Rear spring neoprene bushing replacement

[Gulfstream Greg]

A royal pain in the . I had called a local RV dealer for a price. $440 . So I decided I would have to do it myself. I left the wheels on to support the axle. Getting the old out was a breeze. I positioned a screw type house jack under the frame to the rear of the spring. Then placed a 5 ton bottle jack on top of the spring so that I could jack against the frame. My shackles are longer than most because of the 4x4 and are basicly a welded box. The hinge pins only have a nut on one side, the other end (head) is pressed (hammered) into the shackle assembly. So I had to pound out the pins. Once I got it all apart I placed the neoprene bushings into their positions.

Big problem here, the width of the bushings in place is 1/4 inch wider than the shackle assembly. I looked at that and said "there is no way I am going to get that shackle on". Neoprene does not compress like rubber. I came up with a plan . I ground the ends of the shackle mounts so that they were wider at the very edges. I then used the weight of the rv to press them over and onto the spring and frame mounts containing the bushings. The bushings really did not like it though. They deformed a bit but seem to be ok. Took about 6 hours total to do both rear shackles. Now for the front mounts. The rears have the frame horizontal above the spring. The frame above the front end of the spring though is on a angle with no where to place the bottle jack. My conclusion is the the entire frame must be supported and the axle dropped from below with jacks. I gave up the idea for now of doing the front of the springs. Those might be best to have done at a shop that can raise the entire rig up. I hope to have a plan sometime later in order to do the fronts. I will need to support in front and behind the spring mounts and remove the wheels so that the axle will drop. My guess is the frame is strong enough to be supported just behind the rear spring but that seems like a lot of weight to place at one point. Any how another days project.

One of my biggest problems is I do not have a flat driveway. I have a tilty gravel driveway. Flat concrete would be the place do do this work.

Besides the work involved the body suffers, crawling around under, swinging sledge hammers in bad positions. Did I mention the upper 90 temps.

So my suggestion to anyone who would like to replace the rear spring bushings, Don't try this at home unless you have the equipment. My rig weighs 7000 pounds. Thats a lot of weight to be jacking around and supporting with jack stands.

Greg

[Gulfstream Greg]

So now that its done do I feel a difference? Oh Ya, big difference in the corners. Have not yet verified that the passenger side inside dual is not rubbing on the frame but next trip down the highway I will spray some white paint on the tire and see what shows up. I still have to do the front of the springs and I plan on replacing all the rubber bushings on the sway bar etc with polyurathane.

Greg