Joined: Jan 31, 2012 Posts: 197 Location: West Point, VA
Posted: Tue May 08, 2012 5:36 am Post subject: Spring Shackle help.
Ok. So I've read the manual on the spring shackle removal and I'm having a rough time with it. I've managed to loosen one nut on each shackle. The other one on all of them seems to be a lot harder. I know the book says that one is right hand threaded and one is left hand threaded. The book also states that the lower bearing on the left front and right rear are left-handed threads. I can't get these nuts to move to save my life. I'm starting to round the corners. Since I'm on a budget with this resto, I'm trying to reuse what I can. I've soaked them in PB Blaster a couple times and tried, and still no movement.
I'm just wondering if there is anything you guys have tried that worked really well. I'm trying to save them, but if I can't, at least they aren't that expensive. _________________ Dave
52 M38A1
First off there's no guarantee that any are left handed. Over the years many have been replaced with right handed bushings.
The way you tell is the L on the end of the shackle. No L? It's RH thread. So wire brush the ends clean so you can read them.
Second, 50 year old hardware has often stumped the new hobbyist. It takes patience, a bit of acquired skill, a lot of penetrant, often a lot of heat, often more professional tooling (like air tools) and a lot of muscle. _________________ Wes K
45 MB, 51 M38, 54 M37, 66 M101A1, 60 CJ5, 76 DJ5D, 47Bantam T3-C & 5? M100
Joined: Nov 02, 2007 Posts: 437 Location: Seguin, Texas
Posted: Tue May 08, 2012 2:22 pm Post subject:
My shackles looked completely identical top to bottom, left to right, and front to back. There was no "L" on any of them....no raised boss around the base......no notch in the bushing head to identify the left hand threaded bushings....but I darn sure had them just as indicated in the manual. My only salvation was a really good socket on an impact wrench. If it got tighter using regular lefty loosey.....I switched the wrench to righty and the bushings spun right out....thankfully. Of course, in order to use an impact socket I had to take out the grease zerks in the ends of the shackles......and it helps significantly if you remove both bushings at the same time....just like you put them in. _________________ Jim
Joined: May 14, 2009 Posts: 971 Location: South Dakota
Posted: Tue May 08, 2012 5:42 pm Post subject:
Ditto on the air wrench. Another point is that the rubber seal is usually gone. At 10 bucks each, I'd put new on anyway. The end that is in the frame actually threads in. The end that is in the spring eye is not threaded . Both of the insides are threaded. This means you should thread in the end that goes in the frame first, and and then jack up or down until the ubolt is centered in the spring eye and then install that one. The opposite applies in removing. It took me a while to figure that one out. There is supposed to be only two ubolts with a singe LH thread on each. The LH thread goes in the spring eye. LF and RR. The air wrench is now standard eguipment to take them off. I put them back on with a hand wratchet not with the air wrench. They are very easy to cross thread going back on. Just take some time, put the end in the frame first all the way while the other floats in the spring. You have to insert the u bolt all the way in the hole of the frame and then screw in the nut. Grease everything including the frame and spring. Line it all up with a jack and then hand start it. Not hard doing it this way. John
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