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Author Topic: DIY. leaf spring removal for a drop  (Read 4494 times)

Offline Tom Courtright

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DIY. leaf spring removal for a drop
« on: April 18, 2009, 12:02:51 am »
look at how tall your ride really is, you wanna take the butt end down a hair?


holy crap that is some tire clearance


heres the problem, dodge installed a couple extra leaf springs.
what a waste, the bottom 2 arent even doing anything


ok, jack the frame up just enought to take the weight off the tire, but not actually lift the axle, this takes a lil trial and error
since im working on gravel i have an issue with the jacks and stands settling


with the truck securely up on atleast one jackstand
(i have another in the back under the hitch as a secondary)
now you can go ahead and remove the 4 nuts off the ubolts,
this releases the leaf plate


here you see that the leaf pack is bolted together
so, just remove that bolt with a socket on the bottom and a wrench on the top


when you get the bolt apart, the bottom 2 literally
fall out
(kinda freaked me out)


heres where it might get a lil tricky, put your helmets on for this part,

the leaf bolt is going to be too long,
so, heres the easy way to cut a bolt since im too lazy to go get new ones
install the nut on the bolt, tighten it down so that the "excess" is equal to the amount you need to remove
which in this case, is the thickness of the 2 leafs we dropped off


then, cut it and do a little grinding to smooth the edges out.


this way you can just remove the nut and it cleans the threads up.


now you can re bolt the leafs together,

what i did was used a bottle jack to "persuade" the bolt back into the holes in the axle mount and the leaf plate


now, this is important,
do not do a full torque on the u-bolts yet!
go ahead and tighten them pretty good with a ratchet/socket.

then drop the truck back onto the ground.
now, go ahead and torque the piss outta the ubolts with the full weight of the truck on the leafs.
i used a 2' breaker bar till they felt nice and solid

well, its a lil better,


ride quality is greatly improved, as in the suspension is no longer like a rock
almost rides like a car

it only dropped the truck an inch.5 but its better

it aint low till it scars asphalt

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Offline lilfroger

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Re: DIY. leaf spring removal for a drop
« Reply #1 on: April 18, 2009, 08:06:24 am »
nice write up Bat :clap:
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Offline Cumminalong

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Re: DIY. leaf spring removal for a drop
« Reply #2 on: April 18, 2009, 01:18:21 pm »
Very Nice!

I like the fact that you DIDN'T RE-USE THE U-BOLTS! Bad Ju-Juj :up:

Looks good....Now, how about that dent in the cab?  :D Sorry, had too...

« Last Edit: April 18, 2009, 01:21:38 pm by Cumminalong »

Offline noplugs

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Re: DIY. leaf spring removal for a drop
« Reply #3 on: April 18, 2009, 03:19:59 pm »
Nice job, looks so much easier than the big trucks.
This might help. If you have to work on a loose surface like that, pick up a small piece of plywood 3/4 inch thick (1'x1' or 2'x2') and place it on the ground under the stand. It will do a good job distributing the force and makes a much more stable base.
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Offline Tom Courtright

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Re: DIY. leaf spring removal for a drop
« Reply #4 on: April 18, 2009, 03:26:02 pm »
i would but im just too lazy to do it haha, i'll deal with the setteling

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Offline SH0K0TA

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Re: DIY. leaf spring removal for a drop
« Reply #5 on: April 20, 2009, 10:50:13 pm »
Very Nice!

I like the fact that you DIDN'T RE-USE THE U-BOLTS! Bad Ju-Juj :up:

Looks good....Now, how about that dent in the cab?  :D Sorry, had too...




whats wrong with reusin the ubolts? when i put on the 3in drop blox, i used the longer ones it came with, but once i switched to the hanger kit, i used the factory u bolts again cuz i still had them lol. they've held up so far since everything was swapped

Offline mayfair

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Re: DIY. leaf spring removal for a drop
« Reply #6 on: April 20, 2009, 10:55:20 pm »
Nice job Bat !!

Thanks for the DIY !! :punk:

Offline Kilch123

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Re: DIY. leaf spring removal for a drop
« Reply #7 on: April 20, 2009, 11:02:21 pm »
When U bolts are installed properly, they are 'torqued to yield' which means that they get torqued until the metal stretches, but not to the point of yield (where the metal structure gets ruined and it will no longer hold torque)

If removed, and re-used, there is no stretch allowance, and the material goes straight to yield, and the metal will continue to stretch, and the u-bolts loosen over time.  If you retighten them they will stretch more, until they cant stretch any more, and they break

Kind of like bending a paper clip - you can bend it once, and it retains it's strength, bend again in the same spot, and the strength is gone, a few more times, and it's now two pieces
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Offline SH0K0TA

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Re: DIY. leaf spring removal for a drop
« Reply #8 on: April 20, 2009, 11:31:46 pm »
oh.... word... well good thing that i'ma be puttin the blox back in after i get the notch put in. and i have new u bolts for that too :)


but sorry for the thread jack bat! but it was a great write up!

Offline FroneDaddy

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Re: DIY. leaf spring removal for a drop
« Reply #9 on: April 21, 2009, 12:37:04 am »
Nice write up :up:
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Offline Tom Courtright

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Re: DIY. leaf spring removal for a drop
« Reply #10 on: April 21, 2009, 01:46:37 am »
everytime i open this i cant help but think i shoulda taken pics of the drivers side not the pass. side,
(less dents over there)

it aint low till it scars asphalt

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