Ok, how in the hell do you get this dirty b@st@rd off? 4' cheater bar wouldn't budge it and it's eating up sawzall blades and laughing at'em. I'm at a loss.
CK5
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Rear leaf front bolt help!!
- Thread starter chris85
- Start date
crimp nut on backside next to frame .
otherwise the bolt is rusted to the rubber bushings center steel sleeve . very common problem .
whats the plan here ? why remove the bolt ? this will get you the best answer on how to save specific parts .
otherwise the bolt is rusted to the rubber bushings center steel sleeve . very common problem .
whats the plan here ? why remove the bolt ? this will get you the best answer on how to save specific parts .
fire!!!
Removing all the old suspension for shackle flip, new springs and 14b swap. Pretty sure it's seized in there. Rubber bushings are complete garbage. Had to call it for the day and hopefully Monday Pops and I can get some gas for the torch and burn this @$$hole out.
if new bushings or springs then good size cutoff wheel on grinder up on the inside of the hanger between the leaf spring on both sides . cut that grd8 bolt off. this will let the leaf drop out . this will keep you from using torch if you dont have one. be careful up in there with grinder and cutoff wheel things get tricky .
if you have torch then heat the hell out of the head / nut a few times till glowing orange . let the heat get in the bolt/bushing to loosen up the rust .
also impact gun is your best friend .
and lots of anti-seize on the new stuff to help slow the rust buildup for later work to be much faster .
if you have torch then heat the hell out of the head / nut a few times till glowing orange . let the heat get in the bolt/bushing to loosen up the rust .
also impact gun is your best friend .
and lots of anti-seize on the new stuff to help slow the rust buildup for later work to be much faster .
Monday we'll have a torch and it WILL be off one way or another. I was gonna try a cut off wheel but I used them all up cutting brackets off the 14b
I've used a multitude of different methods to get those spring bolts out,all are rather hazardous and involve sparks,hot bits of metal,and usually at least some blood will spill before they are out..
I have used a sawsall with Lenox "fire & rescue" blades,those usually work well,but often get bent in half when they snag between the spring and bushing and the hanger...
I have also used a 7-1/4" meat cut off wheel intended for a circular saw on my 9" grinder,with no gaurd--highly dangerous,but effective..the one time I got wounded using this setup was when I sawed the bolt and when it got almost all the way through,the spring decided to twist when the bolt broke free and clamp the disc between the bushing and hangar and it blew apart in about 1000 pieces,some of which stuck in my arm,and barely missed my eyes--my left wrist also got slammed against the spring when the grinder went from 6,000 rpms to zero in 1 millisecond...
..
I've had little success using an air impact gun on these bolts,the bolt often seizes to the steel sleeve in the bushing and the impacts are all but absorbed by the rubber,and it'll just laugh at you--using a breaker bar & cheater pipe is what usually gets the bolt loose,if it'll ever turn at all--I've torn the rubber out of the bushings torquing on the bolts that way..sometimes the bolt will loosen once it is free of the rubber,but you'll still have a battle getting the sleeve of the bushing off it so it can be slid out of the hanger...
Torch is very risky,being so close to the gas tank,and the rubber in the bushing will burn a long time unless you have a hose handy..
One truck we had at the junkyard ,a Dodge,had the leaf spring bolt in the forward rear hanger seize that way,and the bolt was installed with the head side facing the frame ,and it would have hit the frame before you could get it out far enough to remove the bolt!...after battling with it for an hour ,unable to use fire or saws,we decided to cut the spring hanger,got the bolt out after the spring was off,and welded the pieces back onto the hanger!..
..
One trick that has worked for me a few times is to remove the nut on the bolt,stack some washers under it,then cut off the head of the bolt with a sawsall,grind it a little ,then use an air impact to tighten the nut--this sometimes pulls the bolt through the bushing sleeve enough to break the rust bond,then it'll spin out or you can punch it out with a drift..
Leaf springs are among the "worst" jobs to do on a truck in my opinion..most salvage yards here will cut off the rivets to the spring hanger off the frame,and include the hanger with the springs now,a bonus because most of the time your is rotted and needs replacing anyways,and for some reason the junkyard trucks usually have minty looking hangers...its not much fun busting rivets on your truck and having to drill the holes larger and use bolts to re-assemble everything,but I think that it is easier than dealing with shackle bolts..
I have used a sawsall with Lenox "fire & rescue" blades,those usually work well,but often get bent in half when they snag between the spring and bushing and the hanger...
