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bwest
Administrator

United States
3820 Posts

Posted - 04/26/2013 :  08:57:37 AM  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
How do you handle rear springs? I have installed rear springs on school buses for several years. When I started I was in my 20s and didn't think a thing about wrestling them around by hand. Now that I'm a little older than that I try to do things "smarter not harder". I have been using an engine hoist/ cherry picker but it is a little awkward to deal with. What do you guys use to life the spring pack off the axle?
Thanks

Wolf0r
Top Member

USA
2181 Posts

Posted - 04/26/2013 :  09:11:03 AM  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
I'd send it out. Not worth getting injured over if something goes wrong. Last guy I sent to Northside Spring in Evansville it was under $400.

“The good thing about science is that it's true whether or not you believe in it.”
Neil deGrasse Tyson
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sob
Senior Member

USA
91 Posts

Posted - 04/26/2013 :  09:21:01 AM  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
I'm sounding smart a**, but I use gravity to get them off and then, when I do the install, I hook the spring over the axle. Then use a roll around cart, the ones you use to do brakes, setting the other end onto the stool, then go around behind and lift and pull. That way you are only lifting half the weight at a time. Now having said all of that, there's probably a better method.
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bwest
Administrator

United States
3820 Posts

Posted - 04/26/2013 :  10:00:43 AM  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
You guys are funny. I don't do too bad with the hoist but it is kind of a trick to get it hooked up right and you can't lift it too far before the top of the hoist hits the top of the fender. The hoist I use is my personal property that I have to bring from home when I need it. I have some grant money to spend and this has been on my mind, so I was wonder what other people do. I have seen hoists that have a remote pump and I have run across some long jacks (similar to what's in a hoist) that are air driven. I am thinking about having the local machine/ fabrication shop build one for me that will be a little shorter and have an angled boom on it. With the bent boom I think I can get in there and raise it higher and not hit the top of the fender.

Bryan
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Brad Barker
Administrator

USA
874 Posts

Posted - 04/28/2013 :  10:21:22 AM  Show Profile  Click to see Brad Barker's MSN Messenger address  Reply with Quote
Bryan,
You are right on track. If you don't have a bus hoist, a modified arm on the cherry picker works well. I used a couple of old u bolts and welded a chain to the top of the U, then made a flat plate to span the threaded ends and used u bolt nuts to hold it on. With the bus frame supported on jack stands, axle supported on a floor jack and tires off, the spring can be manuevered through the wheel opening and set on the axle. This is still a hard job but this is the safest way I have found and sure saves the back. Make sure you follow OHSA guidelines.

Brad A. Barker
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