Suspension pulled - a little write-up

[71CHEVYSHORTBED402]

71 SWB, 2WD rear leafs, front discs I deleted a similar post and probably shouldn't have. Someone liked it, so here it goes again.............Don't ask.

This is more a process than anything. I picked up a lot of information off the board encyclopedia and then some. Folks here have walked me through a lot of this, and always appreciated...................... It's all new to me, but like everything else on the truck, once done it's easy baring rust. Less the steering column maybe . The build will be far easier and I'm looking forward to it.

For what it's worth I was lucky. Outside of the ball joint rivets I didn't need to cut, drill or torch as single fastener on this truck. Just penetrating oil and a heat gun on occasion. For the suspension the frame was on jack stands front and back, and penetrating oil used at every joint. The frame is mostly stripped, including shocks, steering linkage and such.


Rear Leafs: Supported the rear axle with a floor jack, and a 4x4 on top the frame with a ratchet tie down.

Pulled the U-bolts. Smooth as silk, but looks like the axle tubes have "scabs" welded on them, which is a layer of protection from the lower U-bolt plates. Don't be surprised if some comes off, like mine did.

Pulled the leaf springs. It's just two bolts, and be sure to support the springs for the last bolt, they are heavy. My buddy had to remind me.....Ha! Simple task. Pulled the axle and re-positioned the jack stands to the rear.

The bottom bolts on the rear shackles were seized. My buddy is a big dude with pipes for forearms, and he went at it hard with a BFH. The bolts won, they'd just spin. After "this is the last shot" for the 3rd-4th time, the ticket was more penetrating oil, trying to get inside the shackle, and I went at them with a 3/8" ratchet extension for a punch and carpenter's frame hammer. That was the ticket, but they took quite a few punches, especially one...........But yeah, there are other options. I could have cut the shackles in half.

Don't bother trying to break the tension with the nuts on. My buddy broke a breaker bar thinking otherwise..........Other than that, as many know there's little to rear leaf springs. Everything is positioned for you for assembly, at least it would seem so. I did not separate the leaf springs. If you do, I hear a pair of good clamps are in order.

It was very cool my buddy offered to go at the rear leaf springs ("let's do it")............Dinner "party", beers, and the kids enjoyed it. The front suspension came another day.


Front Coils As I've mentioned in some other posts (yikes), the best advice I read is to chain up your coil springs. Just run the chain through the spring and lower control arm, add a quick link and you're done. It's worth the effort. I can't speak for rear coils. Wholly smokes the things on Youtube, people proudly risking death or dis-figuration on camera.

Removed the zerk fitting from the lower control arm, and jacked up the outer end of the control arm. I couldn't have jacked it up more the 3-4" tops, because seems the frame could tip over (yikes!). From what I've read, some jack it up up real high. I figure that has to be with tires on the other side. Regardless, I didn't find it necessary to do that, the springs were well behaved, chain or not, or so it seemed.

Backed the ball joint nuts off maybe 1/4" or so, and then went at the ball joints with a pickle fork. They separated easily. I believe I hit the tops first. I do know I had to back off the floor jack some to release the bottom ball joints, you can feel it. With the ball joints released slowly lower the floor jack. Spring was off, no prying. But don't pull the chain just yet.

Unlike what I did on the first one, support (not raise) the lower control arm with the floor jack before pulling the nuts off. Got to talking to someone, ooops. The spring was still loose at the time, no harm no foul, but yeah....support the lower control arm so it doesn't fall onto the floor and jack . Pull the spindle, remove chain and spring. Another easy task, especially with decent parts and a clear frame.


Top ball joints I cut the heads off the rivets with a Dremel, and drilled through the rivets to 9/32". I drilled the plates to one bit larger. That was enough to pry the plate off the upper control arm. The balance of the rivets pulled off easily. That's the hard way. Since then I see the best way is to cut the heads off and punch through with an air chisel. Opportunity missed to buy an an air chisel for the money pit. For what it's worth, the rivet holes are 3/8".


Bottom ball joints I borrowed a press clamp from O'Reily's. The press doesn't work per videos I've seen, it's just not the right height. But then I noticed the pin inside the clamp's threaded rod pulls off. Seems like that's just for these occasions, so I inserted the ball joint stud into the rod and pressed the ball joint out easily. That leaves the rim of the ball joint behind, so I reinstalled the pin, and used a plate on top to press the rest out. Another easy task.

Doesn't seem that clamp would work for installation, I figure to have mine done by a shop. Edit: I should mention, maybe I'm missing something, but no sign of snap rings with the original ball joints.


That's pretty well it, though I haven't pulled the control arms yet. The nuts and bolts are loose, but not interested........too cold.

[RedRider]

Great tips, thanks for re-posting this! It's so nice to have all the resources here to craft a proper plan of attack.

More info on this thread too:
http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php?t=747710

Originally Posted by 71CHEVYSHORTBED402

Top ball joints I cut the heads off the rivets with a Dremel, and drilled through the rivets to 9/32". I drilled the plates to one bit larger. That was enough to pry the plate off the upper control arm.

Without the use of air tools, I found this to be the best way to get the upper ball joint out. You can upgrade to an angle grinder, but the dremel is precise and won't put the upper control arm in jeopardy.

Originally Posted by 71CHEVYSHORTBED402

Bottom ball joints I borrowed a press clamp from O'Reily's. .. I inserted the ball joint stud into the rod and pressed the ball joint out easily. That leaves the rim of the ball joint behind, so I reinstalled the pin, and used a plate on top to press the rest out. Another easy task.

Yes, rent the ball joint press to pull the old one out. Then, keep it around to push the new one in. Simple as that.

Just to emphasize again, be very mindful of the front coil spring. Know when it's under compression don't take any shortcuts. That thing is a ticking time bomb.