1987 Chevrolet V20 front leaf spring replacement

[Bextreme04]

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Must’ve been the pin from the lift block, must’ve been an aluminum block. Little drilling and a screwdriver and it popped out.

That would probably be why the axle was out of alignment too. It sounds like you were only off side-to-side by a little bit. You could also be a little bit off on the body mounting. If you loosen all of the 6 body mounting bolts it will wiggle around a bit. There is probably 1/2" or so play in all of the mounts.

 

[iamtherealJayy]

That could be it, I’ll show a picture once I get it all back together I’m having a hard time lining up this front bolt.

 

[Grit dog]

Passenger side was a breeze, just lifting the truck now to get old spring out lol the bolts came out no problem. Since some of you here are new to me, @Bextreme04 is not, this truck was totaled in around 2004. Cab passenger door and passenger fender are the only original parts everything else was off of a 2wd 87. So still gm sheet meta just not numbers matching. The previous leaf springs got totaled as it was a tbone accident. Lady in a minivan pulled out in front of dad while pulling a trailer he hit van trailer spun around took out both bedsides. As far as I know the axle has been off center since. There is no visible frame damage. I don’t like talking about it much because of possible frame damage. The truck drives straight down the road the front axle is just slightly off centered.

But it still has the original frame? If it got hit on the left side, it's really plausible that stuff got tweaked to the right.
Maybe that broken centering pin, maybe body alignment, maybe a little frame distortion. If you say it looks off approx 1", then it's really only off approx 1/2". Murphys law could add up to 1/2" easily. And maybe it will sit a bit better with the axle being removed and on new springs. They do 100% of the job of locating the axle side to side.
Good to see the other side came apart easily!

 

[iamtherealJayy]

I have the leaf spring bolts through but I can’t get the pin to line up with the axle lol I gotta go pickup my sister from school and then I’ll be able to finish hopefully. Although my damn battery is dead again for some reason. I turned off my dash cam because I figured that was the reason it died prior but hell if I know this is the third time I’ve came out to a dead battery. In all honesty I just jumped it off and let it run a while so I could wash it then it’s sat where it is right now. I just noticed earlier my dome light didn’t come on and none of my gauges moved when I rolled the key forward to unlock the wheel

 

[iamtherealJayy]

@Grit dog yes original frame cab passenger door and passenger fender. The block for the engine has been replaced (blew up in mud after he totaled it because he quit caring as much about the truck) rear end gears have been replaced apparently, both bumpers. I painted the drivers fender myself just to get it close to same color because it was in orange primer for the longest. I’ll try and upload a few pics of before and afyer

 

[iamtherealJayy]

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[iamtherealJayy]

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Here’s a few pics of the journey on the truck. I don’t k ow if you can tell from the pic with the 20’s (which I did get sold fairly easily they were just on the truck for the pics) how far it stuck out the passenger side. I should’ve got a pic of both sides but I didn’t think of it.

 

[iamtherealJayy]

Anyone got any idea how to move the axle around to get the pin on bottom of leaf spring to line up? Lift all weight up and rotate axle? It’s about an inch off currently. Shock is still disconnected.

 

[iamtherealJayy]

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Okay maybe moving the axle isn’t as easy as I was thinking… I can’t get it to budge. What do I need to loosen to make it move lol, nothing is tight yet

 

[iamtherealJayy]

Upon further investigation the drivers side has also moved slightly. Not as much as passenger side, but a little. The axle seems to want to rotate, and I think that’s what’s causing the pin to not line up, is there anything I can do to? Spin? The axle maybe? The leaf springs don’t seem to be tapered any to reduce the pinion angle, or atleast not visibly tapered. I only have a few more hours of sunlight before it gets dark and tonight’s gonna start storming and a cold front so I really want it all back together ASAP lol

 

[Bextreme04]

Upon further investigation the drivers side has also moved slightly. Not as much as passenger side, but a little. The axle seems to want to rotate, and I think that’s what’s causing the pin to not line up, is there anything I can do to? Spin? The axle maybe? The leaf springs don’t seem to be tapered any to reduce the pinion angle, or atleast not visibly tapered. I only have a few more hours of sunlight before it gets dark and tonight’s gonna start storming and a cold front so I really want it all back together ASAP lol

Its a real bitch. I just put the U-bolts through on mine and then tightened them up to suck it in enough to line the pin up. Once you get the pin close tighten up the rest of the way. It will rotate up onto the spring as the U-bolts tighten up. It only rotated because the other side wasn't tight before you loosened the passenger side.

 

[iamtherealJayy]

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This is currently what both sides look like… will it center its self if I continue to drive the ubolts tighter?

 

[Grit dog]

Sometimes there's a little brute force and ignorance needed, lol.
Is it in line transversely? If not, you may have found part or all of of your axle alignment problem and the reason the other locator pin snapped off. Frame rails may be a bit closer together now than GM made them! If that's the case, I'm fresh outaa suggestions save for maybe a bottle jack and a 4x4 to spread the frame rails a little.
If just fore/aft, it looks like you just need to horse that axle forward a bit. Loosen other side until it just barely stays in the keeper hole. Worst case, hook a chain to it and nudge it forward with another vehicle if you can't get a pry bar/2x4 in a good spot to pry it forward.

Hurry up snow's comin! lol

 

[Grit dog]

This is currently what both sides look like… will it center its self if I continue to drive the ubolts tighter?

Maybe. It will definitely rotate up to flush with the springs by tightening the u bolts if the pin aligns. This where BF&I starts to come into play!

 

[Grit dog]

I'd rather be fitting your springs right now than doing my job. Just found out we poured a bridge abutment footing with the rebar 5" off line.....I can fix your axle way easier than that!