I have also used a 7-1/4" meat cut off wheel intended for a circular saw on my 9" grinder,with no gaurd--highly dangerous,but effective..the one time I got wounded using this setup was when I sawed the bolt and when it got almost all the way through,the spring decided to twist when the bolt broke free and clamp the disc between the bushing and hangar and it blew apart in about 1000 pieces,some of which stuck in my arm,and barely missed my eyes--my left wrist also got slammed against the spring when the grinder went from 6,000 rpms to zero in 1 millisecond...
..I've had little success using an air impact gun on these bolts,the bolt often seizes to the steel sleeve in the bushing and the impacts are all but absorbed by the rubber,and it'll just laugh at you--using a breaker bar & cheater pipe is what usually gets the bolt loose,if it'll ever turn at all--I've torn the rubber out of the bushings torquing on the bolts that way..sometimes the bolt will loosen once it is free of the rubber,but you'll still have a battle getting the sleeve of the bushing off it so it can be slid out of the hanger...
Torch is very risky,being so close to the gas tank,and the rubber in the bushing will burn a long time unless you have a hose handy..
One truck we had at the junkyard ,a Dodge,had the leaf spring bolt in the forward rear hanger seize that way,and the bolt was installed with the head side facing the frame ,and it would have hit the frame before you could get it out far enough to remove the bolt!...after battling with it for an hour ,unable to use fire or saws,we decided to cut the spring hanger,got the bolt out after the spring was off,and welded the pieces back onto the hanger!..
..One trick that has worked for me a few times is to remove the nut on the bolt,stack some washers under it,then cut off the head of the bolt with a sawsall,grind it a little ,then use an air impact to tighten the nut--this sometimes pulls the bolt through the bushing sleeve enough to break the rust bond,then it'll spin out or you can punch it out with a drift..
Leaf springs are among the "worst" jobs to do on a truck in my opinion..most salvage yards here will cut off the rivets to the spring hanger off the frame,and include the hanger with the springs now,a bonus because most of the time your is rotted and needs replacing anyways,and for some reason the junkyard trucks usually have minty looking hangers...its not much fun busting rivets on your truck and having to drill the holes larger and use bolts to re-assemble everything,but I think that it is easier than dealing with shackle bolts..
thearborbarber
1/2 ton status
Diablo makes a carbide tipped sawzall blade that I did my 14bolt shave with. Hot knife through warm butter came to mind.
Hmm interesting. I may try that sawzall blade first. The gas tank is out of the truck so no worry there; however, I'm doing all this in my garage at my house and anytime I got flames flying I get a little nervous. Fire extinguisher is always nearby. 
I'd keep a garden hose nearby,sometimes an extinguisher just don't have enough in it to douse a fire once it gets going..(and do not forget to turn the water on,if the hose faucet is 50 feet away!..)..
Usually you can saw the bolt as suggested,use a good bi-metal blade,not some cheap china pos one,the Diablo blades suggested I have recently used and liked them a lot,Lenox ones are not cheap,but worth it..
Once the bolt is cut and the springs are out,I just use a propane torch to get the rubber bushings blazing until they are soft and gooey and can be poked out easily--no sense in wasting more effort trying to get the remains of the bolt out if your going to replace the bushings..
I like the poly 2 peice bushings ,the oem rubber ones can suck to get in without damage to them,or the spring...
I once had a spring "eye" break while I was trying to press the bushing in with a u-joint press..speaking of that tool,I have used that to press a stuck bolt out once with success..
..)..Usually you can saw the bolt as suggested,use a good bi-metal blade,not some cheap china pos one,the Diablo blades suggested I have recently used and liked them a lot,Lenox ones are not cheap,but worth it..
Once the bolt is cut and the springs are out,I just use a propane torch to get the rubber bushings blazing until they are soft and gooey and can be poked out easily--no sense in wasting more effort trying to get the remains of the bolt out if your going to replace the bushings..
I like the poly 2 peice bushings ,the oem rubber ones can suck to get in without damage to them,or the spring...
I once had a spring "eye" break while I was trying to press the bushing in with a u-joint press..speaking of that tool,I have used that to press a stuck bolt out once with success..
I'd keep a garden hose nearby,sometimes an extinguisher just don't have enough in it to douse a fire once it gets going..(and do not forget to turn the water on,if the hose faucet is 50 feet away!
Usually you can saw the bolt as suggested,use a good bi-metal blade,not some cheap china pos one,the Diablo blades suggested I have recently used and liked them a lot,Lenox ones are not cheap,but worth it..
Once the bolt is cut and the springs are out,I just use a propane torch to get the rubber bushings blazing until they are soft and gooey and can be poked out easily--no sense in wasting more effort trying to get the remains of the bolt out if your going to replace the bushings..
I like the poly 2 peice bushings ,the oem rubber ones can suck to get in without damage to them,or the spring...
