Sears sell a three piece drift set for apx. $18.00, but any auto parts house should have one.
And go ahead and plan what words your gonna say when you hit your hand with the hammer....cause you know its gonna happen. "#@!#*???...truck"
good luck with it, Ed

here's a thought, put the drift into an air hammer and coax it loose!!!?

 

I got it!!!!
Thanks for all the ideas.

I had the bed off already. I removed the u-bolts from the axle (almost no weight on the leaf spring pack).

My crossmember did not have an access hole already there, so I was hesitant of making a new hole.
I don't have a slide hammer.
Not sure what a drift is, but I am guessing it is the equivalant of a punch.

My son (age 12) and I sat out there looking at it and discussing what to do. He already handy with the tools.
I finally decided to try to "loosen" the pin by turing the grease zert beyond maximum tightness. I was not sure that would do anything except break off the grease zert and then make the pin unusable, but I have extra pins from my parts truck.
I turned her and turned her .... and the pin spun.
Still wasn't sure that would help anything, but I put my fence tool (what do you know, farming tools work on autos too) between the vice grip I was using to turn the zert and the spring hanger and pried a bit. It started inching out.

I was able to pry and tap the vice grip until the spring pin came out.

I don't know that it helped, but it couldn't have hurt. We had shove fresh grease into the zert about a month ago.

 

Oscar, my posts have a lot of spelling errors - so this post is like the pot calling the kettle black. Anyway, I think the grease fitting is called a "Zerk" fitting. I had it wrong for a long time until somebody let me know, so I figured I'd pass along the favor to you.

 

thank you for the knowledge transfer. I will try to remember that.
Do you know why it is called a "zerk"?

 

I was told it comes from the inventor, Oscar V. Zerk - no kidding!

 

Oscar V. Zerk
Born: May 16, 1878 in Vienna. Died: December 8, 1968 in Kenosha. World-famous inventor. He patented over 300 inventions, including leg-slimming hosiery, quick-freezing ice cube trays, spatterproof nail brushes, fail-save brakes for trolley cars, vibration-free camera tripods, oil well recovery systems, and refrigerators for cars. His greatest invention, however, was the Zerk grease fitting, a lubrication system which became the basis for those used on every car, truck, and plane. At the time of his death in 1968, an estimated 20 billion fittings had been manufactured

 

Any chance you would remember what size bolt you used? It's not a 3/8" - 24 and it's too small to be a 7/16". For some reason a 10mm x 1.0 seems to threaed in pretty well but I know this can't be correct. It's almost like it's 13/32" diameter or a finer thread 3/8" than a 24 thread/inch. Are new pins readily available and if so, does anyone have any idea how much. I'd prefer not having to buy new ones if I can help it. I've got enough other stuff to buy already. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks,

Carl

 

Most (not all) of the standard grease zerk threads are pipe thread (NPT). From your description it's almost certain that it's a 1/8" NPT thread. You can use a short pipe nipple to thread in. They should be available at most hardware stores - even the big box places.

 

I'll give it a look George but it looks to be too fine to be pipe thread.

Thanks - I'll let you know what I find out.