For some odd reason, the leaf springs were shipped via UPS and not on a pallet, just bare/loose (Purchased through, but not shipped from CJC).
They look like they were beat to **** pretty good on their journey across the country.
I contacted CJC with the pictures, and they had Deaver send me out a box of new spacer pads to replace them.
So this brings me to a point I should make about tackling the install yourself vs. taking it to a shop.
Things may not go perfect. You'll need to be able to handle the little unexpected things here and there.
Cross-shipping another set of leaf springs is not feasible haha. Honestly this was another thing I was pretty intimidated about, having never done it before.
New pads from Deaver.
I thought I was going to be all slick, using this transmission tailshaft dolly I'd built to roll around my LT1 assembly from my Firebird from...many...years ago.
In hindsight, maybe that was a little bit sketchy, but hey it worked. 2004.
Well that was a terrible idea from the beginning. Needed to be able to hold the center pin to keep it from spinning in order to get the nut off, so I had to lay it on its side.
Impact wrench probably would have handled that though.
Pads replaced, started stacking the leafs back on top of each other in the fancy cradle.
Intentions don't always equal execution.
Intention: I'll just put a cargo strap around it, cinch the leaf pack together, and then run the pin up through the bottom!
Execution: Spring pack topples over, falls apart, one end lands on my magnetic screw tray, and sends all the nuts, bolts, and crush sleeves flying all over the driveway and garage.
The leaf spring centering pin does not offer a lot of room to play with. It also gets beat to **** a bit, so a thread chaser is really helpful.
Advisable to clean up the nut and pin threads before putting it back in.
Stepped away for a few minutes to rethink my life choices. Remembered I had these clamps hanging on the garage door.
They were perfect. You can clamp each side down a little at a time, and keep the hole aligned as you go.