Doing a leaf swap! Found the best way to not break the front leaf bolt






1) PB blast everyday for a week
2)Disconnect and drop axle down
3)Use air cut off tool (sawzall will make you late to your own funeral) to cut leaf away from front knuckle/busing
4) Heat for 5 min, soft impact fwd, rev, fwd, rev more PB blaster
5) Repeat step 4
6) Repeat step 4
7) Once you start backing out the bolt, the leaf spring (knuckle/bushing leaf scrap) will start turning, when it does, sledge hammer the leaf spring the opposite way from the direction you are turning the ratchet. In this case, as you loosen the bolt (counter clock) the leaf will turn also, bang the leaf (clockwise). Continue until the bolt has backed out almost entirely. Then place a large screwdriver on the lip of the bolt and hit with a hammer.

But the 2nd side decided to be a pain in the a$$.

Note that the bolt has backed out a little but the crush sleeve in the middle of the bushing has seized itself to the bolt. The good news is that the bolt is free from the frame and no longer in jeapardy of breaking.
Bad news is that it is just spinning freely with the sleeve.
Drastic measures will have to be taken!!

 

As long as the bolt turned some take your sawzall and cut the bolt now. You'll be able to turn the stub out of the frame...

 

truthfully the easiest way is to just PB the crap outa it for like a month or two before the swap. I did that to mine and didn't break a single bolt, not even the rear shock bolts.

 

Mine came out with no PB blaster or anything and still looked fairly new ..... gotta love california weather....

 

x2 haha

 

Pb'd mine for like a week and only broke 1 upper shock bolt. Not bad for an 89 with 235,000 miles from New Hampshire!!

 

sounds like the nut end broke loose from the frame.....



have fun.

 

btw....a band saw is the quickest way to cut through a leaf spring. just takes a couple of seconds to slice through like butter.