Torch and sledge hammer?

[dhbfaster]

On the other side of the car the spring went in perfect. This side...it's not aligned and it doesn't wrench in. After thinking about it, I remember this "bolt" was bent and I bent it back before I painted it. Now I know why...at some point something must have hit this spring mount hard. Difficult to see in the pic, but it's been pushed in and is not flat in the back. Also notice the gap to the right of the bolt. That's how far it needs to bend back.
So...what to do...I pounded on it a bit cold...doesn't budge. Should I heat it up with a torch and then see if it will bend back? I'm a little worried I will knock the car off the jacks. I could also wait and let the body shop do it, but....$$

[redfalken]

It might be a pain to tear up your interior (if you have anything installed) but, can you access the corner edge that is bashed in from the inside? You could try to hammer that back to position and the mount may be a little easier to move back.

Any way to wedge a hydraulic jack against the mount and something more solid to push it into place? Might be more effective than blows from a hammer.

[dhbfaster]

I'm not sure you see the issue. It's not the dent in the floor (although that might have happened at the same time), it's the bracket itself to the right of that. This time I put a red circle around the part of the bracket that is bent rearward...about 3/16" That bracket is thick steel. I put a sort of pink circle around where you can see the gap it is creating.
I tried putting a large crow bar just behind the end of the spring...I couldn't budge it enough to let me get it in. A hydraulic jack would be perfect, but I can't find anything to leverage it off of. I could just bend the bolt again, but it seems that would permanently put stress and a twist on the spring.

[redfalken]

I see now. Is there any pressure being put on the leaf spring? If it's just hanging there, can you position a jack somewhere to push the spring downward a bit, increase the arc? Maybe between that and the crowbar behind the eye of the spring, you can get that cup washer to go in.

Hopefully it won't make enough of a difference that the car sits crooked. At least with someone in the driver's seat.

[PhilC]

I'd return the spring mount to its correct position utilizing a "porta power" which, IMO, is the proper thing to do. It would take a lot of heat to release tension on that mount, and your undercarriage paint work will have to be repaired should you choose to take a torch to it.

If you don't have one (or access to one), you might be able to rig something up using a bottle jack and blocks of wood. You'll experience some spring back, so expect to have to go beyond the original factory position in order for it to line up when you release tension on the jack. Work in small increments until the spring back is where it needs to be. You don't want to undo your efforts if you go too far.

My $.02.

[Luva65wagon]

Don -

It's not clear what's going on with the leaf as it's going rear-ward. Is it already mounted to the rear-end or the rear shackles? Can you remove the leaf and get a bolt through without the leaf in the way?