Leaf spring isolators/cushions/inserts?
 

I have a 2003 2 door 4WD stock Blazer. I see in Rock Auto/ and other parts catalogs a listing for rear leaf spring isolators or cushions. They look like a flat mushroom with a stem to insert and retain in a hole in the spring leaf. It is not clear how many you need for the two rear leaf springs or whether they will fit on my SUV. I have done several searchs and get very sketchy info. The rear springs are sagging, but not to the extent that they need replacing, just a refresh.
Any suggestions on where to find them, part no.s , and best deal. How hard are they to install? What is the proper name for them?

Here's a Rock Auto cat. /Dorman product . Rock calls it an insulator. Dorman calls it an insert. It is a 2.5 " round disc with a center nub to locate it on the leaf.
https://www.rockauto.com/catalog/mor...nid=512&jpid=1

Just wondering if you put these in? I'm looking at replacing mine
and can't find any info for installing. Anyone changed these?

No, I haven't yet. I haven't bought them either. The rear springs on my '03 are starting to lose their arch. I don't want to go to the time, expense and effort to replace them, so I want a cheap and easy alternative. Just a refresh! I was hoping this would be the answer. Anyone out there know if this is a worthwhile project? Anyone done this and recommend it or not recommend it? I haven't tried separating the spring leaves so have no idea how to do it. Please let us hear from you. Thanks, Jim

Those won't help sagging at all.

Those discs are to replace the isolators/cushions in your stock springs. If you look closely at your springs, you'll see them sandwiched between the leaves, near the ends. You'll see the holes they set in at the end of each leave. When they get old, they sometimes crack and fall apart and fall out. When that happens, your springs will rattle loudly when you drive over bumps. Those are replacements to fix the rattle issue.

They also provide a bit of "slipperiness" between the leaves, reducing the stiffness a bit and letting things bounce and slide.

So I had the Blazer jacked up today and took a closer look.
From my brief examination this looks doable.
Went ahead and ordered some insulators from RockAuto
and I'll give it a try in a weak or so.

Here's what one of mine look like, pretty much done I think its
safe to say.
https://blazerforum.com/forum/attach...ine=1464207545

I'm hoping replacing these gets rid of my annoying sqeaking
I'll let you guys know

Trelane and others, let me know how the R & R went. What did you do to get them out, how hard was it, how much did you pay for the cushions. Dorman cushions from Rock Auto are 4 for 4.94 plus shipping is a deal if I am reading that right. Did it stop the squeak, improve the ride, and so on. I saw a S10 pick up on a lift with the diff. hanging free. It appeared that those leaf springs separate and would be easy to get the cushions out and replace? Correct?

Did this the other day.
I ordered the ones from dorman, came with 4 in a box, but
it looks like you only need 3 ???. I didn't take the tires off
so maybe I missed one but all I saw was 3.
Here's what they look like..
https://blazerforum.com/forum/attach...ine=1467082310
Not sure what the notch is for? I couldn't find any install
info on doing these things so I don't know if the notched side
should be orientated a certain way or not.

Trelane, normally there's one at each end of each load leaf/free leaf. The top leaf with the eyes doesn't have any cushions.

They come in packs of 4 because 4 does one leaf, front and back x 2 sides.

Our trucks aren't completely "normal" because the bottom leaf usually has only one cushion at the front. There are three of these cushions per side on my Oldsmo-Blazer.

How is the rubber in the clamp between the eye leaf and the upper load leaf?

How hard was it to install? Did you jack the SUV up at the frame so the rear axle would sag? Did you have to pry the springs apart and get the old ones out? IOW a step by step would be nice.


Once you did this, did you notice a diff. in the ride: less noise, less squeaking, ?

Sorry didn't look

I think I did this a weak ago. Squeak was still there first few days, but not lately. So maybe?

Ride seems smoother.

My first thought after finishing was that I should have measured the ride height, It seems to be sitting more level now. If anyone does this take
some before and after measurements and post here.

Ok here's how I did it

I did one side at a time
The tools I used were 2 pry bars (18 to 24 inches in length)
and a long pair of pliers

1) jacked up one side at factory jacking point till wheel off ground

2) used the pry bars to open up the spring near the isolator.

3) Since most of my isolators were completely gone, I was
able to pull most of the old ones out through the bottom using pliers.
On 2 of them I had to hammer up and pry out with a pry bar.

Here' the old ones... or whats left.
https://blazerforum.com/forum/attach...ine=1467173007
4) Once the old debris is out of the way, I used my long pliers
to position the new isolators in the hole ( like I mentioned in above post
,I'm not sure what the notch is for on the new isolators, whether they have to be orientated a certain way or not)
anyway once you've got it lined up remove the pry bar, spring pressure will
drive it in half way or so, then a few light taps on the bottom spring
with a hammer will drive her home.


https://blazerforum.com/forum/attach...ine=1467173007
https://blazerforum.com/forum/attach...ine=1467173007
https://blazerforum.com/forum/attach...ine=1467173007


Safety Warning: At no time did I put my fingers in harms way, I always
used pliers to position or remove anything between the leafs. And
be aware a poorly placed, unattended pry bar could be ejected.

If you take your time and things go smoothly... maybe 10 minutes a side.
Hope that helps:)

Trelane, great photo's and great write-up of your install. This will help me tackle this job and also the install of the lower bump stops. So a Rock Auto pkg of four inserts will do one leaf spring? Thanks, Jim

Right, and if you get a chance measure the ride height before you start.

Just ordered two sets of 4.
Thanks, great write up & pics.
Mine look just like the crumbles you took out.

i ordered two sets of 4 from rockauto. i got them in today. took about 20 minutes total. i did get the chance to measure my ride height before and after. for me there wasn't really any significant gain. Maybe a 1/16" gain....maybe. but my main reason was to get rid of the horrible squeaking and creaking from the rear. which it did from what i have heard so far :)

Recently did another blazer and zero squeaks after 2 months. Measured ride hight this time, did lift it a bit. Similar to what 95teal4x4 got maybe an 1/8 inch.