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10/01/19: I finally got back to working on the truck today. I previously bought two new u-bolts to to replace the two that were not long enough. This was due to the spring liners I installed which increased the stack height when I rebuilt the front springs. I started on the passenger side, removing the lower shock hardware then compressing it to release it from the lower shock mount. I then removed the nuts and washers and removed the u-bolt and the lower shock mount. Looking in the Factory Assembly Manual, I noticed that the washers were sandwiched between the axle and lower shock mount. I don’t believe that was the way it was when I disassembled it. Following that illustration, I reassembled the longer u-bolt with the washers, lower shock mount and the nuts, running them up snug. The rear u-bolts were also a bit short but the ones I removed were longer so I used them instead. The Assembly Manual didn’t show any washers so I reassembled them accordingly. I torqued the nuts to 80 ft. lbs. I repeated this on the drivers side.

When I had previously assembled the front leaf spring shackles on the drivers side, I noticed a bit of side to side movement so I ordered a new shackle assembly. This included new bushing and pins. The new main leaf on the rebuilt spring assembly, had the bushings installed so all I needed to replace was the frame mounted bushing and the pins. I tried the new pin in the old upper bushing and it seemed to have a bit of slop. I tried it in the new bushing and that also was sloppy. I decided to leave the existing bushing as it’s a bit of a chore to remove the old one’s. The instructions in the Chevrolet Truck Shop Manual say to tighten securely then “Strike each end of the shackle a sharp blow with a hammer to insure seating of the tapers and retighten the draw bolt.” I did not do this the first time I tightened it. I surmised that that may be where the slop came from. I tightened both shackles per the instructions. I can’t really tell if it is fixed, but my gut feeling says it is.

I turned my attention to installing the bearings. When I previously tried to install the hubs, I noticed that one of the roller bearings had a small spot that was spalled. Needing to order new bearings, I used this opportunity to upgrade to the new style tapered roller bearings. After removing the old races, cleaning up the hubs and brake drum, I installed the races by lightly tapping with a sawed off hammer handle and a small ball peen hammer working my way around. Once the race was flush, I used a brass rod to finish seating the race. I repeated this process on the outer race. After cleaning the hub and drum assembly, I greased the roller bearings, installed the inner bearing, followed by the grease seal. The grease seal was a bit tricky to get it started but I did manage to get in installed tapping it in place.

I then set the dust shield in place on the spindle, slid the hub onto the spindle then installed the outer roller bearing, washer and nut. I torqued the nut to 33 ft. lbs. while rotating the drum, then backed off 1/12th to 1/6th to align the cotter pin. I installed the cotter pin and center dust cap. I then installed the wheel and torqued the nuts to 80 ft. lbs.

Adjustment of the brakes were next up. Per the instructions in the Shop Manual, while the anchor pin is just loose enough to move, tighten the shoes until a heavy drag is felt on the drum, then tap the anchor pin and backing plate lightly to allow shoes to center in the drum. If the drag on the drum changes, tighten the adjustment screw a few more notches, tap the anchor pin again and repeat until the drag remains the same. Once this was achieved, I torqued the anchor pin to 80 ft/lbs. At this point I backed off the adjustment nut 14 notches and the wheel spun freely so all is good! Tomorrow I get to do this again on the drivers side!