man call a spring shop and repalce just the top leaf. should save you a few $$$$

 

great Idea Cheezit

and I was thinking that was some kinda helper spring up top thanks

 

we have to replace and add leafs all the time. only person that ever gets whole new stacks is ford warranty... its there dime I give em what they want

 

I got myself 2 sets of leafpack springs at a local spring shop.

I tried to explain to the guy as best I could what I had, and gave him a code off the doorjamb that he asked for.

The springs he gave me were a 5 set I guess. I didn't think a single thing was wrong with that because it looked to me (who never ever took springs off a vehicle before) that the top overload spring and spacer would be seperate and reusable. When I got the first spring off it's now obvious to me that the existing is a complete package of 6 springs - spacer and overload spring included. Which means the u-bolts are too long for the new springs.

With shorter u-bolts will this 5 set work? It does go into place. Does this mean I lose my haul ability or something. I don't want to get into having to break the new and the old sets apart to add that overload and spacer ... I don't even know if that's possible at home anyway(?)

Maybe I should just go back and ask about a 6 pack(?) But if that's more money I'd rather stick with what I got if it is ok. I don't tow with it. It carries some stuff in the back occassionally. Any thoughts from anybody?

By the way, the step by step process to do this wasn't too bad at all. One really nasty bolt attaching the shackle to the frame support did give some grief, but over all it's not bad at all.

I looked into others just swapping out the broken spring for me and if this works I will save money when the labor gets added .. and have a full set of new springs.

 

One spring will make a lot of difference.don't put them on.it'll squat in the back.

 

Well we finished the job today.

Looking at it before, it was a little intimidating to an inexperienced home mechanic, but after it was done it was pretty easy really. I don't think it's worth a write up as you can follow the 4 to 5 steps in the Haynes manual and be fine.

For anyone like myself who didn't know what they were facing, here's some stuff I learned...

On my truck, perhaps because of the tow/haul package, it has 6 springs on the rear. There's a pack of 5, then a spacer, and then a 6th overload spring. Most places you call will not know of a 6 pack of springs for this truck, so best bet is to buy a set of 5 and then have the place you bought the new 5pack pull the spacer and 6th spring off the original and add it to the new 5pack. This took them about 5 mins and cost me $13 each side. I watched him do it and couldn't imagine trying to do this at home without a lot of grief .... and it was only $26.

The 6th spring didn't need to be bought new. It doesn't do much in its life. It was hardly even rusted. I thought about just replacing the 1 broken main spring, but when I put the new and old packs together and saw the sag, I was glad I bought the new set.

The new set was $195 each side and $13 to swap the top spring. Buying just the main spring would have been $100, and then $13 to swap it into the pack with the 6th spring. So I could have saved $95x2, but like I said, side by side it looked like I made the right choice.

I couldn't have done it without a sturdy impact gun.
My truck has 226,000 miles and all of that was on New England roads with salty winters, so without a sturdy impact gun most of the bolts couldn't have been moved with my human strength, especially the one through the shackle and frame mount. I broke one breaker bar. Lots of PB Blaster and perseverance and For/Rev on the gun eventually got them out - about 1 hr each side. I later found out that it's common for this bolt to freeze and many shops will cut the mount off the truck. Then the mount has to go back on the frame with grade 8 bolts. This was another reason I was glad I did it myself. If it was in a shop they would have come out with the bad news of having to cut the mounts and my bill would have gone up.

I couldn't have done it without 6-ton jack stands. The 3-tons I also own wouldn't have been tall enough.

I needed a deep socket for the u-bolts. There was about 1.25" of thread above the nut.

All bolts and nuts were either 13/16 or 15/16. A wrench was used once to hold one of the bolts while the nut was turned by the gun. The other nuts had a stopper arm on them so they held in place while the bolt was turned by the gun. The Haynes manual called for all to be tightened to 185 ft-lbs for a 2003.

I needed new shackles because the removed ones were all banged up and out of round where the bolt for the frame mount went .. both sides.

With new springs, adding the old overload spring to the new pack, new shackles and 1 new bolt for each side I got it done for $500. For now I'll reuse the u-bolts and spring plates and replace them when $$$ allows. Although I think I'll just cleanup and paint the plates. They look like they're stamped out of a heavy plate steel.

I hope that helps any other guys like myself.

 

Did you check how much the springs were from ford by using your vin?

 

I started with partsguyed but he was $45 more each side, it didn't include that 6th spring, and then I'd have had shipping costs and down time. Plus I'm lucky I live close to a mammoth spring shop.

The day I was there there was 2 big rigs, 1 fire engine, 1 tri-axle, 1 pickup and a 1 minivan all getting worked on, and that was only about half their bays.

Donovan Spring And Equipment Co, Londonderry NH - YouTube

 

Springs are way more expensive up here, Ford had quoted me $460 a side I think it was and the spring manufacture in Calgary quoted me $350 a side, I got ford down to $370 a side which I was happy with and the springs they got me were the exact same that I had on the truck, overloads and everything all in one package. I was lucky and I only had 1 bolt to replace out of everything.

Heres a link to show off how big mine is!

http://www.standens.com/company_history.html

 

With someone else doing it for me I wouldn't have been far off your numbers I'm sure. But the $250 or so I saved is big right now. Just did the tranny and now I find I have a hung rear caliper, a busted lower ball joint, and an oil pan that needs to be replaced (badly rusted) real soon
Right now every penny counts!!!