Topic: My method for leaf spring removal.

[ppc66]

Prerequisites, disclaimers, assumptions:

• You assume all responsibility for your safety.  Crawling around under cars requires you to be aware of your surroundings.
• I am assuming that your car is already well supported and secured and the rear end is removed.
• This is what worked for me. Your mileage may vary.

Know your patient...
Ahh yes, the 'turducken' of mechanical assemblies. It's a bolt-in-a-sleeve-in-a-rubber-bushing-in-another-sleeve-in-a-spring-eye attaching the front of the rear leaf spring to a 65 Mustang. After 50 years of rust and salt and corrosion the through-bolt does not merely slide right out effortlessly.  Removal done wrong can result in many many long hours of fighting, cutting, cussing and overall looking like you don't know what you're doing if you're being watched.

Do not expect easy removal of this original part. The Sawzall and the spray lube are your two best friends... and in the right hands a surgical instrument providing and the remedy for any and all manner of ailment and conflict resolution.  There's no need for torches, die-grinders, abrasive wheels, angle grinders etc. Just a Sawzall and some basic hand tools.

Prepare for surgery...
About 10 days prior to the operation clean the visible threads with a wire brush and apply spray lube. Do this a couple times up until the day of the operation. Also, clean up and spray down the rear shackle nuts.  If you're lucky you can remove the shackles in the normal way and lower the rear of the leaf spring to the floor.  The other way is to cut the shackles in the middle.  It's a tight fit near the top, so best to use a wrench.

On the day of the procedure assemble your 3/4" sockets, breaker bar, a BFP (big friggin' pipe), charge up your air compressor, an impact gun, worklight, the sawzall and at least 4 sawzall blades (24TPI and 5-6” long... not the short ones or the really long ones.).  Get quality USA made blades. Century and Lenox brands are good.  Don your safety goggles and get in position.

Get in position...
The proper position is critical - Sit in the wheel well, facing your well-lit work with your feet forward in front of you. You might be able to lay on your side or kneel, but sitting gives you the proper leverage and view of the patient.  You want to be sawing from the top down.

Get on with the operation...
Now, grab your 3/4" socket and breaker bar and loosen the nut. Use the BFP over the handle of the breaker bar to provide more leverage. Be mindful of shifting the car off of the jack-stands! It could happen.

Once you've loosened the nut, try to remove it the whole way. If not – that's ok – see if you can back it off about a 1/2 inch or so.  If you do get the nut off, see how it does not slide out easily – it's likely bound tight and not ever coming out. Give up on the notion of reusing the hardware.  Now, you can pry the outboard side of the mount/bracket away from the spring eye, revealing a gap between the bushing and bracket. You should now be able to grab your saw and slice through the bolt, spraying it with lube a couple of times during the cutting process.  Try to avoid the the sleeve because I believe it is hardened steel and will wear your blade out quickly.  Be careful to not cut into the frame or bracket because you'll hate yourself later.  To avoid cutting the frame/bracket stay square to your work. Rotate/cock the saw slightly to keep the pressure on the teeth toward the bushing and away from the frame.  Expect some smoke from the rubber.  Once the leaf spring has dropped free use the impact wrench to give the bolt a quick spin and it should free up and should be able to pull right out of the frame hole.

Once you cut one side, move to the other - prying as necessary to expose the bolt. You may not be able to expose the bolt on the inboard sides because that side will not move due to everything being seized together and you'll have to cut into the hardened sleeve a smidgen.

Conclusion...
Now that everything is out of your way, you can clean up and further your restoration!
 Removal should take around 10 minutes at the most per side - not 4 days like some youtube dude using torches, die grinders, hammers, chisels, helpers, etc - it was fun to watch though.  More fun than spending a Saturday watching people at the boat-ramp!

Hope this helps someone!

Best regards,

Perry

[67gtasanjose]

Gotta <3 LOVE <3 Desert area California cars...mine just slipped apart earlier this summer with no fight at all.  All bolts, front, rear, U-bolts...EVERYTHING! No sweat, didn't even need the PB Blaster!

I DO live in Ohio and am a professional mechanic...I have MANY methods for replacement of rusted out Ford truck shackles...rusted out Ranger frame sections as well as Ranger frame mount shackles...Almost always requires torches, respirator masks, broken knuckles and much cursing...I try to not make a habbit out of trying to save the customer money on these jobs. Two words: THEY SUCK!!!!

AND!!! To top off how horrible those are to do, often these junkers come in with leaky gas tanks     

[krelboyne]

Depends upon where your car spent it's life.

Desert area SoCal car here.    I removed the 8 inch leafs and rear end from my GT/CS in about 20 minutes. The original front leaf spring eye bolts and nuts, and U-bolts, are all fine to reuse.
My car was originally sold at Mel Burns Ford in Long Beach, I think that it spend a lot of it's life in the Riverside / San Bernardino area of SoCal.

[J_Speegle]

Depends upon where your car spent it's life.

+1  some of us are spoiled

[sgl66]

Depends upon where your car spent it's life.

