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This is what I am planning.
Cutting the bolt there at marks will release the spring.
With new springs and one new shackle kit, I should be able to keep
both hangers and top bushing bolt.

Just a suggestion, but check those top bushings/bolts to make sure they pivot freely, there is no slop and that they will take grease or you will be having to replace them much sooner than you may like.

Just my $.02, but you are already this far. Go the whole distance and replace them to be sure of safety and longer part life.

The side plates should be able to be driven off the pins, probably just rusted in place. They lock onto the taper of the pins pretty tight by design. Put a punch as close to the pin as possible and alternate hits between the front and back side. Once they break loose they come off pretty easy. Probably best to start with the spring end because once you get the spring released from the frame it is hard to hold things to get the impact of the hammer blow to do anything other than move the whoel spring and whatever it is attached to.

If you resort to cutting anything, the shackle bars would be much easier to cut than the bolts, but as the guys have suggested, the shackles should come apart with a little persuasion by a punch and hammer.
And Dan's suggestion of changing the bushing in the frame (and springs) is one you should take to heart. They'll likely be very worn and deserving of replacement. You won't regret replacing them.

All went well. The upper frame bushing are in great shape and move freely. Its the ones in
the leaf spring eyelet that were rusted solid.
Cutting the bolt and saving the hangers was easy.
Now if the other front one is as bad, using just 1 shackle kit will fix the front.
Shackle kit ...I will not need the hangers or the threaded casing.

The old spring next to the new.
Now thats 4 front leaf springs for 58/59`s in one years time.
the hardest part of this was fighting the old sway bar and shock mount.
That kept slipping off the axle as I jacked it up. Solution was to vice grip them
together just off to the side of where the "U" bolts monut.

I am wondering now if I should have used that small plate
there on the bottom of the old one. It has a second nib .

I believe that "old plate" you are referring to is actual an angled axle "caster" wedge that is required to set the axle position correctly.

It provides a specific degree tilt to your king pin and spindle positions so that steering and alignment function correctly. With out them, you truck is going to really be hard to drive (not to mention kinda unsafe).

Check you shop manual for more details about the wedge and reinstallation of your axle and steering components.

Dan

Easy enough to put back in.

Just an observation on your reinstallation picture.

For safety sake, it is always highly recommended that you use new U-bolts when reinstalling an axle (front or rear). The original/existing U-bolts get stretched when installed (not to mention ours are well aged these days) and additional stretching of old U-bolts could cause a catastrophic failure (think axle separating from spring while driving - yikes!).

Just inexpensive "life" insurance IMO.

Dan

Nothing wrong with these U bolts.