shackle bolt problem?

[fury]

Th bolts on the stock shackles are stripping. What should I do about it and is it alright to put the jack stand underneath the axle.

 

[Texplorer]

I took the nut off the bolt first and then hammered the bolt out from the nut side. The head of the bolt shoud have a washer that will keep it from turning on you. I put a jack stand under the frame and I barely put a little support on the axle. Just enough to support it. I also put the bottle jack in between the leaf spring and the frame. This worked very good if you need to move the spring up and down just a little. And it also keps the leaf from shooting up and hitting the frame like it did to me on the first time I tried.

 

[fury]

where exactly did you put the bottle jack ? was it were the spring is calmp to the axle?

 

[Texplorer]

There is a little part of the frame that looks like the frame is bent out a little or like there is a little lip. It is on the frame behind the axle. I set the bottle jack on the top side of the springs and I made sure the top of the jack was caught on that little lip part so that the jack wouldnt slip out under pressure because it is at a slight angle. Make sure you find that little part of the frame because if you just put it on a smooth part it will slip out when under pressure.

 

[fury]

How hard was it to take out the bolts of the old shackle? Did you use a hand wrench or a air wrench?

 

[Texplorer]

I used a hell of a lot of lube, the first side just hammered right out. The second side is a different story. The last bolt got stuck in the bushing and took me about 5 hours of hammering and lubing and hammering. I just played with it till it broke loose. Since I am at the college apartments I really didnt have the right tools so my hammer was from my other jack stand. I took out the part that actually holds the truck up and used that.

 

[fury]

What did you use to unscrew the nut off the bolt? What kind of lube did you use?

 

[Texplorer]

I just used a socket set and just about any kind of lube will work, WD-40, Rust Eater, whatever. I used Dura Lube because thats what my roommate had. It will proly help a lot if you have a breaker bar but I didnt and it took a little elbow grease to get the nuts to break loose.

 

[fury]

Okay I got the bolts out. Do I need to use the washer from the stock bolt and which way do the shackles go (longside up or longside down)?

 

[Texplorer]

You dont need to use the washer that was on the stock bolts. The longer side of the shackles should be on the top. So the longer side mounts to the frame.

 

[Texplorer]

Make sure you dont over tighten the new bolts and make the shackles bend in a little. The 2 sides of the shackles should be parallel to eachother. I used a ruler to make sure they were parallel at all parts of the shackle.

 

[fury]

are the new bolts suppose to b smaller than the old ones

 

[Texplorer]

Mine were exactly the same size as the stock ones.

 

[BTRs X]

I used a ball joint press to get my old shackle bolts out.....one bolt was siezed to the bushing.