I spent the majority of this week working on the shop truck to replace the front leaf springs. The process was very straight forward, or at least it sounded straight forward before I got into it. I learned through trial and error, that the easiest way is to lift the vehicle is by the frame, support the front axle, detach the front shocks, then remove the shackle bolts and u-bolts to release the leaf springs as well as the front axle. The new leaf springs proved to be difficult to install. A few modifications had to be made so that the new springs would fit. In addition to getting new leaf springs the truck was also getting new rotors and having the bearings cleaned/inspected and repacked. I learned that in order to properly check the condition of the bearings they must be thoroughly cleaned before inspection. Each roller is inspected for damage as well as the racers. This can be achieved by shining a light through the back of the bearing to assist in checking for wear defects.
All in all this project was a great learning process for me. The mechanics at NWFR gave me the freedom to tackle this leaf spring project virtually on my own while they caught up on more time sensitive projects. They did make themselves available to answer any of my questions and made sure to check on me every once in awhile to ensure I doing alright. By the time I finally finished the leaf springs John was able to teach me about bearing inspection. I gained a lot of knowledge this week.
I neglected to take more pictures of the wheel bearings during the inspection process, it's hard to remember to take out your phone in the middle of a project to take a picture for a blog.
Removing the u-bolts
Out with the old
As you can see the pin is larger on the new springs
This proved to be my greatest frustration, as drilling out the new hole to accommodate this larger pin proved to be quite the head ache.
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