How difficult is it to change the front leaf spring bracket? Looks pretty simple...jack up the body and remove three bolts. Is there spring pressure still there, after the body is up, or will the bracket simply unbolt and hang there?

Thanks.

If you lift the car too high, obviously by the body, then it can pop down when you finish removing the three bolts. Make it so that the rear tire barely starts to lift from the floor. Then, when the the bolts are removed, lift it as high as needed to remove the bracket.
**Remember to unbolt the shock absorber first, so the leaf spring can swing down.

ditto, also if you're taking those apart for the first time... it is possible that the frame-clip nuts are going to be rusted/broken so that they will be a bear to put back together... when the clip breaks, nothing holds the nut to keep it from spinning. You can get replacements at the restoration shops for something around $5.

It's not as easy as it looks :(

When you take the bolts off, the spring arcs which pulls the bracket rearward.

The bolts will have pressure on them too. I bolt the fronts on 1st, then the shackles.

Luck!

I thought maybe once the car was up in the air, the spring would be arched all the way and it would basically just drop. Not true?

Depends on how old the springs are. I bought new ones (1 set multi and 1 set mono) and when the front of the spring is bolted up, I could not bolt up the rear shackles without jacking up the rear end. This pushed the rear spring eye back along the frame rail until I could get the shackle bolt in. Maybe yours will go smoother.

Can anyone give specific suggestions on where to position the jack to raise the body of the car? Can I even do this with only a hydraulic floor jack?

I am trying to avoid taking a day off work and a trip to the shop. Plus, it would be kind of cool to do it myself, if possible.

I do not want to get the spring bracket unbolted, and not be able to get it back together, though. This is the reason for all the questions. Thanks.

First, why do you want to change the front leaf spring brackets??

To do it!!

I jacked my car up so that I could support it using pieces of 2x4 about 12 to 15" long or so under the rocker panels on each side just in front of the rear wheel openings!! Then I put my mounted, great big L-60's under each side of my car in front of the mounts and then used 2x and 1x wood cribbing to make DARN sure that it couldn't FALL ON ME!!! (Wedge it up solid sorta thing!!!)...

THEN I put on a good pair of side shield SAFETY GLASSES and a dust mask and then laid on my back and stuck my head up under the sucker so I could see what I was doing AND then started grinding the heads off all the bolts!! (A long sleeve shirt here helps the spark burn thing, too!!)...

I used my trusty, el-cheapo, Harbor Freight Tool 4.5" angle grinder to grind all (6) of the bolts off b/c all of my clips broke!!

I even think I used a full face shield too but it's been several years ago??

I also think I had one of my el-cheapo trolley jacks under the pumpkin of my rearend to help take the load off the bolts..

This is not all that hard a job, but it still is right up there with changing motor frame mounts that are on the subframe!! (Say, from SB mounts to BB!!)...

THE MAIN THING is to BE CAREFUL!!!

Been there, done that!!!!

pdq67

PS., the reason I lifted my car on the rockers is b/c I would normally have used the spring mounts but can't b/c I am taking them out and there really is no solid place in front of or around them to lift and support by..

You will see what I mean once you get your car up in the air high enough to work on it..

AND AGAIN, I CAN'T STRESS SAFETY ENOUGH HERE!!!

One of my spring mount brackets is a Nova bracket. It sits the body one inch higher on that side, so that is why I want to do the change.

My car is a restored car, and this bracket is obviously not original to the car, so I do not anticipate problems with getting the bolts out.

My main concern is getting the bracket off, and not being able to get the spring lined up, because of the arch in the spring.

I don't see much problem on that. If one can replace the leaf springs without any arch concern, then you shouldn't have problems with what you want to do. The worst scenario, unbolt that rear shackle, but I don't think thats needed. If that rear end side shifts to the front, then you'll need to figure a way to push it back enough to re attach the bracket bolts.

Is anyone that has done this job using the rear subframe right next to and inide of the front spring brackt? I was planning on using this part of the car to hold it up when I replace my springs here in the next few weeks.

I have learned a lot about this job on this site and have several posts asking for info.

Thanks much for the reply!