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| | | | Joined: Feb 2011 Posts: 21 New Guy | | New Guy Joined: Feb 2011 Posts: 21 | Today as I was greasing zerks I noticed that the driver's side rear pivoting shackle was separating where the two piece bolt goes through the shackle and spring "eye". It looks as though the outer bolt half(the one with the zerk fitting) simply backed out approx 5/8". The upper two piece bolt that mounts to the hanger to frame looks fine and the through bolt and nut between the two pivoting bolts is in place and snug. Is there a special tool to remove or tighten the two piece bolt? I suppose this could have been a bad deal had it gone unnoticed! Thanks for any info or ideas | | | | | Joined: Apr 2009 Posts: 554 'Bolter | | 'Bolter Joined: Apr 2009 Posts: 554 | I am confused about 2 piece bolt description. I think you are talking about the shackle pin. If so it is a one piece threaded bolt with tapers on both ends. If I am understanding correctly you should be able to disassemble the shackle and turn the shackle pin back in so it sticks out equal distance on both sides. If it has been tweaked or bent from being backed out you may need to replace it. The bushing it rides in may be damaged. The tapered hole on the shackle side plate may also be damaged and may have to be replaced.
Chuck | | | | | Joined: Feb 2011 Posts: 21 New Guy | | New Guy Joined: Feb 2011 Posts: 21 | Thanks Chuck- I was looking at the shop manual and thought the shackle pin was two pieces but in fact the drawing was just showing the grease path through the pin-ok. Should I be able to just jack up the frame to take the load off the spring and then remove the middle bolt that goes through the side plates to disassemble the shackle? Or unbolt the u-bolts to the axle housing as well? Thanks | | | | | Joined: Apr 2009 Posts: 554 'Bolter | | 'Bolter Joined: Apr 2009 Posts: 554 | You should be able to take the load off as you describe. If you get it just right with the wheel still on the ground the spring will be in a neutral place. Worse case you may some weight from the spring and some of the rear end weight to deal with but it should be fairly easy to take apart.
On my truck the same thing happened except the shackle pin was out about an inch and a half and the side plates were bent and the tapered hole ruined. The shackle bushing was shot but fortunately the forged frame part was undamaged. Interesting that both of our problems only occurred in the left rear.
Chuck | | | | | Joined: Feb 2011 Posts: 21 New Guy | | New Guy Joined: Feb 2011 Posts: 21 | Yea interesting... Well thanks for the input, I'm going for it. The frames look pretty straight fortunately, so I'm hoping for an easy fix. Now if I could only keep those driver side springs from saggin'... | | | | | Joined: Feb 2011 Posts: 21 New Guy | | New Guy Joined: Feb 2011 Posts: 21 | Yea interesting... Well thanks for the input, I'm going for it. The frames look pretty straight fortunately, so I'm hoping for an easy fix. Now if I could only keep those driver side springs from saggin'... | | | | | Joined: Feb 2011 Posts: 21 New Guy | | New Guy Joined: Feb 2011 Posts: 21 | Oh and did you end up replacing or repairing? | | | | | Joined: Apr 2009 Posts: 554 'Bolter | | 'Bolter Joined: Apr 2009 Posts: 554 | I replaced the whole shackle because of the problem with the end plates. I had no way to drill the proper sized taper or I could easily make one. I replaced all of the bushings, new shackle pins, new springs with bushings installed, and perhaps most importantly the special bolts retaining the non-shackle end of the springs. Front and rear.
I mention the special bolt because mine looked fine externally and seemed to be holding the spring just fine. When I disassembled mine I was surprised to see the hollow bolt was worn almost completely through on both rear bolts. The rear suspension of my truck apparently got quite a workout over the years it was on the road. By contrast, the shackles, bushings, bolts, in the front end seemed barely worn and they were original.
Chuck
| | | | | Joined: Feb 2011 Posts: 21 New Guy | | New Guy Joined: Feb 2011 Posts: 21 | Interesting... I would think that the front end would take more of the abuse just due to the weight they are holding up. I'm inspired to investigate mine as well now.
Thanks for the encouragement. Today I got the left rear shackle apart, completely cleaned, turned in the pins appropriately, pushed all the old grease out and reassembled- no issues. Bushings look a bit worn but will be ok for some time. And now I'm not as frightened by leaf springs as I was before!
| | | | | Joined: May 2005 Posts: 334 'Bolter | | 'Bolter Joined: May 2005 Posts: 334 | Granted the front carries the weight of the engine all the time, but the majority of these were farm work trucks, often overloaded and driven in the fields and on gravel/dirt roads. I had the good fortune of being able to talk with the original owner of my 54 3100 and he told me that quite often he would put a cow or two in the back to haul wherever, as well as loading it down with other things. I'm glad that you found that leaf springs aren't as frightening as you originally thought!
Samantha | | |
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