Hey everyone, I'm putting in the Rough Country 3" lift on my '85 pickup, but I'm stuck (literally) at getting the dang stock springs off of the frame. The bolts at the front eye and the rear hanger where it goes through the frame are impossible to move, seems like the thing that would be hanging everything up would be the old bushings. Anyone have any ideas or tricks to getting these things out?
Thanks, Cody Williams

The bolt and that outer flange are 1 piece and I had the same problem, I couldn't budge the bolts. So I used a huge pair of channel-lock pliers, grabbed that flange and just turned the flange back and forth, then pried on it some with a pry bar, and more of the same til it worked it's way out. I ended up buying new spring pins (that's the OEM term for the bolts).

Sounds like that's what I'll have to do. Any advice for the rear of the spring where it goes through the frame?

See the last Q&A on the page below for some ideas:
http://www.4crawler.com/4x4/TLCA_TruckTech/TruckTech.04.01.html

I've gotten some out with a torch, and had to sawzall others out. They never come out without one of the two above options if they are original springs. The bolt gets rusted and seizes itself to the sleeve inside the spring bushing. You have to cut both ends of the bolt off to get the spring off, and then press/heat/beat the bushing out.

Thanks for the info guys, finally got the 1st spring free after working on it for 4+ hrs. Just lots of prying, sweating, banging, and swearing! Only 3 more to go.....

the very front bolts... front leaf springs. I just welded a nut to the spring pin the heat and ability to get a hold on them did wonders.

Just went through this. Instead of fighting it, just get a grinder with a cutting wheel, slide it inbetween the spring and the frame mount and cut that dang bolt right off, takes maybe 5 mins, but that darn bushing sure stinks as your cutting the bolt off! <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/zombie.gif" alt="" /> As for the front bolt and it's funky mounting setup, I just made a replacement, took an hour or so and came out pretty good, than I just welded that sucker on so I could use a normal bolt. When you get the old one off, you'll notice it just looks like a big washer attached to that plate/bolt assembly. Good luck. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/kewl.gif" alt="" />

Thanks again for all the advice guys! I just ordered new shackles for all springs from Marlin Crawler, and I've decided I'm not going to mess around with the other front pin-I'm gonna cut that sucker off, save the plate, and fab up a new bolt with the old plate. Funny how these jobs grow and grow-I also decided that rather than mess around with using the brake line extender that came with the kit, it's the perfect time to replace the ratty old brake lines with new braided stainless ones. Good thing this isn't a daily driver!

I just went though the same problem. It's caused by the bolt rusting itself to the sleeve in the bushing. Had the same problem with the torque rod bushing.
Tried a sawsall and only ate up blades because it's a hardened bolt. Finally broke out an angle grinder with a thin cutting wheel, pushed the spring over as far as I could and cut the bolt. I repeated this on the other side of the spring. Make sure you have a full tank of gas before grinding!!
I lubed up the shanks of the new bolts as well as the bushing sleeve with moly coat. New bolts (2) from the dealer were about $8. Couldn't quite torque the passenger side without removing the fuel tank.
Had to replace the rear shackles also because the shafts were pretty well rusted away. The shackles are sold as kits for $45 each at the dealer and include the bushings, nuts and washers.