Leaf spring perches

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Oct 29, 2006 | 02:07 PM

skooch

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Leaf spring perches

My rear leaf spring perches are completely rotted and need to be replaced. Wondering if anyone has attempted this project? Any easy way to do this? Looks like I either have to take the bed off to get to the bolts on the inside of frame or drop the spare tire and rear fuel tank. Any pointers? Thanks

Oct 30, 2006 | 07:50 AM

frederic

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From: New Jersey

I've done this before and it's a matter of acquiring new perches from Ford (they aren't too expensive and still available for most years 84+) and installing them with grade eight bolts instead of rivets. Make sure you use aircraft nuts (nuts with the nylon insert) so they don't back off until you want them to.

When I did this job with a friend on his F350, we dropped the spare and the tank and left the bed on. We jacked the truck up one side at a time with a floor jack and put jackstands under the frame, and then moved the floor jack to the differential so we could adjust the height of the axle as compared to the frame. His was a dually so we removed all four tires in the rear so we had room to manuever on the creepers.

We ground off the rivets, hammered off the perches, replaced with new ones, grade eight bolts, then attached the rear to the perches. He had new leaf springs and shackles so that made the job even easier - no difficulty in removing rusty parts because the leaf springs, shackles and perches were taken off together and tossed aside. We didn't even take the shocks off.

Oct 30, 2006 | 08:02 AM

skooch

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NICE! Thanks for the tip!

Oct 30, 2006 | 11:02 AM

quicklook2

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From: Lakewood, Ohio

what frederic said but you also will need new shackles and bolts and nuts for those. buy them from ford. you will probably have to grind those bolts/nuts off also. good luck and wear googles.

Oct 30, 2006 | 06:35 PM

trlckynlck

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an air hammer with a chisle works good too

Oct 30, 2006 | 06:42 PM

Ford-Trucker84537

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From: Transfer

when i fixed one of mine on the back, i just got some steel, pryed it back down cause mine broke, and then just boxed it in and welded it in,turned out pretty nice actually, i think it is even stronger then a new perch, by the way, keep these cleaned and rubberized, $3.50 is all it takes and they should last-mine rotted out too cause the truck in my opinion was not well taken care of by the previous owner

Oct 30, 2006 | 09:52 PM

NeoCowboy

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From: Auburn, OH

My friend bought a truck from his dad, and we have no idea what his dad did but both shackle brackets and the right radius arm bracket were torn, could have just been junk steel used to make the brackets but it was a mess, we had done the radius arm brackets but didn't look at the back, a few months later he was going down the road and the rear shackle bracket let loose and the spring hit the bed. He decided to drop the tank and get a plastic one instead since it looked pretty rusty anyway. Also so there wasn't a gas tank right next to us using a grinder. The side that ripped was pretty easy, just had to grind out the rivets and pull the old bolt from the spring. The other side was a little harder becuase although it was somewhat torn it hadn't let loose so the spring was in the way and putting weight on the bracket. Like Frederic said, block the frame up and keep the jack on the axle, this lets you move things where you want them but also lets you take all the load off the spring so it dosn't let loose in your face.