gears and install kits showed up yesterday! also picked up some orange high heat engine paint to paint the axles and leaf springs with!

anybody paint leaf springs before? should i take them apart to paint them? or just paint them still together..

 

I just hit mine with black paint anytime I'm in the area and have a can of paint in my hand lol! It's your truck but are you sure you wanna go orange under there lol!

 

yea. new paint scheme will be black and orange. roof will be orange, body will be black rhino liner, suspension will be orange, and thinking about orange wheels (will probably just use plasti-dip at first to make sure i like the wheels before i paint or powdercoat my brand new pro-comps)

 

update.. finally got the k5 body/frame out of the garage. pulled apart the rear diff yesterday. fluid actually looked fairly clean, and very little metal shavings on magnet. locker looks in excellent shape as well! going to install the new gears this weekend and replace the brakes on it. first time doing gears.. have done a lot of research so i think i have a pretty good understanding on how it goes.. wish me luck! next friday i will be ordering the sky sas kit for it. thank god for bonus checks! lol

 

so... lost my job a week after my last post.. project has been at a stand still since no extra money coming in. BUT now i am working again, so once savings is built up a little bit more the swap shall continue!

 

Rex actually gave me his old stock ones. I just painted them all together. So far it is holding up okay.

 

Sorry to hear about the job loss... Congrats on the new job!

I have painted my 3 or 4 different sets of leaf springs while together. Hell I am to the point where I just touch up everything under my truck with a rattle can whenever I see a faded area and I do it without much discretion for overspray on anything from the body down lol!

 

I've done them both ways.

If you're going for a "high quality full restoration," you might want to take them apart. If you'd rather be driving it, you don't have to disassemble.

Any rattle can will do for painting them assembled. Maybe put a touch of Vaseline in the groove between the leaves, to keep the paint from sticking them together, and then clean it all off after paint.

If you want to take them apart and paint all the surfaces of all the leaves, the best thing I've found is brush on Rustoleum paint, first coat(s) applied normally, following the directions, but for the last coat, I "thin" the stuff 10-15 percent (one part in ten or maybe one part in eight) with straight 30 weight, non-detergent motor oil. The oil gives a bit of slip to the surface, and takes away from the tackiness that Rustoleum paint is known for. Also, if you have them apart, replace the little plastic/nylon pads at the ends. Doorman has replacements, available almost everywhere pretty cheap.

If you get paint on the rubbing surfaces of the leaves, there's always a potential for squeaks and noises. Be careful. That's why I mix oil in the final coat, to avoid excessive squeaks and groans.