For rivits I use a 4" grinder with a waffer/cutting disk/thinest disk you can get. Cut an X in the head, use an air hammer with chisel to cut the pieces off, if they dont break smooth off then smooth out with the grinder. Then put the punch on the air hammer and punch it out.

 

Funny, I said the same thing a few posts ago...

About the spring bolts. I want to say they are metric, just a little smaller than 9/16". I had to ream out the hole in the bushing just a little bit to get the new ones in. I used grade 8 bolts I got at Lowes I think, or Ace Hardware, whichever had the closest length. I might be a little wrong about needing to ream out the bushing, as I was using some newer superduty springs on the rear.

Please don't weld a nut to the bolt. You'll likely ruin the strength of the bolt and nut in the process (not a huge thing if its just holding on a second nut) but it would be a nightmare to remove the next time around. You can get locknuts and lockwashers, both of which should work fine. Or just double nut if you really want to.

A small plumbing torch will be able to light the bushing on fire. It probably won't blast the rubber out like an oxy-whatever setup would. Not only will that stink and take quiet a while to burn out, the prolonged heat in the eye of the spring may not be good for it. Probably easier to drill around it to remove in that case.

 

here is what mine looked like......

 

wow you let yours get real bad!
i went and looked the other side of mine over again (the original hanger still) and it's perfectly fine.i guess i just saw it with road salt crap on it last time and it looked bad.all washed up i see its as solid as can be still.that was a nice surprise.

i think i see a hole in your hitch too there 94.DOH,never mind.i remember you were just asking about replacement hitches anyway.

 

you would be correct about the hitch. i am in search of a new one. i have been eyeing the b&w 16K hitch and the one you got. i don't tow so it is not a huge priority right now.

 

ah you beat my edit.
well if you don't tow,id save the money.plus the things are HEAVY! i had to use a floor jack to help me hold it while i marked the holes and bolt it in.no sense adding dead weight to your truck for anything.

 

That's how my driver's side looks like.

Thanks again for the info. Any idea on length of the bolts for the frame bracket? 2" long enough? Need to go shopping tonight.

 

You mean the bolts to replace the rivets??

2" is too much. I want to say 1 1/4" would be good, but can't remember for certain. 1 1/2" MAX. It more depends on the length of nuts and washers that you'll use. If you use a flange bolt with a locking flange nut, you might be able to get by with 1" bolts.

If its not torn apart yet, here's what you can do to figure out bolt length. Find a random hole on the frame where you can fit the new bracket. Take a bolt and put it through the bracket and frame and see how much sticks out. When test fitting like this, you can try whatever combination of washer, lock washer, nut, etc... and see what bolt length will work. This works best if you have a few different bolt lengths sitting around, even regular grade 2 hardware will be fine for test fits (BUT NOT FOR ACTUAL ASSEMBLY). Then figure out what you need and buy it.

Cheapest place near me for grade 5 or 8 stuff (and grade 2 as well) is tractor supply. You can buy nuts and bolts by the pound for far cheaper than hardware or big box stores. However, they don't have quite the size assortment, so depending on what you're looking for, you might have to hit up lowes/home depot, or local store for random size bolts. If you keep the thread pitch coarse, and don't need metric, get all the washers and nuts in bulk at tractor supply, and individual bolts as needed elsewhere.

 

If you have a Roto-Zip, it works great in place of the grinder. I used it on the rivets for the shock bracket. A sawsall works well to get in and cut bolt in spring eye if it won't come out, which is likely. The method I used on the bushing is to drill several holes between center bushing and outer bushing. Knock out center and use saw to cut outer metal sleeve. make the cut at end of spring eye wrap, being careful not to cut into spring, don't want to weaken it. I would be afraid to burn bushing out for chance of damageing spring temper and weakening spring. LMC truck sells the bolts but do not list size, (darn it) but you would have to wait for shipping and they are expensive. I have been wanting size of bolts also, I know whenI dd mine I am going to have to cut them out and replace.

 

Nice site, has the brackets with shackles and bolts for $53. gives the size for everything except bolts. Still looking for bolt size.

 

Bolts as I found out today you want 1/2" bolts, at least on a 1/2 ton truck like my 1995 XLT.
I went and snagged a pair of complete leaf springs off a guy, and they used a torch to blast the rivets. I reamed the holes a bit with a step bit, 1/2" size. Probably should have used a slightly larger, but 1/2" was all I had.
I had a hell of a time getting the axle to land on the perch.
Ended up jacking the axle, after unhooking the sway bar, and using a cumalong hand cable winch to pull the axle into location.
Got the main issue resolved, fixed the driver side. Passenger side needs to be done, but can wait for now with a minor fix.
I elected to use 1.5" long bolts. I had issue running the bolts in as I have don in the past like my '84 f150, but made due. This 95 has the off road package with full skid plates, and made the bolt replacement a chore.
I think I had probably 6 hours messing with this.
I also elected to double nut the bolts as possible along with washers and lock washers.
A 1-1/4" bolt would be suitable for this in most cases, but I prefer having a longer bolt.

Now I have the joy of doing the radius arm strut rod bushings.