Rear End Makeover: Day 2: Starting Over

    Let's recap the things that needed attention:

        1. Axle sat too far back on the spring. About 4-5 inches off center. (wheel set nice in the wheel well)

        2. Stock spring pads too far outward to line up the new springs with the frame rails.

    These two things alone are enough to start over. I pulled the rear out from under the car today and spent the rest of the day planning and taking measurements.

    This is the approximate location of the new pads. You can see the springs would have missed the channel in the existing pads. The reason the old springs fit, they were narrrow and I believe tilted slightly to hit the channel in the pad.

Looks like they put some new brake parts in. I won't need to do much here. The existing brake lines look like they wee bent by hand and not very well at that, so I will probably replace them. If not now, later.

Here is my list in a nutshell....

     1.  I will cut off the original spring pads and grind the area smooth.
     2.  Locate the mounting position for the new pads.
     3. Mount the springs onto the axle in approximate location
     4. Grind off original driver side spring hangers
     5. Put it all back under the car and mark the new hanger locations
     6. Mark and drill new holes for the hangers and install.
     7. Check and adjust for proper pinion angle
     8. Once in position, spot weld the spring pads.
     9. Remove rear and springs for permanent welds
    10. Clean and paint
    11. Mount rear to car.

    I may need to grind rivets and remove the original parking brake brackets. I am thinking the hangers will shift to the back about 4-6 inches and that falls right at the brake brackets. Currently there is no parking brake on the car, so this will not be an issue, just more work!

   I think tomorrow I will focus on cutting off the existing pads from the rear. By the way, the rear weighs a ton! It's going to be interesting getting it all back under the car!