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Author Topic: How to disassemble the leaf springs to inspect them and any gotcha's?  (Read 3653 times)

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Offline russosborne

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Since the car is all apart and I keep hearing how often the leafs break I figure I  should check mine out.
Wagon springs, if that matters.
Thanks,
Russ
In Glendale, Arizona

RIP Casey, Mallory, Abby, and Sadie. We miss you.

79 Pinto ESS fully caged fun car. In progress. 8inch 4.10 gears. 351C and a T5 waiting to go in.

Offline Pinto5.0

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Re: How to disassemble the leaf springs to inspect them and any gotcha's?
« Reply #1 on: September 02, 2014, 06:09:47 PM »
Once you unbolt the U bolts from the axle the broken ones are obvious. I have yet to salvage a used spring & I think at least one is broke on my wagon driver
'73 Sedan (I'll get to it)
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Offline Reeves1

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Re: How to disassemble the leaf springs to inspect them and any gotcha's?
« Reply #2 on: September 02, 2014, 06:46:46 PM »
If you remove then just cut the U-blots : you cannot re-use them anyway.

If you split the leaves , same for the center bolt.

Use new U-bolts & center bolt.

Offline Pinto5.0

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Re: How to disassemble the leaf springs to inspect them and any gotcha's?
« Reply #3 on: September 02, 2014, 06:59:23 PM »
He's in Arizona. The bolts will actually come off his with a socket, unlike our rust belt versions. You're right about replacing them though.
'73 Sedan (I'll get to it)
'76 Wagon driver
'80 hatch(Restoring to be my son's 1st car)~Callisto
'71 half hatch (bucket list Pinto)~Ghost
'72 sedan 5.0/T5~Lemon Squeeze

Offline russosborne

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Re: How to disassemble the leaf springs to inspect them and any gotcha's?
« Reply #4 on: September 02, 2014, 09:07:26 PM »
Yep, Arizona cars are nice. I didn't even have to cut the leaf spring eye bolts.  ;D
Thanks.
Russ
In Glendale, Arizona

RIP Casey, Mallory, Abby, and Sadie. We miss you.

79 Pinto ESS fully caged fun car. In progress. 8inch 4.10 gears. 351C and a T5 waiting to go in.

Offline russosborne

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Re: How to disassemble the leaf springs to inspect them and any gotcha's?
« Reply #5 on: September 06, 2014, 09:23:35 PM »
Speaking of the center bolt, can I just use a normal Grade 8 bolt for it? The stock one is kind of funky looking.
Thanks,
Russ
In Glendale, Arizona

RIP Casey, Mallory, Abby, and Sadie. We miss you.

79 Pinto ESS fully caged fun car. In progress. 8inch 4.10 gears. 351C and a T5 waiting to go in.

Offline russosborne

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Re: How to disassemble the leaf springs to inspect them and any gotcha's?
« Reply #6 on: September 06, 2014, 11:11:10 PM »
Well, the above question just became urgent. I broke one of them trying to take the spring apart. It looks like I need another of the same type, are they available new anywhere?
Thanks,
Russ
In Glendale, Arizona

RIP Casey, Mallory, Abby, and Sadie. We miss you.

79 Pinto ESS fully caged fun car. In progress. 8inch 4.10 gears. 351C and a T5 waiting to go in.

Offline russosborne

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Re: How to disassemble the leaf springs to inspect them and any gotcha's?
« Reply #7 on: September 07, 2014, 12:04:23 AM »
To answer my own question, there are a few universal options. I guess that is what I will have to use. At least I have one unbroken one to measure.

And another question. Do the front leaf spring bushings need to be pressed out?

Thanks,
Russ
In Glendale, Arizona

RIP Casey, Mallory, Abby, and Sadie. We miss you.

79 Pinto ESS fully caged fun car. In progress. 8inch 4.10 gears. 351C and a T5 waiting to go in.

Offline Reeves1

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Re: How to disassemble the leaf springs to inspect them and any gotcha's?
« Reply #8 on: September 07, 2014, 09:19:39 AM »
Center bolt serves a number of purposes. It's a special bolt (not sure on grade).
Replace with a new one whenever you take one out.

