The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area General Truck Talk ’41 Rear Springs

OK now that the rear shackles & pins have been beaten into submission and all (most) of the grease scraped and brushed away I can see that the loop at the back end of the leaf spring is considerably larger than the shackle pin. Was there anything else inside the spring loop, like maybe a rubber bushing ??

Man Kip, we must be brothers or something!! We've got the same probs with our trucks.

There should be a brass insert/bushing in there. It might be just completely worn out. My spring "loops" are egg shaped, basically wallowed out. I got new bushings from Jim Carter. They're about $15.00 a set and come with the bushing and a new pin, I think. Oh, there's a zerk fitting, too.

' Dad: Maybe its the trucks that are related. Can you define "wallowed" ?? Thanks for the info. PS I like your e mail handle

Wallowed = egg-shaped. On my springs, the bolt wore all the way through the brass bushing and started to wear into the steel spring itself. When I got it all apart both the bolt and the spring were worn down quite a bit. What I'm going to do for now is just to replace the bushing and bolt. Because the spring is worn, I expect the bushing not to last too long. When it's time to replace it again I might get a new set of rear springs. We'll see.

I'll have to post some pictures I came across last night of some really nice Mackinaw (Lake) trout I caught at Lake Tahoe. I love to fish, just don't do it often enough.

Later.

One of my pins was worn so badly I could not get it to line up well enough to drive all the way out. Had to get it half way out and cut that half off before driving it out the other side of the spring. Same plan here, as my springs are "just a little" out of round & there is no brass to be found. Love to hear a "fish story"

I don't know if this helps but a guy name Brett Dodson rebuilt his spring setup for a '46. He documented with lotsa pictures.

I'll probably be following suit in a month or 2. Keep me in the loop.
John

Thanks Steppenwood. Those pictures tell me a lot of stuff I needed to know about what I'm doing to my truck. Is Brett a member of the 'Bolt? I like him already. He used duct tape as a band-aid!

"cavebull" is Brett's stovebolt handle. I to am into the spring thing and I would like to know where he obtained his shackle kits. They look good and beefy. cavebull, are you out there?

Brian

Brian,
Those shackles look exactly like the kits I got from Jim Carter. They're made by a company called "Flagg".

And, yes, they are really beefy!

Great stuff and very good photos. Now I understand how much different the ½ ton is from my ¾ ton. I’ll have to make up some photos for the guys with the heaver trucks, hope mine turns out as well (both the photos and the job)

Kip and Neil,

If either of you are looking for local sources for your spring shackles, stop by a spring shop. The one I go to had the pins and bushings. The shackles were just a bit shorter, so Kept the ones I had. Sandblasting and paint and they are as good as new.

The only thing to watch if you go the local route is to watch out for the qaulity of the pins. Some of the Chinese pins have ends that don't have the proper taper.

As far as seals go, my spring guy sold me bulk neoprene and I cut them to fit. His advice and it worked well, apply a drop of oil to the knife before you try to cut.

Installing the bushings is a treat if you don't have a press! I used the best of my old pins and clobbered them in with a hammer. As carefully as one can be...with a hammer that is..

Kip,
I have just completed the rear springs on my 51 1 Ton. My spring eyes were worn oblong a bit, too. My local spring guy tightened up the curl and installed my new bushings. They looked like new.

If you have trouble finding parts, the people at Espo are pretty good.

All,
Been following this thread as I Need to do mine also. Went out and took some pics last nite to see the differences. My shackles on the 4t6 are not the same as the 1/2 T as pics below show. I had a local spring shop make me the ubolts and will have them tighten up the spring curls. I made up new brake lines a couple of nites ago and got them mounted. I think I'm gonna take them back off and polish with brass wheel and clear coat. I played with a piece of scrap tubing and I liked the results. Thanks to all for support and help. Have a Merry Christmas and a Happy healthy New Year
Dan
http://rides.webshots.com/photo/2242859340071274430Ktfvdf

Toomany…those photos are certainly from something that looks just like my ¾ ton. Interesting substitution of parts. Now that I have mine all apart it looks like I may go to one of the old Chevy parts houses for replacements

Kip and others,

Check out part number MEP995, page 89 of the Jim Carter's catalog...

It looks like the pic/part that Joe and 4T6 posted...

I added some photos on my web page to suppliment the stovebolt tech tip on a homemade bushing removal tool.

Click for photos of homemade bushing removal tool