[bollybib]

@northerngmc

The lower bolts (the ones in the trailing arms) were difficult to extract. They were rusted, the trailing arm hole was jammed with crud, and the bolts are 5 inches long so they don't want to just slide on out for you. I spent a lot of time soaking them with penetrant. I ended up cutting the bolt head off and coaxing them out of the hole with a two arm press until I could get the retainer and spring off. Then I used a nut and spacers on the thread end to slowly jack the bolt out. The uppers came off easy. Hopefully you won't have this problem but it's good to be aware of how hard these bolts can be to get out. I've seen other threads on this subject so it might be good to research some of them beforehand.

I put jack stands under the frame just forward of the rear wheel wells and jacked the truck up until I could drop the rear end far enough to unload the springs and then some. I had the pumpkin set on a floor jack most of the time which helped because I had to jockey the rear axle up and down a lot. I had another pair of jack stands to set the axle on as needed.

The new springs are a bit tricky to get started, there are a lot of parts moving around at first; springs, and two sets of nuts/bolts/retainer. The trailing arm is not parallel with the frame and everything wants to wander away from where you want it. You will probably have to experiment a little to find out what works best for you. Take pics of your original installation before you tear it apart and try to follow the same orientation of the parts when you put it all back together.

I replaced the springs over a period of about a week I guess. Since I've been retired I find I don't push so hard to get things done. I do as much as I'm comfortable with then come back fresh to do more.

It wasn't as easy to do as I thought it might be, but it came out OK and I like the way it looks and it rides a lot better. Good luck with yours.