Well - my wife will never let me live this one down. The myth of "men never read instructions" has bitten me in the ass. I started stripping down the rear suspension yesterday and had to cut every single bolt holding in the leaf springs. To get to those, I raised the bed of the truck to get some more access - and had to cut all the bolts holding the bed to the chassis. When I saw the factory rivets holding in the rear spring hanger I proceeded to grind the heads off the rivets and punch them out. Feeling very satisfied with myself, I went upstairs to get the new hangers and shackles when I realized that it was the FRONT hangers I should have stripped from the chassis.
So embarassing.
So, since I had things mostly apart, I've decided to take it one step further:
I hauled out the leafs today and brought them to a local spring shop and had new bushings pressed in, and grabbed some new u bolts, wear pads and a new center bolt for the leafs. I plan to take the wire brush to them tomorrow and purty them up with a coat of paint. The bed of the truck is going to live at the inlaws for a couple of days (no space at the condo) while I clean the old undercoating and surface rust from the chassis and axle housing and give it the same beauty treatment. Rear brake job probably wouldn't hurt either. Top it all off with new FRONT spring hangers and extended rear shackles, that should complete the rear end work.
Pics to follow tomorrow.