I have read some stuff on this, and read some stuff on here too, but wanted to ask anyways.
First of all, what is the best way to get the torsion keys off without taking the truck to a mechanic. I bought new keys, but even with torches and a gear puller, I have not been able to get mine to move.
Also, does anyone happen to know how the rear leaf springs work? I have a few sets from some Rams, and wanted to take the bottom two leafs and put them in my Dakota to stiffen it up. I haul a lot of firewood, etc, and hate how easily the bump stops sit on the frame. Is the best way to do this, split my set, and put the extra two in where they would belong, or to put them at the bottom of my set? Also, I know when i had put some extra leafs in a Ram, we just snapped off that center bolt, and put the set back together with a carraige bolt, but i had my axle out on the Dakota once, and I think i remember those springs just being held together by tabs or something, and not that center bolt, so would the full size leafs even work?

 

I moved your post into the other forum.

The torsion keys can really be stuck in there. All the road salt and junk can really weld them in. Try some penetrating oil and a bigger hammer.

Not sure on the rear springs if they'll fit or not.

 

Never did torsion keys but they say you either need a good gear puller or the actual torsion key tool. All that weight and tension is a lot on those keys so it all needs to be let off it so you can get the bolt and backing plate off of it. As far as the springs Im pretty sure they wont work. I think they are too long and maybe even a little wider. As far as the centering bolt it needs to be in the axle or else how do you know the springs are centered on the axle. Some have a little nub on the top of the block or axle plate that needs to to be in at least 1 leaf.

 

I assuming you have the truck lifted off the ground in the front. Also try hooking up your tool to take the pressure off of the keys. Soak them down good with penetrating oil. The first time I took mine off I also used a 1/2 breaker bar and a piece of 3 inch pipe about 2 foot long.

 

I've had all the tension off them, with the truck lifted off the ground, soaked in oil, heated up, and tried a big hammer and a gear puller. The biggest problem I think is where they are located. They are stuck up in that "cross member" piece, so you really got to bend them down to get the key to be "out" of that piece enough to be able to hit the torsion bar. I heavely debated cutting a hole in the front side of that "cross member", so that I could get the bar to just hang there and be out enough so that I could either push the bar out of the key, or hit the key off the bar. I really hope this is my truck I am thinking of, and not sounding stupid and mixing it up with a chevy haha
I thought that they might be too wide, and of course, I haven't measured, but when I tore the rearend out, I snapped off both sides of all of my ubolts, and being out in the sticks, at night, and needing my truck to get back together, I used a set of ubolts from a full size chevy, and those fit just fine, and that, and knowing that they make universal add a leafs, that fit in both full size and mid size trucks, I am pretty sure they will measure the same. As far as the length, I could always split the set on my truck now, and slide the bottom two from a full size set in a place where the would be close enough haha And I know that there is that tab on my leaf springs that needs to sit in the axle to keep it straight, I just haven't thought out how to get the full size ones to line up right.