About three weeks ago one of the rear spring brackets broke leaving the other side to hold the weight of the truck, though that one was about to go as well so replacing both is what this project is about. Here is a basic "how-to" and some not-so-great pictures since I struggle to keep my hands still these days (severe, accumulated nerve damage).

Frederic J. Breitwieser Jr.

Doing this on the ground is unpleasant, and if you have access to a lift use it. In leu of real equipment, I found an "easy" way of lifting the butt of the truck high enough to get the rear eyes of the spring below the frame where you can work on things that much easier.

Bottle jacks

Yes, wedge a bottle jack between the axle tubes and the frame above it, and jack the butt of your truck as high as you can go without breaking the rubbery brake line between the frame and the block on the axle tube. I found that to be "just enough" space to work on things without skinning my knuckles. I put the jacks on blocks of 2x4's to prevent the bottom of the jack from crushing into the housing, thinking pine is softer than steel, but not sure if that is necessary or not. Sterling rear-ends are very, very stout.

The second tip is NOT to use a torch, and instead push the original inner sleeve of the bushings out with a giant c-clamp or even better, a ball joint removal tool as I did. The latter allows you to use your pneumatic impact gun making this work a bit easier. After you move the inner sleeve about 3/4" of an inch, back the clamp off and use a hole saw to buzz out the loose rubber hanging back so it doesn't "bite" onto the end of your ball joint removal tool, thus making eliminating that hassle.

Third tip - once you have the inner sleeve and the rubber out, you have to remove the outer sleeve. This has been "crushed" into place and will require tremendous force. Here's the secret - the eye of the spring is really just a folded over piece of the spring, and there's a slot on the side facing the axle - and it's wide enough to put a bi-metal sawzall blade in there with room to spare - so cut into the sleeve through that slot in the eye, making the sleeve into a "C" rather than an "O".

Now, air chisel one end until the sleeve is "crushed in" towards the center a bit, as this allows that end to be pushed through. The sleeves tend to flare out around the eye making it difficult to force through. Now, all you have to overcome is the rust between the tin sleeve and the rusty steel eye, and that is done by firing your air chisel vertically at the end you just chiseled in a bit, and for a while it will tear and cut a bit, then all of a sudden it will start to slide out the other end - thanks to the lengthwise slot you made with the sawzall.

Fourth tip: clean out the eye of the spring. Invariably there will be flake and rust in there, and that's not going to make it easy to shove the new bushing in - buy yourself a very small stainless steel rotary brush as well as an Irwin drill bit extension that's about 5-6" in length. Insert the shaft of the brush into the extension, and that into your electric drill, and whisk all the crud in the eye, off the eye, and blow out with compressed air. Trust me on this one.

Install the new bushing with a pair of 1/2" sockets, one matching the OD of the sleeve of the new bushings, and one matching the approximate diameter of the eye. Put a 1/2" threaded rod down the center, add some washers and nuts, and use your impact gun to buzz that together while holding either a long wrench or a breaker bar on the other nut. If you've lubed the bushing and the eye with anti-size or oil, it will pretty much go right in. Make sure it sticks out the other side the same amount as the side you are driving in.

If I were to eliminately all the time wasting endeavors I did early on, I'm left with a mere 7 hours of time for this job - both brackets, both shackles, driving new bushings, and bolting together - on the driveway with bottle jacks (which were a mere $7 at my local harbor freight store).

Hope that helps you guys out. I have to say it's really nice driving a truck that doesn't squeek.

 

good write up.

looks like all the stuff i did to 4 trucks so far.

i used scissor jacks instead of bottle jacks.

i had 3-4 sitting around and they worked fine.

 

when I do them I block the frame right at C5 on cinder blocks and big huge jack stands, then keep a heavy jack under the axle. Sawzall the shackles off, drill out the rivets and the rest is about as you say.

another thing I do is soften up the rubber in the bushing with a 3/16 drill bit and about a dozen or more holes. then it drives out easier.