front leaf shackle bolt

[Four0Sport]

after a week.. yes a week.. of soaking with blaster and leveraging with a 3 foot cheater bar i finally got the front shackle bolt to break loose. my problem now.. the bolt wont turn out of the shackle. just sits and spins. I've tried tapping with a long extension and a mini sledge but i cant get a straight hit bc the gas tank is in the way. is the bolt seized to the rubber bushing? any ideas on how to get this bolt out? thanks in advance.

 

[Anime]

Chances are the bolt is seized to the metal sleeve in the bushing, and is just spinning the bushing in the eyelet when turned.

Usually the only solution is a hacksaw/reciprocating saw or a cut-off wheel to the bolt, getting between the eyelet and the front spring hanger. Of course this means replacing the bushing and bolt, making it a great time to replace the stock rubber bushings with polyurethane and adding new bolts to match the ones in the rear shackles.

You can probably get the passenger side bolt out if you can get direct hits on the bolt with a sledge, and perhaps the drivers side too if you drop the tank, but you might wind up distorting the hanger with the blows, and have to mess with getting them lined up again.

If you have the time, once you get the bolts out, you can also swap the leaf springs side to side while you're at it, which helps lessen the left side sag caused by the gas tank weight wearing down the left spring faster than the right.

 

[Four0Sport]

the pass side was easy.. i have a set of 4 door leaf packs with AALs and the drivers side is hangin me up! im not dropping the tank, bc then i would buy a new sender and pump to fix my floating guage needle. ill hafta see what i can come up with though. thanks for the ideas.