Help! how do you do this? I have the left tire off, I have the Ubolts off. I cannot get the leaf spring pact to separate from the axle housing? Do the two bolts on top of the leaf springs come off? I need some step by step advice please.

 

This subject has been beaten to death... The search button will be your best bet..

 

I have searched but cannot find the info needed to install the blocks.

 

Be glad to help as I did the opposite, removed my blocks for 2WD Ubolts. Once your ubolts and hardware are off, there is a bolt on top of the axle housing, this is the wrist pin that goes through the U-Bolt carrier plate. This is what helps hold the leafs together in alignment. Remove the wrist pin (actually it's just a regular threaded bolt), lift up the leafs, install your block, and reinstall in reverse using the longer 4WD Ubolts. Your existing bolts and hardware can be re-used. Hope this helps! By the way, make sure you have jackstands under the rear portion of the ladder frames and use a floor jack to manipulate the pumpkin. Take your time, you will need good patience to re-align the leafs back up so the wrist pin will drop back down. Do one side at a time, obviously. Good luck!

 

It's the wrist pins that won't come out. There are two on top of each spring. They just turn and turn but will not loosen. Anybody experience this problem? Is my truck different than others in terms of the way the leaf springs are held onto the axle housing?

 

Look below the axle housing. The pins are held on by nuts, which will ultimately sit inside the blocks.

 

You shouldn't need to even take out the pins. All I took out was the U bolts and that's it! You probably have the rear of the truck lifted wrong. If you have the tire off, then you probably have it lifted by the rear axle which is not right. You must lift the rear of the truck by the FRAME, therefore letting the axle hang down and take ALL load off of the rear axle to allow the leafs to unload and pull off the rear axle.

 

This sounds like the solution to me as well.

 

look daddy I can change rear blocks....(mentally challenged voice)

 

Thanks for all the input guys. I'll try it again today.

 

I have the tire off with one jack under the axle so I can lower it and one jack under the frame to raise it. I took off the U-bolts and jacked up the frame with one jack and lowered the axle with the other. The axle lifted up off the jack as I jacked the frame up higher. Their was no separation between the leaf spring and axle.

 

Here is how I did it and it was simple.

1. Jack up the rear of the truck up from the transfer case and support it with jack stands on the FRAME. Need to jack up kinda high cause you gotta let the axle drop down pretty far to get the axle to seperate from the leaf springs.

2. Pull of both tires.

3. Disconnect both bottom of both shocks

4. Take the U-bolts off one side. On the other side just loosen them as much as you can but, but enough so they are still on. This will keep the axle from getting away from you when you lower it.

5. Lower the axle until the side you took the U-bolts off completely seperates and install the block. Jack up the axle and make sure the holes line up. I had to give it a few kicks to line up.

6. Reinstall the ubolts, but just get them started just like you did with the other side.

7. Go to other side take off the u-bolts and repeat and your done.

Took me about an hour to finish the job. Its a piece of cake.

 

I am starting to believe that there is something different on my truck. No way the leaf spring will separate from the axle without removing the two pins that go through the springs. The pins are head down with two nuts on top of the leaf spring that are screwed onto the pins. The whole pin turns when I try to undo the nuts and I cannot see anyway to secure the top of the pin to keep it from turning. Also, I can't see how the blocks are going to fit with those pins positioned like that.

 

The torque spec for the U-bolts is 85 foot-pounds. You should re-torque them in a few hundred miles or a couple of weeks. They will stretch slightly once they have been on a while.

 

The factory blocks have depressions on one side for the pins to fit in. The othe side of the blocks have protrusions in the same location the pins would be to fit in the holes of the spring pad on the axle. It is not necessary to remove the pins from the spring pack. If the axle won't come loose from the springs just give it a couple of swift kicks.