Driveway leaf springs and shock replacement or pay $600?

[Rooster336]

Alright, so who has done a self install of leafs and shocks in their driveway? How'd it go?

I'm about done with a full break job on the truck and was thinking about trying to tackle a 2'' suspension lift before bleeding the brakes. After calling around to a few shops the best price I was quoted is $600. If I can save myself the money I would like to but have never attempted to install a lift kit.

In my mind all I have to do is put the frame on jack stands and then use my floor jack as needed on the axles but I doubt its that simple. Any must have tools?

Thanks

 

[Jrgunn5150]

You have to wrestle, pry, cuss, etc. You'll need good 1/2 tools and a breaker bar, but you can do it, I've done it in an apartment complex parking lot lol.

 

[Craig 85]

I recently did a 3" lift on my K30 in the garage. I also did a 4" on my '79 K15 solo in my garage about 6 years ago. I had an old header from a remodel that I used under my jack stands to get enough lift. I needed about 23" on mine. I put the rear stands under my receiver hitch. In the front, behind the rear spring shackles on the frame. Hardest thing to remove on my K30 was the rear u-bolts. It should be easier with a 1/2 ton. Impact tools definitely speed the job up.[/ATTACH]

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[donnieray]

I recently did a 3" lift on my K30 in the garage. I also did a 4" on my '79 K15 solo in my garage about 6 years ago. I had an old header from a remodel that I used under my jack stands to get enough lift. I needed about 23" on mine. I put the rear stands under my receiver hitch. In the front, behind the rear spring shackles on the frame. Hardest thing to remove on my K30 was the rear u-bolts. It should be easier with a 1/2 ton. Impact tools definitely speed the job up.[/ATTACH]

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What he said. I installed a 3" lift in my back yard recently. I cut the u-bolts though, with a grinder and a cutting disk. Don't let the pop scare you when that disk goes through the u-bolt!

 

[78C10BigTen]

My hardest part doin a spring swap was keepin the rear from rolling forward while i lined up the center bolts in the spring pad holes. A second person is very handy too

 

[Derrick]

this was 2 years ago while I still had my pops to help we put in shocks it was pretty simple now for leaf I have no clue. best way to do shocks is while they are still compressed from the plastic band is the bolt in the top then cut the band and let it uncompress till it gets to the bottom hole. it seems easier than trying to recompress the shock under the truck.

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(video not mine)

 

[theblindchicken]

Done it on the front and rear of my truck.

Soak everything with pb blaster for a few days prior so its ready when ya wanna take it out

Depending on the spring pack thickness, you may or may not need new ubolts.

Big pry bar can be helpful to get the spring eye out of the front holders.

Lift the frame up and block it to where the wheels come off the ground, use a floor jack to put a little compression in the suspesion, remove the ubolts, drop the floor jack to where the springs and axle separate. Remove leaf springs, install new ones, lightly compress it to line it all up and let it settle. Reinstall ubolts and you're good to go.
Put shocks on last.

If you're replacing bushings in the shackles as well, drilling them out works really well.

To keep the pinion from rolling forward, I just stuck a couple blocks for it to rest on. Didnt wanna go anywhere from there.

 

[cooperhw]

I did a axle flip kit (removed shocks & springs) last weekend. put the springs back on and bolted it up. took about 4 hours for me, but I'm old and slow. no biggie. hardest part i had was getting the last bolt to line up and go into the front of the spring. took about 30 minutes of cussing, twisting, etc.

 

[Frankenchevy]

I'm right in the middle of it, too. I didn't lift though, just rebuilt my factory leaf packs. make sure you get a nice long centering pin if you are rebuilding like I am. don't just measure the one you pull off, it needs to be much longer then cut down once everything is back together. I went with ORD's greasable bushings and bolts. they were easy enough to install with a bench vise. I pulled everything apart to sand and paint. if you are in a hurry and want to be thorough about it, you might be better off just buying new leaves. it takes a while to restore individual leaves; sanding, treating, priming, painting, etc. there's quite a few different pieces to paint. I like doing every aspect of my restoration, but it got reeeaaaallly tedious. I haven't reinstalled the leaf packs yet. I'm waiting on finishing up painting my frame until I reinstall the leaf packs and new shocks.

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I brushed on the primer where there were nooks and crannies, then hvlp sprayed the rest. got runs with the paint brush to sand off before spraying the black top coat..

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[Jrgunn5150]

Those ratchet straps will definitely come in handy when it's time to line everything back up.

 

[Rooster336]

Thanks for all the feedback and tips everyone. Kit will be here Monday. I'll throw an update on here once I get it done.....or fail.

 

[Jrgunn5150]

Thanks for all the feedback and tips everyone. Kit will be here Monday. I'll throw an update on here once I get it done.....or fail.

Get a couple cans of PB Blaster, start spraying every bolt now, do it once or twice a day.

 

[rpcraft]

FWIW I saw someone mention cutting the U-bolts but I'd recommend spraying some penetrating oil on the nuts and loosening them a little before you take to cutting them, if only because it's far safer to get some of the tension off the U-bolts and when they come off they won't pop or shoot off like anything crazy.

 

[ali_c20]

grab a buddy and beer and it's done in a few hours. loosen the u bolts before you cut em and don't reuse them if you get them off in one piece.