Spring has sprung and time for new springs on the CUCV's

Now that the plows have been removed and stored in my garage it is time for some major rebuilding of the CUCV plow trucks. I have all new springs for both the CUCV pick up trucks. Things have not been going well during the spring removal. First bolt broke off flush. The other came out with the impact and wrench. The broken one I suppose I will just cut the main spring eye out and get the bolt out that way. I have not been able to losen the nut on the inside because I have no wrench that stays attached to the nut. It is supposed to be 7/8" but it just slips and a 13/16" is to small. i tried a 21MM and a 22MM same deal. The torch don't care what size it is. I just hate the gooey rubber what gets all over everything when I torch the eye mounts out. I do not know of any other way. i would weld but it is flush and I see pain and bloody knuckles if I keep messing with it. I will open the garage door and burn it out. I love the smell of burning rubber in the morning. Especially when the CUCV is burning rubber. Any ideas will be considered. Torching is the easy way out.

I've had good luck cutting the bolt off with a sawzall. I put the blade between the eye of the spring and the spring mount on the truck frame and cut away.
On rusty New England trucks even if you get the nut off, the bolt is usually rusted to the metal bushing sleeve.
Good luck

I just spent an hour sawing away with Irwin blades on sawszall. No good sparks flying after 30 seconds cutting and blade is toothless. The torch is coming out.

cucvrus said:

I just spent an hour sawing away with Irwin blades on sawszall. No good sparks flying after 30 seconds cutting and blade is toothless. The torch is coming out.

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What springs are you using on the front. My rears still look good but the fronts are past the flat point. I have checked out some 4 leaf options but they are close to $200 per spring.

The front are 4 ply and they are $208.13 my cost each side. The rear are $310. each. I have bought 2 complete sets I am changing them on 2 CUCV trucks. Total to do both trucks with all new hardware and bolts is over $2500. Snow plow trucks are not an inexpensive item to properly maintain. That is just parts alone. If you are paying labor. I would be a bit scared.

cucvrus said:

The front are 4 ply and they are $208.13 my cost each side. The rear are $310. each. I have bought 2 complete sets I am changing them on 2 CUCV trucks. Total to do both trucks with all new hardware and bolts is over $2500. Snow plow trucks are not an inexpensive item to properly maintain. That is just parts alone. If you are paying labor. I would be a bit scared.

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Not paying labor. If I can do it my self I do it. Some times even if I dont know how I learn. Thats the advantage of older vehicles. Gunny really isnt used for any type of work and will never see mud or bad trails as long as I own him. I just like old military vehicles. I just want some that I won't have to replace in 2 years. Later in life he may pull a camper from time to time but thats still a ways away.

Do 1031's have the same 9/1 rear leaf setup as a 1028 or do they have an extra leaf giving them the extra 350lb or so payload increase?

They are the same springs. i was always wondering why an M1010 ambulance has a 9450 lb GVWR and an M1028A1 shelter carrier has a 9400 lb GVWR. The M1010 has no auxiliary leaf spring on top. But I am putting 3500 lb rear springs on both trucks I am working on.

I bought several different saw blades and was unable to cut the bolt on the front perch. So I used the torch. 10 minutes later and the spring was off. I ruined the main leaf but I did what needed done. I have the spring off. At this point going forward I am not going to just replace broken spring plies with old used unbroken spring plies. My experience doing it that way is a lot of work and it just comes back to bite you again. The job is bad enough to begin with. So I will just replace the entire set of springs in pairs and call it fixed. A bit expensive but a true fix. I done it on several trucks now and have been very happy with the ride and results. Good Luck. Have a great day.

A few people have asked me about the replacement springs for 2 CUCV M1008 trucks I have as plow trucks.
The springs for the front are Dayco 22-402HD GM HD front 4 ply. Non reverse arch. $208 each
The rear springs are Dayco 330 -148A GM HD rear springs. 9 ply including the heavy bottom one. $310 each.
Front shackle kit with the bushings/bolts/nuts /washers/ and shackles for rear of front spring Dayco 330-103 $29. each
16 9/16" flat washers Dayco SFW-916.25 each
8 9/16" X 4 1/2 hex head bolts $3.78 each
8 9/16" Nylok nuts coarse .78 each
8 Dayco 8T5822 5/8" X 22" threaded rod rear axle U-Bolts $7.86 each
36 Dayco 58DN 5/8" deep nuts .85 each
4 rear bottom axle plates cast steel. Dayco 338-833 $18. each Beats the pants off of rusty parts.
6 Dayco 8T5818 5/8" threaded rod U-Bolts $7.28
4 Dayco 8T5820 Threaded rod U-Bolts $7.35 each.

