390bigblock1

well after xmas im going o replace my rear suspension, how hard is to do by myself and any tips will help. and how much am i looking at spending, its street car

bluovalguy

You can get the leafs from mustangs plus for $170, and front and rear shocks for 90. It is prettyeasy to change out the rear. The hard part will be the leaf spring front bolts. PITA. Do a search on those, there are tons of threads of people struggling with those. Other than that, it is pretty straight forward and simple swap.

mustangmatt63

Its a fairly easy straight forward job,It will cost you about $300 or less for the front and rear shocks and the leafsprings.Get someone to help you with it as the front bolts that hold the leafsprings are a nightmare to get in place!! Lots of luck with it!![sm=lildevil.gif]

JamesW

Just a pic to show you that you DON"T have to go this far....
Note where the jackstands are positioned under the rear framerails. You'll need to sets of jackstands....one set under the framerails and one set under the rear end. I used a floor jack under the pumpkin to raise both back wheels up about 12"...then placed the stands under the frame rails.
- Lower the rear end till it hangs on the springs
- Remove the shock plate and axle Ubolts
- Use the floorjack to raise the rear end slightly of the springs
- Set the rear end on jackstands.

Now you can remove the springs. Remove rear first..then front.

67mustang302

What are the alignment issues involved with changing the rear springs? The axle housing fits into a hole in the springs with a little bolt to line it all up, right? But is there play in it to change alignment? Will it need to be realigned?

390bigblock1

i would have some one help but all my friends are well mechanically retarded, o will i need an impact wrench to do with or can i do it by hand. just so no body asks im not changing the front because it brand new, and one of the back springs has gone bad my left side is 1 inch lower than the rigt

109jb

390bigblock1,

An impact wrench might help but isn't absolutely necessary. How hard it is depends on how rusted it is. To put it in perspective, I just removed mine a few months ago and it took 2 evenings, one broken 1/2" drive ratchet wrench, about a dozen sawzall blades, and countless profanities to get the front spring bolts. Mine were so rusted that one side wouldn't even turn which is how I broke the ratchet (with a 3 foot cheater). The other side I got the nut off, but couldn't get the bolt to budge from the eye bushing. I then resorted to the sawzall. The problem is it's awkward work and I kept bending the blades to the point that they were toast. All in all I probably had 15 minutes removing the rear shackles and 6 hours on the front eye bolts. Others have reported that they spun theirs right out. No telling how bad yours will be until you try. If you don't run into the rust problems, it is a fairly easy job. Good luck and let us know how it goes.

John B.

390bigblock1

thanks, there's no rust on my front eye bolts the look really clean, and a dozen blades isnt bad, wen i took my roll cage out i went through about 50 of them

baddog671

Assuming the worst on the front eye bolts, go ahead and get the sawzaw, I wish I would have. You can also use a cutting wheel (minimum 6.5") to cut it, but then you'll be throwing molten rubber everywhere and make a hell of a stink. I used an assortment of impact tools, but standard will do too (perhaps get a cheater bar).

And get a bud to help you with the differential, its not fun pulling your back out on it.

green_blurr

Should you go 4 leaf --4 1/2 leaf or 5 leaf?