47-55.1 Master Cylinder/Booster HELP!!

[dsraven]

yeah, that's what I meant, front end is on stands but not necessary to be under the springs as long as it is level side to side or match the side to side angle that is at the rear, on the frame rails. it should also mimic the rake angle that it has when sitting on the floor. rear has the weight of the truck on the springs back there so it would be just like it would be when sitting on the floor. bounce the rear a few times to ensure it is "set". center the axle between the frame rails and triangulate it to ensure it is square with the frame. you can use a plumb bob and mark the floor under the measuring points for that. find a center point at the front, drop a line and mark the floor. drop a line from matching points on the rear axle on each side. measure the dimension from the center point to each rear point, they should be really close. measure the angle of the trans and engine and then reverse that angle for the rear axle pinion. you could use a pipe wrench to turn the axle but that would likely mark the paint unless you wrap the axle with something first. get it where you want it, tighten down the u bolts, bounce the rear a few times, remeasure. if good tack weld. road test. weld if good. if there is a vibration found later you can shim the axle with wedge shims and retry until the vibe is manageable. check the driveshaft for straight as well. a couple of home made v blocks will work and be cheap. use a pencil-crayon-chalk held stationary and brought closer the the shaft as the shaft is slowly rotated. this will show where the shaft is out of round if it is bent.

[NeoJuice]

Thanks again for the tips DsRaven. I'll keep everyone updated once I have more time to work on the truck.

[NeoJuice]

Last month my buddy came over and we got working on the truck. We first removed the U bolts then used the floor jack to lift the rear off the perches.

Once the perches were out we used the grinder to remove paint from the perches and diff. Put the perches back down on the leaf springs and lowered the diff back down.

We then did some side to side measurements until it was perfect and were able to move the 'pumpkin' up into almost the correct angle. We then installed the drive shaft and installed the c clamps to secure the drive shaft to the pinon. He then used his angle tool on the tranny, drive shaft and pinion yoke to get the correct pinon angle. Once that was set he layed a good tac weld to hold everything in place.

Once the tac welds were done we re-checked the angles and side to side and we then determined it was ready to go. He burned a good weld onto the each side of the perches to the diff. Once we cleaned up the welds we re-installed the U bolts into the lower shock bracket and torqued to spec. So now that job is done I'll shoot some black paint over the welds come spring time.