+ 1/2

Northeast car forever, garaged/weekend car since '84. Drivers side eye bolt must be west coast, popped right off. Passenger side not.

Used 5" Dewalt cutoff wheel on grinder. Do the outboard side first. 2 1/2" radius was not enough to cut through the entire bolt (with my grinder) so having the head on the inboard side to wrench around 90 degrees will get you through with a wheel. Agree Lenox blades are the way to go for sawzall if you can keep from slamming the end and bending them. You can use a utility knife or small hand saw to cut exposed rubber first from eyebolt bushing to minimize smoke from wheel or sawzall.

Shackles lived the charmed west coast life and came right off

[ruppstang]

I have a very large C clamp that I drilled a 1/2 inch hole about half way through the foot of the clamp. After removing the nut I fit the hole on the end of the bolt. Then tighten the clamp on the head of the bolt. The clamp should be perpendicular to the bottom of the car. Mine hangs down about eight inches. I then get my eight pound sledge hammer to hit the clamp and with two or three licks most pop loose. I have had a few that I had to use the above cutting method but most come out and I live in the Midwest.

[Mike_B_SVT]

+1  some of us are spoiled

True!  I'm always amazed reading stories of "planned destruction" on rusty fasteners, and I get all my stuff together and prepare for the worst.  Then I put the socket on the nut/bolt and... it just comes right off!  No hassles, no fuss ~ almost anti-climactic!  LOL!

[67gtasanjose]

I have a very large C clamp that I drilled a 1/2 inch hole about half way through the foot of the clamp. After removing the nut I fit the hole on the end of the bolt. Then tighten the clamp on the head of the bolt. The clamp should be perpendicular to the bottom of the car. Mine hangs down about eight inches. I then get my eight pound sledge hammer to hit the clamp and with two or three licks most pop loose. I have had a few that I had to use the above cutting method but most come out and I live in the Midwest.

Similar to this?

This is a part of a Ball Joint Press and I have seen them available for Free Rent at various parts stores. I have had mine about 15 years, have used them on and off for over 20 years and realized it is a MUST HAVE when it came to living here in Ohio and working on Rust Buckets. Notice no rust on the threads...the end facing the camera is beat to snot from a lot of harsh use. There are open and closed end adapters, spacer rings as well as optional pieces that can be ordered from OTC tools that go along with this clamp. Basically, this thing is bulletproof, used it all the time with an impact wrench, NEVER done any damage to the threads...the tool stalls out the "push" if it is too tough of a job 

Sometimes I use bolts as a form of "push rod" to get the inner sleeve that various applications the bolt seized onto. Once the spring, lower control arm or whatever I am doing is off the car and clear from any more damage to the vehicle, I'll "push" the bolt (or other instrument the size of the steel item stuck in the bushing) through & out of the inside of the rubber bushing, then I cut (with knife) or burn the rubber out (with blow torch) leaving just the outer shell of the bushing (in say the spring, like the subject of this thread is about) I regularly just split the remaining outer shell of the original bushing with the torch and remove the slit-open shell easily with pliers. Since the iron of the spring in ALREADY HOT, I jump right on inserting the new bushing, laying the spring on it's side initially, lining up the new bushing and smacking it firmly with a heavy brass hammer (using a correct sized impact socket as a driver tool) The bushing usually goes right in. Strike while the iron is HOT    Sometimes, I'll use the air chisel to remove the outer shell of a control arm bushing, but usually NOT on a spring end bushing. On a different job task such as a Pressed in Ball Joints, I usually do not use the "hammered in" technique...but that is the other function of this tool. More often I might hammer them out with a large sledge (every job has it's boundaries though) but it will beat up the new pressed in ball joint, so the various adapter rings that came with this clamp would be used for those types.

Too much writing, now back to work!

Richard

[Bossbill]

It rains here. After all, it's Seattle.

Every Mustang I've taken apart had this issue.
I used the reciprocating saw method, but regular blades dull on the hard bolt.
Instead, use carbide grit blades. They are thin, which means they can get in there easily. Because they are thin they can bend (and be bent back). Buy the 6 pack of blades and of beer.

Look up the Milwaukee 6-in Carbide Grit Sawzall Reciprocating Saw Blade.

[67gtasanjose]

There is NO BETTER blade on the market I have found than the ones sold by Maven Industrial. As a professional Auto Repair facility owner in the Rust Belt of Ohio, I buy a couple of boxes (quantity 50) every few years and rarely kill a blade in only one job. They used to be called "Monster Barracuda's" but switched about 10 years ago. Cuts through stainless steel exhaust pipes like a hot knife through softened butter.

http://www.mavenindustrial.com/

1-800-299-3291

[rodster]

There is NO BETTER blade on the market I have found than the ones sold by Maven Industrial. As a professional Auto Repair facility owner in the Rust Belt of Ohio, I buy a couple of boxes (quantity 50) every few years and rarely kill a blade in only one job. They used to be called "Monster Barracuda's" but switched about 10 years ago. Cuts through stainless steel exhaust pipes like a hot knife through softened butter.

http://www.mavenindustrial.com/

1-800-299-3291

Great info!   Thanks for sharing.