This set up and parts order is to upgrade the springs on 2 trucks. They are getting new shocks and tires on both trucks. I am putting new Goodyear Duratrak tires on both trucks. Well Big Red is getting the new tires and the gray dually is getting the 4 used Goodyear Duratrak tires on the rear from big red and 2 new front Goodyear Duratraks on the front. All tires are in stock size LT23585R16. I run Big Red on the interstate 5 days a week and off road everyday in a 55 acre stone assembly plant lot. Tires last about 20K under the severe use. That is a good deal for a company truck that gets driven as hard as this truck. Pulling and hauling all the time.

I have 2 complete sets of front and rear springs for the 2 M1008 plow trucks. I bought every nut and bolt. It makes removal much easier and makes for a nicer job in the end. I will post pictures as I do the installation.

Slather the anti-seize compound on thick when you install your new hardware. It'll make it a lot easier the next time around.

This is the first round. next time in 30 years these trucks will be a chest freezer or a KIA. I am not going to even think about the next time they are worn out. I have these marked to go after a few more seasons of winters like we had this year. But I use nickel or copper never seize all the time. thank you.

I put on one new spring today. I left someone borrow the oxygen acetylene torch so I chose to stop and wait till it returns on Monday. I refuse to use the old hardware and struggle removing them nuts and U bolts. The torch is fast and easy. Free firewood trumped the leaf springs any way. How could I refuse. Look how close the trailer is to the wood.

cucvrus said:

View attachment 620483View attachment 620485I put on one new spring today. I left someone borrow the oxygen acetylene torch so I chose to stop and wait till it returns on Monday. I refuse to use the old hardware and struggle removing them nuts and U bolts. The torch is fast and easy. Free firewood trumped the leaf springs any way. How could I refuse. Look how close the trailer is to the wood.

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Looking good, when your done ill buy you a round trip airfare to come do mine lol

Don't say it if you don't mean it. I have 5 weeks vacation that I must use every year and I go places all the time to help people out. Go buy the springs i will bring the tools.

cucvrus said:

Don't say it if you don't mean it. I have 5 weeks vacation that I must use every year and I go places all the time to help people out. Go buy the springs i will bring the tools.

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I will keep it mind and take you up on it at some point

Today I had a little more time to work on the re-spring of my CUCV plow truck.
You really have to get used to the smell of burning rubber. The truck is in good condition just the springs are worn out. I am considering taking the dual wheel conversion off of it and making a newer narrower bed. it would be a lot more handy as a salt spreader and it looks like it needs a new body from the looks of the cross members of the body. 20+ years of salt spreading has taken its toll. The CUCV not all that bad. A few new brake lines some e-brake cables and new tires,exhaust should be good for a couple of years. I will finish the right rear spring tomorrow. Thanks for looking. If I bore you don't look. Take care.

This morning after a lot more torching and heating and very little cussing I was able to get the rear spring pack into the right rear axle. I also was able to remove the rear shocks and replace them with new ones. Without a torch this project would be impossible. I needed to heat every bolt I removed so far. The upper shock inner steel sleeve was frozen fast to the frame stud. No amount of penetrant oil would have freed it. The torch 2 minutes cherry red and off. Same as the front spring eye mounts. About a 1/2 hour each torching and heating and the bolts came out. They were waco ( we aren't coming out) for a bit but I used the persuader. The torch and the prying fork. With out an impact I would say you are limited to what you can do on rusty old truck springs like this. 0 band-aids and no burns. So I feel accomplished for the day. Have a great day. I will post pictures when I get cleaned up. I have a few other CUCV related projects to work on today. Have a great day. I love a pile of worn out springs after they have been removed from the truck. That is the hardest part.

For your viewing pleasure. I have been busy all day on CUCV projects. And some secret projects that I am not ready to share yet. Thank you for looking.