I'm bored, I'm broke, and have a vehicle that needs some repairs.
I have a broken leaf spring on my F250.
So, I am looking at removing the broken leaf in the picture. Of course, I would be remiss if I didn't profess my love for my previously Michigan based vehicle and its ponderous amount of rust...
So, anybody got some odds on repairing this without spending a dime? 
PS- The "Velvet Ride" shackles in the one picture suck ass. I'd rather have regular old shackles on it.
Wood never rusts. Just sayin.
I did the rear spring hangers on my f150 recently. I used an angle grinder and several wheels to get the rivots out, after that it wasnt horrible. About 2hrs per side i think plus set up and clean up.
Sanding discs...lots of them.
It's not cheap, but Hammerite paint seems to do a good job of suppressing rust and it's really tough once it dries. I did parts of my Sammy's frame and the fuel tank armor with it and it's holding up well.
I would spend at least a week spraying every but and bolt with PB blaster or an alternative twice a day. Then go into it realizing that E36 M3 is going to break.
Ranger50 wrote: I'm bored, I'm broke, and have a vehicle that needs some repairs. I have a broken leaf spring on my F250.
Not sure what leaf you say is broken, so I am going to guess the bottom one cause its the only one with an end showing?
Can you drop the axle and then just dismantle the spring leaving the main leaf on the truck? Must be some suitable springs at the recycle yard?
If you are truly skint, can you pull the matching leaf off the other side, reassemble the stack and adjust the load rating until you can find a replacement?
Other than what looks like a nasty crack in the one spring hanger, (second picture) the rust content does not concern me too much. Yeah, spray some rust-buster or whatever on there for a bit, but I don't see any good rust flakes on the bolt heads or nuts that indicate they are going to round off.
Ranger50 wrote: I'm bored, I'm broke, and have a vehicle that needs some repairs. I have a broken leaf spring on my F250.
Not sure what leaf you say is broken, so I am going to guess the bottom one cause its the only one with an end showing?
Can you drop the axle and then just dismantle the spring leaving the main leaf on the truck? Must be some suitable springs at the recycle yard?
If you are truly skint, can you pull the matching leaf off the other side, reassemble the stack and adjust the load rating until you can find a replacement?
Other than what looks like a nasty crack in the one spring hanger, (second picture) the rust content does not concern me too much. Yeah, spray some rust-buster or whatever on there for a bit, but I don't see any good rust flakes on the bolt heads or nuts that indicate they are going to round off.
I had a classmate who had an 82 F100 with a broken leaf or 2 on one side. He drove it that way for years. Of course, he only paid $300 for the vehicle...
NOHOME wrote: Not sure what leaf you say is broken, so I am going to guess the bottom one cause its the only one with an end showing?
Second one up from the bottom. If you can see the mechanic's wire to the far left of the picture, just to the left of that wire is where it is broke.
NOHOME wrote: Can you drop the axle and then just dismantle the spring leaving the main leaf on the truck? Must be some suitable springs at the recycle yard? If you are truly skint, can you pull the matching leaf off the other side, reassemble the stack and adjust the load rating until you can find a replacement?
My plan is to pull both sides and leave out the corresponding leaf. I lose capacity, but all I ever do with this is to hitch pull or just drive it.
NOHOME wrote: Other than what looks like a nasty crack in the one spring hanger, (second picture) the rust content does not concern me too much. Yeah, spray some rust-buster or whatever on there for a bit, but I don't see any good rust flakes on the bolt heads or nuts that indicate they are going to round off.
Actually, the "crack" is just a split in the powercoat off the hanger. Ford used the cheapest damn powder available and barely cleaned and dried the parts before coating. My local dealer still sells a E36 M3load of them to this day. 
Ditto on the "disassemble the spring packs" post.
Did it before on my 1995 F150. Left the top spring in place, disassembled the U bolts, unloaded the springs, pried the clamps apart, and pulled out the offending broken leaf. I left the main stock leaf in place and put in a set of leafs from a 2500 Suburban that I got for free minus the top leaf. Worked great for 60k miles, then I sold the truck. The Chevy springs were a bit narrower, but they rode fine, clamped in fine, and didnt move around once clamped in place.
Cruise Craigs for a set of cheap or free leafs off anything and scavenge what you need. As long as the widths and lengths are close you will be fine.
mazdeuce wrote: I would spend at least a week spraying every but and bolt with PB blaster or an alternative twice a day. Then go into it realizing that E36 M3 is going to break.
I did this to an extraordinarily rusty Ohio '90 Miata a couple years back, it worked amazingly well. I rounded or broke a couple fasteners, got pissed off, hosed it down with an irresponsible amount of PBB, did the same every couple of days. By that next Saturday it came apart like a 5 yr. old car instead of a 20 year old car.
looks like every truck i've ever been under in the great state of MN..
if you are going to try to soak the bolts in some hopeless attempt to get them to actually come apart, then get the nuts nice and hot with a torch before soaking them down. this causes the nut to expand and forces the PB Blaster to wick up in the threads. then maybe whack the nut with a hammer to jolt it a bit.... do this a few times over a few days and the nuts might actually come off.... a propane torch might work, but you really want an oxy/acetelyne torch here... \ i'd just buy all new bolts and use a cutting torch to take them out once the first bolt breaks... if you have a place that sells grade 8 bolts by the pound it will be much cheaper than going to the Ford dealer and getting theirs. also, you are probably not going to be able to save the u bolts.. they just never seem to work that way..
Fire hatchet is the only tool you need for THIS job 
The spring hangers and shackles are so rust prone that the dealer still stocks them, for trucks that they stopped making in 1996. They're fairly inexpensive and if you don't replace them now, you will when they break.
Are you SURE that leaf is broken? I've seen lots of trucks with non-leaves in the stack like that.
Another alternative is to just assume breakage, 1/2" impact spinning CW, and just break all of them off on purpose and drive the remainder of the bolt out with a punch. Adopted this strategy on a grey-market Land Rover Series III from the UK, worked brilliantly, just had to replace some fasteners here and there.
Knurled wrote: The spring hangers and shackles are so rust prone that the dealer still stocks them, for trucks that they stopped making in 1996. They're fairly inexpensive and if you don't replace them now, you will when they break. Are you SURE that leaf is broken? I've seen lots of trucks with non-leaves in the stack like that.
1997 in my case. F250HD and F350's are the last of the OBS Fords. I am going to replace them later this year after I pay off some nagging bills, plus a 3 or 4" drop. 
And yes that leaf is broken. When I had to do an emergency rear brake job, another tech pointed it out to me. I hadn't even noticed. 
I see it now.
Were it mine, I'd ziptie the stack so the spring chunk can't spear a tire, and then acquire the parts to do it right as funds permit. Which is everything between the frame and the axle. The hanger bolts never come out of the shackle or the spring eyes and the U-bolts never come apart either, so it's usually an ordeal involving Mr. Torch with an assistant hosing down the fire while trying to cut through multiple layers of tough steel to get down to the spring bolts, so it doesn't stink up the shop too much.
Which is also one of the benefits of doing the hangers as well. At $15/hanger or so, you don't have to do nearly so much suck work. Chop the hangers, chisel the rivets, bolt in the new hangers, pop in the new springs, done. How much is your time worth?
It's also lovely how the fuel filler is right at where the driver's side front hanger is.
Look at the bright side - you have ample warning and can thus do the repair at YOUR convenience. You're still mobile, after all.
Remove the brken spring from the pack, but do the same thing on both sides.
I'd be more concerned with that spring perch taking a vacation from the frame. (happened on my Ranger).
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