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So I started stripping down the front of my frame for cleaning/painting etc and cant figure out whats going on with the front leaf shackle.

Heres the drivers side still attached....



There is a missing grease fitting in the top "bolt"

Now heres the passenger side with the leaf stack removed, but I cant figure out how to remove the shackle from the frame....





notice the grease fitting on this side thats missing from the drivers side.

Do these come off the frame????????????

Whats the grease fitting for????????????

These dont swing back and fourth unless I wack it with a mini sledge.

its just stiff in the frame you should be able to pry it out of the frame just as you pulled the spring off of it
the grese zerk is just to lube it

So is it pressed into a bronze bushing or something? I assume there isn't a normal leaf spring rubber bushing in there with the grease fitting.

Got it out. Oxy/acetylene is your friend.

fusc wrote:Got it out. Oxy/acetylene is your friend.

AKA : Gas Axe

[quote="fusc"]Got it out. Oxy/acetylene is your friend.

[/quote

That picture kinda looks like the Doctor that did my knee surgery last week....Feels like he used the same torch.

Txas2step wrote:

fusc wrote:Got it out. Oxy/acetylene is your friend.

[/quote

That picture kinda looks like the Doctor that did my knee surgery last week....Feels like he used the same torch.

If you don't need a mini sledge to move your knee back and forth, he's done his job.
John

I found that the ones on my 65 were a little sloppy in the frame but the pins were snug in the bushing. I welded the sleeve into the frame as someone did before me. I looked around and could not find any replacement sleeves/bushings so I wanted to save them. Why are you removing them?

This truck is getting a complete frame off resto with everything and anything that is available to replace is getting replaced. So when I removed my springs, and I found these to be so frozen I had a hit them with a mini sledge to get them to move, I needed to fix that. If I dont like the way they go back together, I will make new ones myself.

So, heres my improvement on the front leaf spring shackle.



on the right is the original, inside the frame rail piece which will be re purposed as the outside the frame rail piece.

next on the right, you see a high strength, oil impregnated bushing that will be installed into the hole in the frame.

next is the original lower (through the leaf spring bushing) stud which will be reused and pressed into the "new" outside the frame rail piece.

Next is the new shoulder bolt that will go inside the bushing in the frame.

and finally is the new (made by me) inside the frame rail piece with 1/2" size hole for the new shoulder bolt threads end.

Heres the bushing in the frame after some time in the freezer and some lithium grease and a little pounding.



A nice healthy greasing..........



and installed..........



The shoulder bolt and bushing come from Mcmaster.com, here are the part numbers....

bushing 6381k6 (it comes 3" long, you'll have to cut off .2")

shoulder bolt 91259a807 (It has a perfect length with using a .1" thick washer in the outside.)

Nice how-to.

Very nice work!

Nice! Thanks for the part numbers!

fusc wrote: ↑

Fri Jul 26, 2013 4:09 pm

So, heres my improvement on the front leaf spring shackle.

bushing 6381k6 (it comes 3" long, you'll have to cut off .2")
shoulder bolt 91259a807 (It has a perfect length with using a .1" thick washer in the outside.)

I was just about to tear down this element on my truck and went looking for what others had done here, and thus found this thread. I would be interested in your thoughts.

Given that you are going this far and with the evident quality of the work you are doing, I am a little surprised you didn't opt to use the longer bolts and bushings on the shackle to use either bronze or polyamide washer(s) on the inside of the shackle sidebars as thrust bearings. With that longer bushing it seemed like a natural. On the outside, if it was a larger washer around the weld, it would help keep that area from trapping dirt that would otherwise get to the bushing as well. Thoughts?

We have a store here in Canada called Princess Auto, somewhat like Harbor Freight. I bought the bushings for the front shackle from them. Cut to length, press in, I was surprised I could buy them so easily. I think they were 16 bucks for 4.

marklein wrote: ↑

Fri Apr 17, 2020 9:31 am

We have a store here in Canada called Princess Auto, somewhat like Harbor Freight. I bought the bushings for the front shackle from them. Cut to length, press in, I was surprised I could buy them so easily. I think they were 16 bucks for 4.

I would think a shoulder bolt would make a dandy arbor for pressing them in.

I had the supports out of the frame, so it was easy with my arbor press.

marklein wrote: ↑

Fri Apr 17, 2020 3:26 pm

I had the supports out of the frame, so it was easy with my arbor press.

That's cheating. Shoulder bolt and C-clamp, or even better, a BFH. Where's your inner "shade tree"?

My truck led a very rough former life, there were cracks in the frame around the spring hangers on the back side. The front hangers had a couple of rivets not tight. I took my hangers out from need. I build auto transmissions, I've changed more bushings than I care to know. A fine thread bolt the correct size would be the best choice to install bushings in the truck. The bigger trick is getting them out without scarring the bore, a very thin bushing like these will distort on the way in. The leading edge cannot have any burrs on it. Best is to cut them most of the way through with a hacksaw, then cut the out with a bushing chisel.

Very nice job!