A few minutes of work tonight

I got the leaf springs back today, so fit them into place.

starting to look like a car again

Now I know if you work on cars you're thinking, "You got the springs back? What, did you get them re-arched?" No, I had the old bushings pushed out and the new ones pressed in at a local machine shop on their press. Only took a few minutes (and a few bucks) but having fought with old bushings before I knew that it simply wasn't worth my time to struggle with them.  Yes, yes, I whimped out. But I still have skin on my knuckles--at least for another day--and didn't hit myself on the thumb with a 5-lb hammer.

The springs are now in position. And since I'm working by myself, I came up with the brilliant idea (pats self on back) to put the rear end in place and up on jack stands before putting the springs in. Now all I have to do is lower it one side at a time into place on the springs--that's something I can do by myself. I'd never be able to get it in position over the springs by myself.

One thing I noticed that might come back to haunt me--the shackles (these are pieces of metal that hang down to support the rear of the leaf spring) are 3.5 inches on one side, and 3 inches on the other. Perhaps this is by design, but I'm thinking that at some point over the years a previous owner may have done that to compensate for a sagging spring. If that's the case (and it is uneven when I get everything in place) I'll have to find another pair so they match. [Update: this is by design on the Champion cars, supposedly to counteract the weight of the driver.]

More to come soon.