Today my goal was to complete the tear down of the rear suspension.  Cutting the bolts for the spring eye mount is a real hassle.  As you can see here I am about half way though.  With one side.  Hacksaw time!

Fast forward a tedious time later and the cutting is done.   Now I can start tearing the springs apart.

I started with the easy end and took the shackle apart.

Now for the hard end.  Last time prying the eye open with a chisel worked.

Not this time!  I think I will have to get more aggressive here.

I think I am going to have to cut these out.  First step is to remove the rubber.  I tried this 3/8″ spade bit and it worked great.

I drilled holes around the center then pulled it out with vice-grips.

Now I need to get the shell out.  I started pounding with a chisel.  This should work.

It took a LOT of pounding.  The shell is rusted solid to the spring.  I am almost through.

Once cut the shell came right out.  Will the other side be as much of a PITA?

On the other side I tried something different.  I cut the center out then put a hacksaw though.  I then cut the shell right where the gap is in the spring eye.   This worked a lot better.  I was able to cut it most of the way through then just pop it loose with the chisel.

Now it is time to clean parts.

A few minutes of wire brush work and it looks much better.

The frame rails need cleaned up too.

The propane torch and a scraper remove the old undercoating nicely.

Then wire brush work to clean off the rust as much as possible.

I was running out of time but I also painted the spring.  I have a little more scraping and brushing to do but mostly painting is next.