Alright, so I took a quick look at my passenger side leaf spring before I started this project. Looked easy as pie, everything easy to get to, nothing really looking like it was going to be in the way.
Then I went and got a leaf spring, and started to replace the driver's side. Wow. Someone forgot to mention that the pain-in-the-rear gas tank would be in the way of the front bolt. LOL. Took me an hour to figure out how to get around it.
Then I figured out that to get the bolt out of the rear shackle, I have to take the hitch part way off. Not a big deal, but extra time and labor I didn't know about.
Then I get almost everything put back on, only to figure out that the bolt holding the shackle to the spring is backwards. I bought a passenger side one, so the bolt is pointing the opposite direction, and because the bolt is extra long (like they all are), if its backwards, it stops the shackle from fitting in its holder properly. Not a huge deal, just couldn't finish it tonight before dark. Will pull it back out, reverse that sucker, and tomorrow will be all done.
Oh, yeah, BTW, 1999 Sport and 2001 Laramie leaf springs are different. I didn't notice it until I was almost to the bolt problem... the 1999 Sport spring ("new" one) has only four lengths of metal in it. The Laramie has five.
However, thats not necessarily a bad thing. It still fits fine, and, I measured it, is only 1/8"-1/4" thinner than the Laramie one its replacing. The lengths are thicker. And its a lot stiffer, so it should work out great.
I bought the 1999 spring because it only had 57000 miles on it when the guy rolled the truck. So it actually has less miles than my truck/springs have.
Will post more pictures when its done. Here's a quick snapshot of the two next to each other, old one on top, "new" one on bottom.
I also managed to snag myself a spare tire rim for $30, as my truck didn't come with one when I bought it.
EDIT: Sorry for the edit, made the image smaller. Also ran it through Photoshop to brighten it up slightly. The top one looks like its in nicer shape, but only because it was doused with PB Blaster to help me take the u-bolts off. The bottom one actually still has some factory paint left on it, my old one has none. The bottom one is in much finer condition.
Here's the truck the spring came out of.
http://s257.photobucket.com/albums/hh214/jswesterberg/Donor%20Truck/