Press in/out bushings.

Rock Auto has them :  http://www.rockauto.com/catalog/raframecatalog.php?ck[ID]=0&ck[idlist]=0&ck[viewcurrency]=CAD&ck[PHP_SESSION_ID]=rp8320f19t4q754ohqjocdiiq3

ALWAYS use new bolts & U-bolts.

Bolts stretch when (properly) torqued. Stresses them. Age takes a toll. Makes them weaker & can break under stress.
It's a safety issue.......

Offline russosborne

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Re: How to disassemble the leaf springs to inspect them and any gotcha's?
« Reply #9 on: September 09, 2014, 02:06:30 AM »
Oh, I forgot to mention.
My leafs are NOT broken. ;D
Sorry rust belt people.  :P
Russ
 
In Glendale, Arizona

RIP Casey, Mallory, Abby, and Sadie. We miss you.

79 Pinto ESS fully caged fun car. In progress. 8inch 4.10 gears. 351C and a T5 waiting to go in.

Offline russosborne

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Re: How to disassemble the leaf springs to inspect them and any gotcha's?
« Reply #10 on: September 13, 2014, 03:10:11 AM »
Sometimes I wonder about myself.
I was cruising cl tonight looking to see if any one was giving away a hyd. press and I kept seeing ball joint presses. Then it dawns on me. I HAVE one of those kits. It was something I had bought for another car I was working on, but I never used it. That should take care of the removing the bushings issue.
Russ
In Glendale, Arizona

RIP Casey, Mallory, Abby, and Sadie. We miss you.

79 Pinto ESS fully caged fun car. In progress. 8inch 4.10 gears. 351C and a T5 waiting to go in.

Offline russosborne

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Re: How to disassemble the leaf springs to inspect them and any gotcha's?
« Reply #11 on: September 15, 2014, 01:04:00 PM »
Final score:
Russ 7
Leafsprings 6
Forget about using a ball joint press unless you can cut or make shorter spacers. The opening isn't wide enough to fit with the spacers included, at least not on mine. And it wasn't one of the cheapest either. Guess they knew what they were doing when they did not list leaf spring bushing removal as one of the uses.
I did however use the spacers from the press kit to beat the living @#$% out of the bushings with a BFH. I also broke my new workbench. Not a big deal, just one 2x4. Note to self and anyone else stupid enough not to just take them and have them pressed out. Do NOT beat on them if the item you are using to support it isn't braced to do it.
In Glendale, Arizona

RIP Casey, Mallory, Abby, and Sadie. We miss you.

79 Pinto ESS fully caged fun car. In progress. 8inch 4.10 gears. 351C and a T5 waiting to go in.

Offline 74 PintoWagon

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Re: How to disassemble the leaf springs to inspect them and any gotcha's?
« Reply #12 on: September 15, 2014, 02:08:56 PM »
You need to get one of these. :D

Art
65 Falcon 2DR 200 IL6 with C4.

Offline russosborne

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Re: How to disassemble the leaf springs to inspect them and any gotcha's?
« Reply #13 on: September 15, 2014, 02:42:50 PM »
I had one of those. Got sold in Ohio really cheap. Can't afford to replace it.
Thanks,
Russ
In Glendale, Arizona

RIP Casey, Mallory, Abby, and Sadie. We miss you.

79 Pinto ESS fully caged fun car. In progress. 8inch 4.10 gears. 351C and a T5 waiting to go in.

Offline 74 PintoWagon

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Re: How to disassemble the leaf springs to inspect them and any gotcha's?
« Reply #14 on: September 15, 2014, 02:46:10 PM »
They're still pretty cheap but always hard to replace, when I moved I made sure all my tools came with me, got rid of a lot of other stuff instead, lol..
Art
65 Falcon 2DR 200 IL6 with C4.

Offline Reeves1

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Re: How to disassemble the leaf springs to inspect them and any gotcha's?
« Reply #15 on: September 15, 2014, 05:31:18 PM »
BFH & steering /suspension parts = bad news.