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Hi All,

Looking for advice on the bushings used in the suspension.

All of my bushings are completely worn out. Are repro bushing sets available or do I need to find a machine shop that can rebush them?

Even the steel pivot point that is riveted to the frame is worn so that it has varying diameters along its length. Looking for recommendations to address that as well.

Thanks,
Dave

All bushings are available. I think I got all mine from Mike's A Fordable. Mac's and Snyders probably have them too. Make sure you clean out all your grease zerks before reassembly. Good luck

Freezing the new bushings for a few hours before installing helps them go into the spring ends a little easier. They shrink a little bit. Have fun

Yours look Good!!

The spring pivots can wear a heck of a lot on the bottom. I flipped my frame up-side down and welded and filed them back to round to fit the new bushings. It took some time but I don't believe they'll ever have to be done again in my lifespan.

I welded mine over head and filed them, not as easy as welding them inverted but I didn't have to take the truck apart to do it. You could remove them and have a machine shop bring them back to spec then bolt them back on with high grade bolts, getting them off is a challlenge.or you could make or find one of these

That looks like the perfect tool for the job!

Filing by hand seems like it would be almost impossible to get it completely round again.

Any info the tool or where the picture came from? Searching Perch tool does not result in anything useful that I found.

Thanks,
Dave

Filing by hand seems like it would be almost impossible to get it completely round again.

Any info the tool or where the picture came from? Searching Perch tool does not result in anything useful that I found.

The picture came from this web sight, I think the tool changed hands over this sight, I wonder if the present owner would be interested in loaning it out or selling it assuming he's through with it?
I'd be interested myself as I'm sure I did not get mine back to speck though they are one hell of a lot better.
John

Hand filing was only done on the final stages and it wasn't difficult as long as you have a new replacement bushing to use as a guide. I started at the out board edge and file until the bushing fit and then worked all the tight areas until the bushing could be slid right up to the pivot mount. after installing the bushing in the spring eye, a lot of grease and swearing, it slid on tight and moved like new. The spring will only pivot a few degrees in its life time but at least I know it has solid metal to support it.
Thinking back I probably spent ten hours a side to do it (clean, weld, grind, file, and sand smooth)but very satisfied with the results.
Best of luck!

Thanks for all the input.

I do not want to remove my spring pivots so I am going to weld them up to oversize and then give it a go at making the Arnold Read spring pivot sizer tool.

Here is a picture of what I am starting with.

Dave

My spring hangers were also badly worn with horrible flat spots just like the photograph. I ground the heads off of the rivets and removed the hangers. Welded them up and then re-machined them on a lathe. I still have to re-rivet them to the frame. I had material for bushings and made new ones to fit the pins.

I still have to re-bush my leaf springs. I didn’t realize the bushings were sold OTC.

Hi All,

I figured I would post a couple of pictures of my spring pivot repair.

You can see my currently badly worn spring pivots.

I TIG welded all around the pivot to build up the defects and then filed down some of the high spots before I used Arnold Read's concept to make a Spring Pivot Sizer Tool.

Here are the first pictures.

Dave

I modified the original design to operate with a drill.

I figured that it was going to be too many revolutions to do by hand.

For the shaft that threads on the end of the spring pivot, I used 1-1/2" hardened steel rod.

To make the tool, I used a length of 5-1/2" aluminum bar stock, counter bored it and put in bronze bushings with grease channels for lubrication under the bushings.

In between the bronze bushings is a void that is designed as a grease chamber. I drilled a hole from the outside into that chamber and fill it with oil as a constant lubricant and plug the fill port.

In the large counter bore at the cutting tool end, I put nylon fabric discs to catch any chips so they do not get under my bushings.

Dave

Here is the carbide cutter. It held up very well if I didn't take too big of a cut.

These pictures are showing the rough cuts to get it back down to size.

Dave

Once I got it almost to size (about 0.005" oversize), I polished it the rest of the down.

I wrapped the pivot with emory paper and then wrapped that with scotch brite and pushed it into the counter bore of the tool.

After the cutter marks were removed with the sandpaper, the scotch brite polished it the rest of the way.

Dave