The maintance is killing me

Holy moly the maintenance is killing me, In the last couple of months. I replaced the fuel pump, brakes and rotors, starter and solenoid on TM, pump on multi sprayer, motor for Orbot, spark plugs (pain in the ass on a ford van) and a now leaf spring on the van broke.

The van is leaning to on side pretty bad. If Im starting up a hill I have to go really slow or the broken leaf spring will rub against the floor of the van. Im not going to cancel all of this work I have scheduled. Have you guys every replaced leaf springs? I should be receiving them next week. I went with a heavier duty spring. Any words of wisdom? Is your equipment holding up

Done a lot of them. A couple of things:

Around here, it is a rust nightmare and normally ends up going South as a result. Shouldn't be the case in your area.

You will need air tools or be unhappy. Good compressor and impact is almost a must.

Make sure the new springs come with teflon spacers or the springs will creak forever.

Just make certain that they go one straight. Look for bent hangers or anything else that might leave it a little crooked...you don't want that.

Just get the van in the air SAFELY. HD jack stands only! I don't see you having any problems since you will not have rust issues. Around here, that job always includes welding and cutting.....miserable job.

What Rob said.

I'll add, replace the Ubolts if they look rusty at all. They are cheap enough I would not mess with them too much. I'd also add an extra leaf, maybe two, to each side. I'd bet they broke because you are maxing out on weight.

Yeah these springs have an extra leaf hopefully they'll last another 5 years with the TNT in the van and the off reading that I do on occasion.

No air tools here It doesn't look rusty under there but I think Ill just let the mechanic take this one unless its crazy expensive

Yup, let the mechanic handle it ! You wouldn't ask your customer to clean their carpets themselves ? Why should you do mechanic's job yourself ??

Good point about the U-bolts....here is another tip on those. Always double nut them and saw off the extra threads. If you ever drag a u-bolt they bend and then you will have to cut them off to remove them again.

Oh heck, just go all out and jack that thing up.

Since the last time I posted my Orbot shorted out and the pump on my multisprayer

I had to put cleaning solution in my water box to get through some jobs.

Yesterday I jacked up the van to take a look at the leaf springs and dropped it back down and said the hell with it. I called the mechanic and he 250.00 for the labor I steal as far as Im concerned

That is a steal of a deal Mo. If it makes you feel any better, it just cost me $1100 to replace ball-joints and stabilizer bushings on the van. I was hoping for just bushings, but somehow knew that luck would not be on my side.

I'm with Rob, 250 and piece of mind with no skint knuckles. Great deal.