Forgive me if the terminology doesn't make sense, but I am removing 2" lift blocks put in the rear by the previous owner I got one out and it took some wiggling for the pin on the bottom of the springs to seat correctly in the hole on the axle shaft.

For the other I cannot get it in there. Any ideas on what to try? I jacked up both sides, stil have the U bolts loose on the "fixed" side and have tried pushing it every which a way but cannot get it in. It seems like the pin is about half an inch outside the hole, like the springs need to go to the right or the axle to the left. This is on the driver side. Here's a pic:

 

Use a ratchet strap to pull the leafs towards each other. Common issue with seating the pins.

Garbz

 

Thanks garbz. So you mean loop the strap around the set of springs on the driver and passenger aide and ratchet til the driver side aligns with the hole?

 

Yes,

Should pull it in just enough to get it aligned.

 

When we did ours we need to pull Axle forward 1/2 a hole as well, the ratchet straps worked great!

 

Yeah I had to wiggle the axle forward on the passenger side to get it to drop. On the driver it's the left-right issue.

When you did yours where did you jack it up/put stands? When I did the passenger side I just jacked it under the spring itself and that was fine. Didn't know if there is a better way to do it, particularly if using the strap.

I also wonder if this misalignment was part of the trucks handling issues. Steering was number one, which I Am still fixing (too cold to paint!) but the PO had cut the pin off the lifting block he had in there so while the leaf pin was in the top of the block, the block was NOT seated in the axle. I would assume this means it was not aligned properly in the rear.

 

Did you figure this out yet?

It's hard to tell in your pic... Make sure the head of the "pin" isn't just a regular bolt. The head of a bolt is too wide to fit in the pilot hole of a spring perch. I've seen guys drill out the hole to accept a bolt because they were too cheap or lazy to get the proper pin for the job. The PO may have drilled out the lift block, now that bolt head won't fit in the standard hole in the spring perch. Just throwing an idea out there. I know how frustrating something can be that seems so simple.

 

Bingo you nailed it. The head should be round not hex

 

It is the correct pin and is round. It's just not lined up. I haven't been able to fix it yet but will hopefully get to this week.

 

Hey guys this worked like a charm. Thanks!