Revolutionary

iTrader: (6)

It truthfully is not that bad. I wish I was closer I would help you out. It can be done in a saturday with some patience and a six pack.

smooth sierra

Let me straighten a few things out for you. fork=fuct up ball joints. You do not need a fork to seperate the ball joints.

Here is what you do.......Jack the truck up in the center of the front end between the lower control arms. Remove the wheel, caliper, rotor,etc.

Loosen the nut on the tie rod and hit the nut with a hammer and it should release pretty easy.

loosen the upper ball joint nut. DO NOT REMOVE it, a few turns should suffice. Then take a mini sledge hammer and smack the side of the spindle up near the ball joint.....DO NOT HIT THE CONTROL ARM. Essentially you will be using the tension of the spring to help you break it loose. Once it is broke loose move the jack under the lower control arm and relieve the spring tension. Now finish taking off the nut on the upper ball joint and push the upper control arm out of the way.

Now take your brake line loose from the top of the spindle and remove the nut on the lower ball joint. Take your mini sledge and and hit straight down from the top of the spindle to break the lower ball joint loose. This might take a few good smacks. Now the spindle should be in your hands. Remove the bearing assembly and install on the new spindle.

Reinstall new spindle and torque ball joints nuts accordingly. Really not a big deal.

Now for the rear......Jack the truck up and suspend it from the frame. I chose the cradles for the shackles as my point for the jack stands. As mentioned try to do this with an almost empty tank of gas. Remove the two bolts holding the straps on the gas tank and the chicken **** clip thing under the gas door holding the filler neck in place. Now I placed a 3 gallon bucket under the gas tank and simply slid it sideways rather than dropping it completely. You are simply trying to gain access to the backside of the frame near the hangers. I didn't want to screw with disconnecting the fuel lines, hence the bucket trick.

Now take a drill and start drilling the 6 rivets. I started out with a 1/8 bit and worked up to a 3/8 bit and once all 6 are drilled take an air chisel and cut the heads off and push them out.

Remove the bolt holding the hanger to the spring and remove the hanger. Bolt spring to new hanger before installation but do not tighten it. Then use your jack under the leaf spring to lift it in place and install new bolts to secure hanger to the frame. Reinstall gas tank. Passenger side is same procedure without having to mess with the tank.

The shackles are pretty straight forward.....Leave the bolts holding the spring and the shackles loose until you get the truck back on the ground under it's own weight then tighten them all.

Drive truck to alignment shop of your choice and you are done. I think I covered most of it. It may sound complicated but it really is not, just time consuming.