i need leaf spring help quick

im putting on a set of new leafs and the old ones are being a pain in the ass. the front bolt is stuck in the bushing. so i unscrewed it as far as it could go. then cut the bolt between the bracket and the leaf. now there is still a little bit of the bolt going in the other side and the leaf will not drop down. i cant get my 4" cut wheel to do any of that. what the hell do i do????

i had the exact same problem when i did my rear leafs. i had to take a sawsall and force the blade to go between the leaf spring and the frame rail. it took a long time to do and also smoked bad making me vacate for a while to let the odor clear. a few smacks with a hammer had it sitting on the ground.

leaf spring off-good. now a new problem to deal with. the remaineder of the bolt in the frame rail. you have a few options.
a. cut into the frame rail and pull the nut and bolt section out (works if the nut broke its weld)
b. drill and retap.
c. what i did. first i drilled most the bolt out like i was going to drill and retap, but did not drill out the old threads. for the remainder of the bolt i used a dremel with snake attatchment and a metal grinding bit that would fit inside the hole i drilled. i cut the bolt like a pie and pulled the pieces out with needle nose pliers, saving the threads.

hth
stewie

thanks for the info, its too late, i got mad an pissed and finally after 2 hours got the damn thing to drop by cutting the crap out of the old springs. now theres a new problem. the nut is stripped now because of the way i was moving it around. so i finally got the bolt in and it started to thread itself until snap. broke the nut. so where do i cut? i know there was a thread that had pictures and stuff.. wheres that at?

nevermind i got it, i cant believe it took over 5 hours just to do one side! most of it was running around getting tools and new bolts and nuts, now my question is what do i torque everything to? such as u bolts, spring bolts, ect. i didnt want to do anything too tight or too loose so i just did everything at 80lbs. do i need more? less? also whats the torque on the wheels? 60lbs? i dont want anything to break or fall off, thanks.

sjbond67 said:

i didnt want to do anything too tight or too loose so i just did everything at 80lbs. do i need more? less? also whats the torque on the wheels? 60lbs? .

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I don't know the specific torque spec of the leaf spring bolts, but I used anti seize and did them at 115 ft lbs. Do you have steel or aluminum wheels? 60 ft lbs isn't enough for either. The owners manual calls for 75 ft lbs, but I usually do steel at at least 90 ft lbs, and aluminum wheels at 120 ft lbs, while working at a GM Dealership.