Leaf Spring Shackles.

[sumless]

Greetings all,

Ok long story short. I have that cronic problem of the shackles rusting
out to the point of almost failing. After reading many postings regarding this, it seemeed to be an easy task with the exception of breaking the nuts/bolts loose. Given that information, I've been hitting them up with multiple lubricants (PBRust/WD40/etc) for over a week now to help ease the pain
of removing them. Well, All went well with the exception of one bolt going
thru the frame portion of the shackle bolt. I cannot for the life of me get it to
budge. I've gotten the shackle off (rusted and desinagreated) and was able to replace one half of it.
I have two 1/4" steel bars with 9/16" holes 6" distance. I Can't remove the upper bolt going thru the frame. The bolt itself turns and the metal sleve within the rubber turns as well, but it would seem that the rubber bushing has seperated
from that item allowing it to turn. Since I cannot remove that bolt, I had
to resort to putting in only one side of the shackle. My worry is that this
may put stress on the bolts holding it if I drive or (lord forbid) tow something
to the point of failure.
AscII example:

=========|| s
Frame^ || h
|| a
|| c
=========|| kle
^Leaf Spring

Note that there is no way to place a shackle on the innerside of this
example because the frame bolt will not budge.

So my questions
Is it likely to fail in this configuration under light load (i.e. just driving around)
What steps can I try to take to remove the upper bolt?
Is there a kit/part to replace that entire rubber burshing now that it
has seperated from the sleve that supports the bolt?

Thanks in advance.
-Joe

 

[sumless]

My ASC Art sux..

Here is a picture of what I am talking about.

And the old shackle.

 

[gumby]

IMO i wouldnt run a leaf spring in single shear like that any further than to a shop to fix it.

i jus replaced my shackles as well, and had the same stuck bolt. on mine, 5mins with an air hammer fixed the issue. other wise you may hafta cut the bolt and replace the whole bushing. there is a kit ive seen on ebay. im sure you can get em from ford as well.

i would add a support between the two pieces of shackle you have there.
similar to this

i hope you get it all fixed up!

 

[killswitchfan134]

i found a website that makes custom leaf springs and shackles for explorers

http://www.customsuspension.com/store/product_info.php/cPath/559/products_id/1567

 

[sumless]

Thanks for the advise Gumby.

When you mention an airhammer to do this, did you just hammer the thread side to
get it free? I Tried that for a bit, but was in fear of destroying the bolt. I guess at
this time its either destroy it or I am stuck.

Yes, I am planning on welding the two pieces together once there installed. I should say
once together I will tack weld them then take them off and weld it solid, much like
your photos.

Thanks
-Joe

 

[Blee1099]

You can various things to get the bolts loose.. A propane or mapp gas torch to heat up the screws, I've found that getting them red hot and then wrench works if you don't have an impact or if the impact gun doesn't break them loose.

 

[gumby]

When you mention an airhammer to do this, did you just hammer the thread side to
get it free? I Tried that for a bit, but was in fear of destroying the bolt.

yeah. i put the nut on about halfway to try to save the threads on the bolt. then jus use a rounded punch bit on the end of the bolt. mine went about halfway thru and got stuck again. hammered back in and back out one more time. came right out.
jus depends on how stuck it is.

heat will sometimes help, but ive found that with bolts frozen in rubber bushings the heat usually destroys the bushing before the bolt comes loose.

 

[Dre]

when it was time for me to replace those shackles I ended-up cutting two of the bolts using my angle grinder... good thing they froze inside the leaf springs... then I replaced leaf spring bushings.

You might have to cut this bolt (on both ends and press new bushing in the frame. It's a bit hard to do especially without proper tools but there is no way to get the bolt loose otherwise, it's like it's welded together - even if you use a torch - you'll end-up smoldering the bushing.

good luck