Stock rear springs: putting them back in...
 

Has anyone else had one hell of a time getting the stock rear springs bolted back onto the trailing arms and onto the frame???

Man, what a pain. Getting them onto the trailing arms was easy, but once I jacked them up the top pigtail came no where near the hole in the frame. I had to use a bottle jack against the axle to push them far enough, then slowly work the bolt and clamp into place until it was tight....

Anyone know what to torque the bolts to?

Bolt for bottom of spring is 55 Ft lbs, upper bolt is 50 Ft lbs.

I havent done it before, but this is torque specs from my Haynes manual.

I leave the upper bolt and retainer loose while moving the lower in to place. It's easier to start the nut on the lower bolt then push on the spring while tighting everything down. If you tighten one side down before the bolts installed on the other... its a PITA.

I thought about that, but my problem is I'm too much of a neat freak. I painted everything, of course, and I was trying to keep things from getting ripped up. That's really why it was such a PITA.

thanks--

I feal your pain. The next time I try that I think I might disconect the pan hhard bar.

...well this was with the panhard bar disconnected! Remember this doesn't really have anything to do with the rear axle. It's just a process of wrestling with the trailing arms and rear springs. The axle simply sits in the ends of the trailing arms. I had the axle sitting on jack stands under the truck.