Doin the 63" Chevy leaf swap.

[Woods-Rider]

Sasquatch_Ryda, got any more pics of those shackles you built?

 

[Sasquatch_Ryda]

Hmm mine didn't have that crossmember there, but if you stuff the holes with some grade 8 bolts you'll be golden. I can get you some more pics of the shackle if you want, I just extended the stock shackle so it was 7.5" eye to eye. My chevy leafs didn't have much arch to them either, I also took the overload out the of pack aswell on mine. I'm running the chevy leafs with the stock block plus my extended shackle for about 5" of lift, so the cehvies give you about 2-3" of lift.

 

[Woods-Rider]

And yet another problem. I ground down one of the rivets on the front hanger all the way but couldn't pop it out so i drilled a 7/16" hole all the way through and still can't get it out. How do i get it out of there??? In the pic you can see the outline of the rivet around the hole so i know i have it ground down all the way.

 

[wahlstrom1]

I cut the heads off with a torch and used and air hammer to take them out....use a large drift (big punch) and knock them out with the BFH.

-andrew

 

[Dishtowel]

In the past I have drilled the rivet just as you have then if the BFH couldn't bother it I cut a slot in it with the torch. Like so.

 

[CopyKat]

Drill it 1/2". Better yet drill all of them 1/2"

That's what I did.

 

[Woods-Rider]

I dont have a torch and the only 1/2" bits i have are chepo chinese ones that don't cut worth shi*. I got one out (came out pretty easy for some reason) but the other three are being stubborn. I am trying the BFH approach with a punch wuth not much luck.

 

[95XL]

Try using an air chisel, those things work great for getting those rivets out.

I would take the bed completely off, makes things way easier, you've already done the hard part anyways by taking the bolts out of it, all you need to do it unplug the lights and take the three screws out of the gas filler neck.

I have a std. cab short bed also, and there was no interference with the cab mounts for me either, I take it only the ex. cabs have that problem.

 

[Woods-Rider]

I did decide to take the bed all the way off, its hanging in an oak tree in our front yard building style points for the nieghborhood lol.

That air chisel worked great, now for the other 6 lol.

 

[Woods-Rider]

Got both hangers off (damn, that was a lot of grinding and drilling) then went to mark the new holes to drill and discovered this.

the holes are not the same distance apart on both sides. since the holes on both sides are lie on parallel lines i thought i could just use both existing forward holes for the rear bolts on the hanger. here's what the top rear hole looks like when the bottom rear holes are lined up.

Do you guys think i can just drill a new hole there anyways and it will be fine?

 

[Sasquatch_Ryda]

hmmm I never realized how different the hangers were on the newer ones. I think you would be fine to drill a hole and run a bolt through there with a flat washer.

 

[Woods-Rider]

Good cuz thats what im startin now after 5 glasses of wine and 4 beers from a family dinner. (gonna be an uncle in about 3 weeks)

 

[Sasquatch_Ryda]

The other 3 bolt holes you drill will keep it from moving around, so you should be fine with one so so bolt hole like that. If you were worried about it you could drill another hole in the bracket below that one and drill another hole in the frame so all the bolts have a proper hole.

Congrats on the uncle status!

 

[reddog5]

I welded the holes closed and drilled new ones. If you drill new holes with the exissting use some large washers to maximize surface area.

 

[Woods-Rider]

Got the hangers bolted in their new locations and the springs in. I thought i could use my stock U-bolts but the thread doesn't go down far enough so i either have to get new ones tomorrow or just keep the stock block. anyone know how long i would need to make the shackles if i wanted 6" of lift from the new leafs and shackles? I should probably just keep the stock block so i only need to make up for removing the 4" block. what do you guys think? oh and some pics.