So, spending time under my truck adjusting brakes yesterday led me to discover a disturbing hole through + crack in my rearmost drivers side spring mount. Most of mount is intact and doesn't look like it's bent (yet) or anything. Basically I have 2/3 of a spring mount on that side, it seems.

Rust = bad

Frame rust = worst kind

spring/ shock mounts rusting off.... = death of the truck?

Or can these things be replaced? Or welded?



Scotty

 

it is a common problem it can be replaces by cutting the rivets off and bolting up a new one with grade 8 bolts they can be found at autozone for 33 bucks
Dorman/Leaf Spring Hanger | Leaf Spring Hanger | 1990 Ford F350 1 ton P/U 4WD 8 Cylinders M 7.3L Diesel | AutoZone.com

 

Or try your local parts supplier I dont know where you are!!

 

That's the baby - thanks Ronnie and I'm in British Columbia, Canada, so autozone may be out but I'll look around through local parts suppliers here.

Scotty

 

No problem!

 

I'm in bc too on 'the island'. All the rear shackles in my trucks had to be replaced due to rust. Got the ones for my F150 new at ford for $45 each. I have no idea if lordco or napa would carry them but the prices at my ford dealer seem to be reasonable for some inexplicable reason.

The rear shackles on my F250 came with a used set of springs out of an F350 bush truck. Surface rust but no real loss of thickness (no salt on logging roads) so I doused them in oiled undercoating and well see how they last.

They all get it eventually. 7/16" grade 8 bolts work as perfect replacements for the factory rivets.

 

The spring hangers are the same for the 150 250 and 350 F series.

Easy to replace.

Shock hangers are also available, only three rivits to cut out to replace them.

 

I bought shackles and hangers from Piston Ring, here in Winnipeg. The Dorman website lists Canadian Tire as a supplier in BC. Cost was about $160 cdn taxes in for the 4 pieces, this included bolts and new bushings.

 

I redid the hangers, shackles, spring bushings and bolts, shock mounts and reinforced the frame on my dually 3-4 years ago due to rust. Hangers and shock mounts I had to get from Ford, the shackles, since the same size as some other trucks, are more readily available from sources for spring parts.

I found the easiest way was to torch the rivet head off, then drive them on through with a punch. As mentioned, a 7/16" bolt is a straight replacement, when I did mine I think I used a box of 50 to do everything from the cab back. If you don't have an easy source for 7/16" it should be possible to drill them out to 1/2" and use larger bolts.

 

Thats the same method I used and it worked great. Those rivets never knew what hit them!

 

Thanks, guys - so just to be clear, that would be cut the heads off the rivets on the outside of the c-channel frame, then drive the rivets through toward the inside?
My shock mounts look ok, but I will be replacing shocks as part of this job so I'll have a close look at them first to be sure they don't need replacing, too...

Scotty

 

Thats the idea. Although I only had to replace the rear leaf shackles to date so use judgement depening on what you are trying to remove. Also use heat shields to protect wires, fuel lines or tanks and so one. Then double check the back side of the rivet before you drive that red hot plug through just in case there are parts vulnerable to heat back there.

Aim the torch across the top of the head, not strait down on it. Then blast the head off by gradually taking the thickness down from the end. The heat difference between the head of the rivet and the shackle should prefent the parent mass from being damaged.

 

If you are good with a cold chisel and have room to swing a hammer, it is another good method of dealing with those rivets, as it stretches them before they break off, making the part that's in the frame smaller, so they usually fall out pretty easily once you get them cut off. Getting them out of the frame can be a whole lot more work than getting the heads cut off.

 

Not to question your knowledge Dave, but they are in fact different.

F150 hangers for front of rear spring only use 4 bolts/rivets per side and F150 rear springs are only 2.5" wide.

F250/F350 hangers for front of rear spring have 6 bolts per side and the springs are 3" wide.

Now the rear shackle mounts are probably all the same but the shackles themselves are not.

Anyway, coccyx- you should also check out Leaf Springs and Suspension Parts by Auto and Truck Springs. I got my front-of-rear hangers from them and they had pretty much the best price I found of anyone, plus I knew I was getting the correct hangers.

 

I should have specified rear axle rear hangers.

Those are the ones you usually need to replace anyway.

The way they are stamped, nice dirt trap inside that rots them out.

My front rear hangers are in fine shape even with all the plowing I do at 450K miles.
Rears bit the dust about 250K.