The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area The HiPo Shop Narrowing rear end leaf spring mounts on axle

My leaf springs are mounted to the axle too wide for the frame I am trying to mount them to. I would like to move the axle leaf spring mounts in to fix this problem. Is this difficult to do? Can I just cut them off and reweld them to the place I need them? Do I need to take the whole rear end apart?

Its not a big deal to move them. You can get replacement spring pads from most venders or even your local trailer supply house. The only two problems you will run in to are, keeping them centered side to side, and setting the pinion angle correctly.

A good way to set the pinion angle (truck needs to be together, with full weight on the axle) is to bolt the rear axle in place with out welding the pads to the axle. Then using a angle finder gauge,(Harbor Freight) set the pinion to the correct angle then tack weld the pads to the axle tubes, remove the whole unit and finish the welds. This would also work to center the axle side to side.

The original pinion angle and your truck will most likely be different. Check past post on this site for pinion angle information. The simple answer is, set it at the same angle as the transmission tailshaft. A example would be, if trans is pointed down 2 degrees, the the pinion should point up two degrees. Rear some more information on the 4x4 sites and driveline sites.

I use a cut off wheel in a hand grinder to get the old pads off if I going to reuse them. You can torch them off if you have new ones, just stay clear of the axle tubes when torching!

If you are not sure of the past life of the axle, now would be a good time to open it up and clean out all the oil and sludge. Pull the axles and head out to the car wash and really give it a good cleaning. Spray the gears down with WD-40 when done. It will be a lot easyer to work around once clean, plus less of a chance of a oil fire from welding. Joe

Some good advice from Joe.

If your transmission doesn't have enough room on the tail shaft or if your transmission isn't installed and you want to set the pinon angle, put you angle finder on the bottom of the starter. The starter angle is also the same angle as the transmission tail shaft.

If you get your rear axle set up correctly and everthing bolted in place with the correct pinion angle and you can't weld or don't have anyway to spot weld the spring pads to the axle, pull the springs-rear axle bolted together and take it to the welding shop as a unit and have them spot weld and final weld the spring perches to the axle.

Joe

35chev,I did what joe and joe said.I must have measured everything at least 1000 times,i wanted to make sure it was right.I purchased a rear axel kit that come with new perches.for my application"classic performance parts".I had a problem with there ubolts and nuts,they did'nt fit right.So i had a local spring shop make my ubolts and got the thick nuts,instead of the puinny nuts cpp offered me.I did get reimbursed for the u-bolts"that's a whole other story".

This kit allowed my axel to be center of the rear fenders instead of being forward like original"for my application".You can easily cut your perches off with a thin grinding wheel in a die grinder.I tacked mine after setting the pinion angle.Then i had a friend that is a ace welder,weld them.As a matter of fact,i still owe him a thirty pack of BL.I better get it to him while i'm thinking about it.Take the time and measure and remeasure.Make sure you have it centered on the springs and straight.I used one of those magnetic angle finders.Any hardware store or harbor freight,cummins tool will have them.

When you measure for the drive shaft,you must have the weight of the vehicle on the rear springs.I set jack stands under my rear axel and let the truck down on them.You must also have the transmission in for the driveshaft measurments.

No,you don't have to take the whole rearend apart.Just cut the old perches off,then prepare for the new ones.

Here are a couple of links that i read before tackling mine.I also read every article on this site related to it.It's all great information,read it then reread it.

http://www.carcraft.com/howto/91758/

http://www.streetissuecustoms.com/pinionangle.html

Hope this helps,good luck !!!