I once had a spring "eye" break while I was trying to press the bushing in with a u-joint press..speaking of that tool,I have used that to press a stuck bolt out once with success..
Thanks for all the info. I just picked up some diablo blades and I'll give them a try this evening or tomorrow. I got new springs to go in and already knocked the rubber bushings out to replace with some polys. After this dilemma I'm pretty sure that if it's not greasable, it's not going on this truck
Success!! The carbide blades worked pretty good. A fresh blade does pretty well but once that carbide tip is gone it's useless. I used the short 6" blade too bc I didn't want to gouge into my hanger too much.
With enough leverage, anything will either break or break free. I once used a breaker bar and a hydraulic jack and just kept jacking until it broke a stubborn bolt loose. I usually like to either warm it up or soak it in some PB Blaster prior to going to town.
Glad you were able to saw it off...its a sucky job,no doubt..
Usually if I'm not bleeding by the time I get a tough job like this done,I feel something must be "wrong"..
Here my biggest battle is being able to grip whats left of a nut or bolt to apply any torque most of the time--the bolts and nuts get whittled away by salt & rust and look more like rivets--last week I had to use a pipe wrench to get what was left of a 3/8" hex nut off the old steering stabilizer--it was only like 1/16" thick past the threads and had NO flats or hex spots to grab,was lucky the pipe wrench worked...vise grips get used more often than wrenches on my truck too..or the torch...
I spend more time hunting down metric nuts & bolts than fixing the truck usually too--I must have no less than 10,000 SAE and USS bolts and nuts in my stash,but dam few metrics,and every box store or hardware store except 2 a good distance away,has only a few metrics in the drawers ,never enough to fulfill my needs,or the pitch and length I need..
...
Makes me wonder how repair shops and dealers fix anything ,when you have to waste 2+ hours hunting down bolts & nuts ?..we went "metric" almost 40 years ago,yet few stores seem to stock many metric fasteners..
Every Lowes,Home Depot,and most hardware stores here skip over 7/16" and 9/16" bolts too,which of course fit leaf spring shackles on GM 4x4's..they are "automotive" sizes,not stocked in "home centers"--ditto if your looking for a 5/16" compression union for tranny lines--they all have 1/8",1/4",3/8",and 1/2",but no 3/16" or 5/16" ones...
Which sucks because Lowes is close by,less than 1/2 a mile,but the "good" hardware stores are more like 10 miles away..Auto parts stores locally "might" have a few compression unions if your lucky..but no 7/16" or 9/16" bolts ..
Tractor Supply's selection of metric hardware is also very limited and useless to me 95% of the time too,I do buy many SAE and USS nuts and bolts there though (10+ mile ride to that place also)..
Usually if I'm not bleeding by the time I get a tough job like this done,I feel something must be "wrong"..
Here my biggest battle is being able to grip whats left of a nut or bolt to apply any torque most of the time--the bolts and nuts get whittled away by salt & rust and look more like rivets--last week I had to use a pipe wrench to get what was left of a 3/8" hex nut off the old steering stabilizer--it was only like 1/16" thick past the threads and had NO flats or hex spots to grab,was lucky the pipe wrench worked...vise grips get used more often than wrenches on my truck too..or the torch...
I spend more time hunting down metric nuts & bolts than fixing the truck usually too--I must have no less than 10,000 SAE and USS bolts and nuts in my stash,but dam few metrics,and every box store or hardware store except 2 a good distance away,has only a few metrics in the drawers ,never enough to fulfill my needs,or the pitch and length I need..
...Makes me wonder how repair shops and dealers fix anything ,when you have to waste 2+ hours hunting down bolts & nuts ?..we went "metric" almost 40 years ago,yet few stores seem to stock many metric fasteners..
Every Lowes,Home Depot,and most hardware stores here skip over 7/16" and 9/16" bolts too,which of course fit leaf spring shackles on GM 4x4's..they are "automotive" sizes,not stocked in "home centers"--ditto if your looking for a 5/16" compression union for tranny lines--they all have 1/8",1/4",3/8",and 1/2",but no 3/16" or 5/16" ones...
Which sucks because Lowes is close by,less than 1/2 a mile,but the "good" hardware stores are more like 10 miles away..Auto parts stores locally "might" have a few compression unions if your lucky..but no 7/16" or 9/16" bolts ..
Tractor Supply's selection of metric hardware is also very limited and useless to me 95% of the time too,I do buy many SAE and USS nuts and bolts there though (10+ mile ride to that place also)..
I'm lucky enough I have Home Depot, tractor supply and ACE hardware within a few miles. ACE by far has the best bolt/nut inventory of them all. It's the only place I could find my 1/8" npt barbed hose adapter for my axle vents.
