Leaf Spring Replacement Tips
 

I'm looking for some tips. I have a broken leaf in the rear passenger side rear spring pack. In retrospect I should have ordered new ones from LMC but instead, I picked up a used pack for $50 and some new u-bolts and shackle / hanger bolts. The used springs were torched out so the bolts are still in them. I was unable to wrench them off so a spring shop advised me to grind off the heads and pound them out. I did that but they still don't want to come out. What is the best way to get the old bolts out of the replacement pack? I don't want to attempt taking the broken pack out of the truck until I've got the "new" ones ready to go.

get a torch and heat them up red hot then pound the crap out of them, should come free

Ok, right after I posted my question, I went outside to ponder the spring again. Decided I was being a wus (again), grabbed the grinder and cut off the bolt head from the centre of the spring pack. All of the leafs seperated and I pulled out the one that matches my broken one.Now I just have to remove the same centre bolt from the pack on the truck and swap out the broken leaf. Only question now before I get started - anything special about that centre bolt? I figure I'll pick up a grade 8 lag bolt the same length to in case I can't undo the one on the truck . Will grade 8 be enough? TIA

grade 8 is pretty hefty so i would say yes just look at its shear strenth

That's plenty strong. You'll be good to go.:-X22

One thing you will need to note is the head of the centering bolt indexes the axle on the spring via that bolt head, centering bolts are special in that regard. Make sure the head if the bolt you use fits in the hole in the spring seat, a allen head grade eight might fit the bill.

Get one plenty long enough, 6-8 inches long so it will reach all the way through the loose stack of springs so you can get the nut started easily, then simply cut off the excess once you have the stack tightened down. You can use a large C clamp in a pinch is need be.
If you're near a spring shop just pick up a center bolt for it, may save you some fudging time.

NO NO NO NO. NAPA has the center spring bolts in stock. If you have a local spring shop, they WILL have one.One of them cheap chain stores may have them as well. You need a spring bolt due to the small diameter head but the head is long to go into the factory block. When installing the center bolt, get 2 "C" clamps and squease the pack together. While tightening the c clamps keep working a long punch or pin thru the centering hole to keep them in line. When the springs are fully compressed pull out the punch and put in the bolt from the bottom.Then tighten the bolt to 50 ft/lbs. Release the c clamps and reattach your axle. Do not over tighten the center bolt. You will strip the threads

So I completed this the other day and it went smoothly. As soon as I tried to wrench off the nut on the centering bolt, it sheared off. I pulled the stack apart , replced the broken leaf and then reassembled it. The local hardware store only had grade 5 bolts so that is what I used for the centering bolt - 2.5" long. I was lucky that the hex head fit into the hole on the lift block. Fits pretty well actually. I would rather use the proper bolt as Brad suggested, but I live on a small island where my immediate options are limited. When I head onto the mainland I'll pickup the proper bolt and swap it out.

One issue still remains though. The truck bed sits cockeyed still. I assumed that the canted bed was because the broken leaf was making the truck sit lower on that side but after replacement its still too low on the passenger side. Could this be bed mount bushings? I don't recall the truck being this way before the spring broke.

If you do swap out that bolt, and you should being as you used a grade 5, you will also need new u bolts.

U bolts are one time use only, they do not stretch and contract repeatedly like a bolt can when "torqued" to a value then released and then tightened again, they stretch once and that is it.

there are no bed mount bushings. One spring is weaker than the other