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8/25/19: I didn’t get much done on the truck last week as my Mom (who is ninety four) and sister came to visit. I feel truly blessed to have my Mom still around, so time spent with her is priceless and working on the truck takes a backseat.

I needed to determine if I could replace just the main leaf spring and reuse the rest of the spring stack. I used a small pry bar to pry open the spring clamps. This method worked on the first spring assembly but on the second it created a crack on one of the bends. I want to reuse the clamps to keep the originality. I broke out my torch to heat the bends so I could open them without breaking them. This worked on the remaining ones, but I still have to repair the broken one if I reuse the springs. I placed each spring assembly into the vice sideways, then loosened up the center bolt and opened the vice slowly releasing tension on the spring until it came apart.

The first thing I noticed was an odd looking spring on the drivers side. It stuck out like a sore thumb. There were nine leaves on the drivers side and only eight on the passengers side. Further inspection on the drivers side showed one spring was cracked from the center bolt out to one side. It appears a PO added a leaf to compensate for the one that was cracked. I suspect the truck was sagging. The odd spring was longer than the cracked spring so I figured I could cut it down to replace the cracked one if the rest on the stacks were good.

At this point, the remaining springs from the stack looked good but I’ll reserve final evaluation until cleaning is done. The one clamp that cracked needed to be removed from the spring so I could weld up the crack. I used my new twenty ton press (a bit of overkill) and just pressed out the rivet. I will be making replacement rivets on the lathe. After reworking the six clamps with a bit of heat, my MIG, a vice and a ball peen, I spent the rest of the day media blasting and painting the remaining hardware (shackles, etc.). The springs themselves would need to be cleaned with a wire wheel on my Metabo (side grinder). That will be for another day.