1971 F250 4x4 front springs

[Faithful Old Road Dog]

34 years of having the truck bouncing around took it's toll on the springs. I've noticed that the springs have sort of flattened out. I compared notes with a couple of guys here and figured it was time to get the springs taken care of. I had an idea of what new springs would cost and figured I could get a spring shop to re-arch the springs and add an extra leaf. One day I will mount a winch and that extra leaf will come in handy. $300 out the door for the fronts! I'll be spending Saturday trying to torch/cut out the bushings from the frame. I'm also working on doing the disc brake/PS swap at the same time.

[heep70]

3 bills, thats a good deal. I hate trying to get the bushings out.

I was thinking about adding a leaf or going to 1 ton springs this winter when I fit the Onan under the hood.

[Faithful Old Road Dog]

Hey! You're one of the guys that I compared notes with! I asked the spring guy how he can figure out how much arch he needed to get the lift I wanted. He said it's just a guess. He's been around a while so I just have to trust his experience. Stupid me forgot which direction the springs go. The ends where the eyes are have a different curve to them.

[heep70]

The end with the eye that is bent down goes up front.

[rjewkes]

So now the 70heap will be a 70 contractor special heap :twisted:

[Faithful Old Road Dog]

I think the eye that rolls up goes in front. The eye that is more centered with the spring goes to the shackle (rear).

[heep70]

Here is a pic of mine. Its is of the front hanger on the front spring. Maybe my springs are different. They are new as of a couple years ago and the are from a 73 application. As far as I know the only difference is they have an extra leaf in the pack.

[heep70]

So now the 70heap will be a 70 contractor special heap :twisted:

No, just a special heep.

[72hiboy4x4]

well I can answer this one.

pics of my truck, stock springs, never been off the truck.
Springs mount with the eye moved down to the front.
pics show it all! including the RUST!

[72hiboy4x4]

and the rear spring mount...

[Faithful Old Road Dog]

Well the eyes have it! Thanks heep and hiboy!

So here's what happened. I figured that the shackle bushings are original and since I'm changing out bushings, I'd take care of these as well. Taking them out wasn't too bad. I drilled out some of the rubber. Then I took some all thread, sockets and washers and set them up to "draw" the inner sleeve and rubber out. That went okay. I stuck a sawzall in to "slice" the outer sleeve in a few places. Then I used a punch and knocked the sleeve out. Not too bad at all. So I head back to the spring shop and pick up two bushings. Now the guy warns me about making sure it doesn't get stuck. Once it's stuck it's hell to get out (like I couldn't figure that out). He also warns me about mushrooming the end. So I set up the all thread, sockets and washers and start to "draw" the bushing in. I used PB Blaster to make sure it slides in easy. Sure enough, the driver side gets stuck half way through. I ended up snapping the all thread (it was 1/2" grade 2). Lesson learned. I go out and get some 9/16" grade 5 all thread and start on the passenger side. I even took a brake hone just to knock down any burs. I figured the first one was really tight, so I took a file to the bushing sleeve and took it down just a hair. Things started out great until it mushroomed with only 1/2" to go! I'm so disgusted, I'm not even mad.

[heep70]

WOW, what a mess that sounds to be. What would the spring guy charge to press them in? When I had my springs done I do remember them being new or new looking. They probably just replace the whole thing instead of messing around with them.

[Faithful Old Road Dog]

The spring shop pressed the new bushings into the leaf spring eyes. The shackle bushing that I'm talking about goes into a housing that's riveted to the frame. I'm not about to cut those rivets to get that housing off. As a matter of fact. It looks like I'm missing one rivet on each housing. There's a hole for a third. I guess I'll just put a bolt through it. It rained today! Looks like we got some Washington weather. So the big wuss that I am, I didn't feel like hacking out the bushings today.

[heep70]

Thats funny, it is sunny today and am still not going to do any outside work. I still need to get my P.S. gearbox rebuilt. To many irons in the fire right now.

Ya, I remember the hanger you are talking about. Could you tack weld a bar to the top of a bottle jack and place it between the frame rails. You could use that as a press. I can't remember if ther is anything in the way . Just an idea for ya.

[Faithful Old Road Dog]

Things are in the way. Besides that, most bottle jacks don't work sideways. I stopped by the spring shop this morning and he was out of the bushings that I needed. So, I'll try to back out the one bushing that's stuck halfway in. He gave me a bushing that was mushroomed and told me to try and grind it down. He'll order more next week. Oh well. I still got the power steering to deal with.