The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area General Truck Talk front shackle bushings

guys,
i got my front leafs out today from my 57.
fabbed a quick removal took and got the bushings out of each end of both leafs and the two on each side of the front frame.
the bushings in the leafs came out pretty easy, but the bushings in the front frame were really in there. got them about 3/4 of the way out with my puller, then screwed the pin back in and beat them out with a hammer the rest of the way.

when i went to install the new bushings, they slide in easy with almost no effort.
to the point where i can spin them in the frame with my fingers. will this be a problem ? should i bother with putting some loc-tite on the O.D. of the bushing to hold it still to the frame ?

thanks much.

leonard

I had the exact same problem with mine. Put the new ones in and i could almost take them out with my fingers. what i did to fix this is was put the bushing in the frame mount, and lightly tack the edge of the bushing to the mount with a welder. it works but you have to be careful. you cant get ANYTHING in the threads of the bushing or you'll mess up the threads and have to get a new set. run the bolt threw (the old one would probably be best) and tack weld the edge of the bushing in a couple of places. pull the bolt out, stuff a rag or something in the bushing to keep stuff out and lightly grind down the tack a lil bit. be careful not to get metal shavings in the threads. learned that the hard way.

thanks gumbi.i thought it might be a problem....
does anyone think that loc-tite will do the job ?

leonard

No they should not slide into the bore with no effort. Both of you failed to mention if the new bushings fit the spring eye. I have to assume that they were loose going in there also? The spring shackles take a lot of pounding and I don’t think there is any thing on the market that will support the bushing for very long. Epoxy’s would break up in a short time, there are urethanes that might work but they are hard to get in small quantities and very expensive.

Locktite used to make a product for filling large gaps when instilling loose bearings. However ball bearings are not subject to the pounding that the spring shackle sees. After Locktite was bought out by Henkel in the 90’s they discontinued this product and others and focused on the most profitable products.

Just as important as whether your bushings fit, is exactly which vendor you got the threaded bushings from? Threads on forums like this are our only opportunity to get the word out to the public about a vendor that is selling bogus parts. God knows that calling and complaining about poorly made part falls on deaf ears most of the time. I find it hard to believe but there apparently is an unlimited customers base out there, so even if a customer doesn’t come back, there’s another one standing in line waiting for parts. I personally know of one vendor that has an employee that does care about correcting ill made parts but even he has a hard time convincing the owner to make corrections.
I can’t go away without saying, that 99% of the vendor ‘employees’ that I’ve dealt with over the past five years in this hobby give excellent service and try their best. They generally don’t have any say so about the parts that they are expected to sell. So I can only assume that the fault with poorly made parts lies at the top where the final decisions are made concerning the bottom line.

Rant over!
Denny Graham
Sandwich, IL

The bushing in the spring eye was tight like it's supposed to be. Its just the bushings in the frame mount. I got my bushings from LMC Truck. All the other parts that I've gotten from them so far have been fine. But another alternative to buying a new set and using any kind of glue would be a plug weld on the bushing. Just thought of this. You don't get much penetration on the bushing if you tack the outsides. Take the bushing out, drill a hole through the frame mount towards the bore (probably an 1/8 inch or so maybe a little more) stick the bushing back in and fill the hole in with a plug weld. I know this isn't quite the correct way but Im pretty sure this would hold well. Just don't use too much heat to warp bushing. The only problem that I see with this would be that you won't be able to replace that bushing again without getting a new frame mount. Any thoughts on this Denny?

ok denny,
the bushings that were in the front leafs were not as tight to get out as the ones in the frame, but still used my home made puller to get them out. i would say they were half as hard to get out as the frame bushings. the bushings in the frame were really in there good.
putting the new bushings in the leafs were a little harder than the frame, needing me to hit them a little with a hard rubber mallet. the ones for the frame just slide right in with no effort, but have no "play" in them, other than they slide right in.

