Rear leaf help

Hey guys tomorrow im tackling my rear leafs :S was wondering if there is any tricks or tips in removing a few leafs and putting in new center pins and u bolts.
Idealy i want to leave the main spring (the one attached to the shackles) in the truck and try and do it that way or am i just asking fro trouble?

Thanks Dru

Been there, done that. I removed the top overload and that 1" thick sucker on the bottom. I had new U-bolts made at a local spring shop for $41, a lot less than off-the-shelf ones at GM, plus these have tall nuts. Get the right length center bolt, then grind the head round until it fits into the spring pad hole. I put a dab of Lok-Tite on mine to make sure they stay put. I'm also going to run a 2" drop hanger and a pair of 2" drop shackles, should be about 5" of drop.

Very easy to do with some trial and error. I would advise you start by only pulling one or two leaves from the main spring pack and go from there (its a lot easier to trim more off the center pin and U-bolts as you go than it is to go buy more because you had to add leaves back in). My Dodge has the overload pack and the second (counting the main) spring removed and it leveled it out with the front.

Actually got this done and it wasn't to bad did it in an afternoon just me and a buddy truck was dropped a lil over 3 inch by just taking leafs out (took out 20 a side in total) now i'm just looking into getting a shackle and hanger kit to go with y front spinals

Glad it worked out for ya. I had forgotten that the older chevy's had so many of the thin springs per side.