Hey, thanks for the bump. It's nice to know that people are reading these threads!
Ironically, I was laying on the garage floor under the truck all day. Today's job was "rear suspension removal". If you ever have an enemy that needs to be avenged, have them remove the original rear suspension on these trucks. I think the first direction in the manual should read, "Take every tool out of your tool box and throw it under the truck. At some point you're going to need it." Jeeze, every fastener on this was either welded with rust or rounded off, or BOTH!
Having said that, with the help of a cheater bar on the breaker bar and a Mapp-Gas torch, we got 'er done!
When we visited last, Roy had told some pretty amazing stories about loads he's hauled in this truck. (concrete blocks stacked higher than the cab??) . Needless to say, the rear trailing arms are toast. The reason I was removing them is because the bushings need to be replaced, and I wanted to swap the springs for a lighter duty spring. (The SPID lists a "heavy duty spring" option which are the same as 3/4-ton springs). This truck has that unique extra load helper spring that contacts the very rear end of the trailing arms when a heavy load is encountered. Apparently Roy's had some heavy loads in this truck because the rear end of the arms had been snapped off and repaired "farmer style"!
Here's the driver's side arm:
Here's the passenger side arm:
This arm has a crack:
Who the hell knows what he did to the lower shock mounts. Either way, he "fixed" them!
What was planned on taking a couple hours ended up taking all day. I'm going to hurt tomorrow morning!