the new bushings and threaded shackle rods and shackles were purchased from LMC trucks, but the box says "made in taiwan", so im sure that probably all the vendors get them from the same place. which is sad. i would hate to either try and get my money back for this set, and order from another vendor, just to wind up with the same problem.

i measured the O.D. of the factory bushings and got .877".
the O.D. on the new bushings are right at .8735, .0035 smaller than the original bushings.

i know this is not the correct solution for my problem, but im leaning toward putting a small tack weld on the outside of each frame bushing to keep it put. its really a pain to order these new parts and have them not fit as factory. sad actually.
and since the leaf eye bushings are a tighter fit, i will leave them alone.

thanks for the help everyone...

are there any vendors that make these parts right here in the U.S.A. ??

leonard

I just put a set in the rear of my 38 - ordered from Jim Carter. Parts were correctly sized and fit perfect. My buddy put a set on the front of his 51 with parts from BowTie Bits and had no problems. You might pay 5 or 10 bucks more from these vendors - but if you have a problem, a phone call will make it right.

Don’t remember which vendor I got these from but the out side was knurled which allow them to be made oversize and still be pressed in.
http://www.pbase.com/dennygraham/image/122345789/large
If I can find the old ones and the spare new ones I bought tomorrow, I’ll mic them.
Denny Graham
Sandwich, IL

funny you brought that up denny. last night while laying in bed and thinking about my problem, i too thought about knurling the O.D. of the bushings to make them a tighter fix. it just so happened that yesterday when i was walking through the machine shop at my work, the machinist was knurling some parts......
so, i might have him do exactly that.

thanks a bunch.

leonard

WOW !!
just looked through your photos denny.... nice job of detailing every step of your restoration....
i need me a mill and lathe here at my home too. LOL.

leonard

Easy job to put a straight knurl on a part, then you can service it if the need ever comes up. I don’t like the idea of tack welding it to the forging, I just feel personally that’s a Band-Aid to the real problem and there are better solutions.
The machine tools are a great asset if your serious about fabricating your own parts Leonard. Like any thing, you have to weigh just exactly how much work your need to do with those tools. Taint worth it if you are only going to use them for one or two jobs.
Used lathes come up often if you keep your eyes open and can be found for $500-$1000. There are probably millions that ended up in old retired machinists basements when they up graded to new ones at work.
Milling machines are out there also but they’re usually up in the $1000-$2000 bracket. You can do a lot of light duty work on the bench top mills, which are quite a bit less expensive even when new.
Tooling can be just as expensive as the lathe or mill. However you can get by at home with Chinese tooling for about 1/10 the cost of the US made stuff. I'd love to support US industry but the simple fact is that we have priced our selves out of the market. You simply can't compete when you have to pay your workers $30 to $50 an hour plus benefits and when the higher ups are taking home six and seven figure salaries. I keep saying that we’re living in a house of cards and if we don’t pull our heads out of you know what, it’s gonna come crashing down on us one day. We need to get back to the position of making a good living rather than everyone trying to make a fortune over night. But, that subject is like arguing about overpopulation or global warming, i.e. fruitless.
Hope the pix helped you out, that's what they're for.

Denny Graham
Sandwich, IL

ok denny, i had the machinist at work knurl the O.D. of the bushings today. came home and installed them, and they went in pretty good. used my puller tool to get them in.e not has tight a fit as the originals, i now have more confidence in them then they were before, when they just slid right in.

yea, in the mid 80's i ran a manual lathe for a couple of years, then in 2007-2008 i was a machinist helper running a lathe and mill. i love them machines, and weekly i look through craigslist to see what out there, and one day, when i get the cash, i will get me a small lathe and mill so i can mess with them and make stuff. im a typical guy and just love to buy tools. also would like to get them now and have them around for when i get older and retire so they will keep me busy. i love working with metal.

and yes, i too believe this country is in deep dodo.

thanks again for the help. your album is very helpful

leonard