Front suspension reassembly

[ryanduel]

Hello all,

I recently took my front end all apart for rebuild, and now that its time to reassemble I want to make sure its done right. The question I have is, how do I ensure that the front springs are aligned correctly? The front spring perch has a lot of room, does the spring need to be centered in there? Also, how does the spring need to be on the "rear" shackle? I know in the back of the truck, the shackle has a certain amount of thread exposed, so Im assuming the front is the same way?

Thanks.

[MBF]

I've had mine apart to replace the front axle when I did the king pins and rear shackles. What I did was to mount both springs to the chassis loosely with the new hardware pieces you are installing. I then jacked the axle into place with the new king pins and spindles installed. After putting on the U-bolts, I tightened everything down (u-bolts, front spring mount, rear shackles and shock mounts). After mounting the brake concentrics, and backing plates, I continued on with the assembly. Like you, I noticed that there was a little side to side movement at the front spring mounts. My feeling, and I could be wrong here, is that if you have new front spring bushings, and new front bolts that fit tightly that there isn't going to be much chance for movement once everything is cinched down. I'm sure someone will speak up if I did something wrong. Mike

[ggdad1951]

on my rebuild, if there was any space I centered the part. For the rear shackles there is a spacing called out in the shop manuals. I know there is a thread on here dealing with that from when I was doing mine.