built67

Well, my friends boss has a torch I might be able to use. Where should I cut this? Down the middle of the eye? I don't wanna cut the floorboard or the frame which I'm nervous that ill accidentally do.

jaw1962

I had the same problem, could not get my angle grinder in at the right angle. I was "this close" to getting a torch from my brother's company. Because I was not able to get the torch for a couple days I got impatient and desperate. Believe it or not, I started in with a dremel tool, cutting small pieces out until I made enough room to get my angle grinder in to complete it. Took a while and a couple metal cutting disks but I got it.

jgemperline

I used a 4.5" iirc cutting blade on angle grinder to cut the bolt on both sides of the spring between shackle and spring. Use a razor to cut away rubber. I used a torch first but after a rubber fire I decided to try a sawzaw to no avail ( $15 in blades and only scratched it). Good luck.

built67

I cut the bolt between the eye and the outer part of the bracket but my grinder can't totally reach between the frame and the eye so 3/4 of the bolt is still intact. The head of the grinder hits the eye. Getting a dremel and cutting away the eye sounds like a good idea. I can cut some pieces away to give my grinder more clearance to get to that bolt. I tried drilling out the bolt but it didnt work. What kind of dremel did u use, just a regular one?

jgemperline

Dang! If I may suggest a bigger cut off wheel 5 or 6"
http://www.mcmaster.com/#cutoff-wheels/=dw9t8o
May be worth a try. You will need to remove your guard for this so be safe. Watch your fingers and protect your eyes.

built67

Thanks! Definitely going to look into that bigger wheel. Might pick up a dremel and try to get to it with that if i can or at least cut away at the eye to make room for the grinder like jaw1962 did.

rtintwo

If you go with the bigger disk i would suggest a bigger grinder, if you have a harbor freight near you they have 6" grinders for 30 bucks.

Also deffinatly wear a pair of heavy leather gloves. I cut my index finger with a cut off disk and had to get 4 stiches and cut a nerve so now the outside half of my finger always has a pins and needles feel to it.

When i cut my spring out i used a torch. I made 3 cuts on each leaf. One right where the leaf joined to the eye, this let me rotate the eye around. Rotated the eye and made a second cut so i was able to pull a third of the metal off. rotated the eye again and made a third cut, i was able to pull the rest of the metal off in two peices. Next i cut the rubber off giving me clear access to bolt to cut it out. You should be able to do this same thing with the grinder.

jaw1962

yup. just a regular dremel tool with a heavy duty metal cutting disk. it was small enough to get it there and cut small pieces away

built67

finally cut them out woooo!!! used an angle grinder, a sawzall (and 50 bucks worth of blades) and some heat from a regular torch to get them out. i have one small problem tho...on the driver side leaf spring where the shackle bushing goes through the frame i noticed theres a metal tube type of thing that is welded to the frame (this is where you place the upper shackle bushings)...well, when i removed my driver side leaf that entire tube came out (it was a clean break) right from the frame. it only happened on the driver side tho. i slid the tube back in and figured i could bolt up the suspension and then when the swap is done drive it to my friends shop to put it on a lift and get it welded into place. is this a big ordeal or easy fix?

built67

also, how do i swap the ebrake cable from my old rear to my new one without cutting it?