FJ62 OME Greasable Pin Replacement

[nmcbride89]

I noticed from the get-go that my FJ62 sits higher than stock, but the PO did not mention any sort of lift being on the truck. I haven't quite had it for a month, so I am still working out what is normal/factory for these vehicles.

Anyway, after looking at my suspension, it appears to be an older (judging by the amount of surface rust) OME setup with the greasable shackles, which is a pretty nice surprise to me. The bad thing is that one of the bushings on the front passenger side looks like it has blown out...

I plan to replace all of the front end bushings, but I am concerned that the pin with the failed bushing will need to be replaced once I take everything apart. Who knows, maybe I'll get lucky, but I'd like to have a plan together because this is my daily driver, and I don't want to be stuck waiting on a part.

Does anyone know of a "generic" replacement for these greasable shackle pins that I could possibly buy from a local parts store? Or a place that I can buy just one that would allow me to return it if I do not need it?

 

[Output Shaft]

The OME shackle cross pins are very specific. They are hollow to allow grease to be pumped into the bushing. If replacement is necessary, you'll have to get OMEs.

You can easily change at least one shackle bushing over the weekend, to get you back on the road by Monday, even if it's all fused in there. Even a really stuck bushing can be wrestled out in a day. Max. You won't damage the shackle if you take care.

Get the bushings you need first, and if you're paranoid, get a spare new shackle and hangar pin just in case, then on Saturday morning start on one of the fronts. It might be easy and go quickly. Hard to guess.

 

[nmcbride89]

Yeah, since they are the greasable shackles and have some grease residue on them (indicating they were greased at least once since the install), I am hoping the bushings will come out without too much trouble. I'm not too worried about how long it will take to remove the bushings; my main concern is that the cross pin will be damaged, and I have to wait for a replacement before I can put everything back together.

I guess as long as the threads are okay, I should be good to go?

 

[gregnash]

As long as the threads are ok and the pin doesn't look bent when you pull it then you should be good to go. Since you are replacing all the front your best bet is to replace ALL the bushings the entire way around the truck just to make things easier on you. Talk to Kurt @cruiseroutfit as he is one of the main OME dealers and he can hook you up with the right bushings for your kit.

 

[nmcbride89]

A full set is definitely in the future. I'm just working through all of the immediate issues to get the truck baselines and reliable.

I was able to get the front set of bushings on the passenger side (the blown out one) done tonight. The upper bushing literally crumbled out from around the pin. The lower one required a little persuasion. I ended up just using a keyhole saw to notch out the bottom of it and worked it out. Wasn't too bad, but again these are OME greasable shackles and not 28 year old OE bushings.

Thanks for the advice!

 

[Cruzerman]

Why do you think that this pin will need replacing? I wouldn't expect this to be the case.

 

[nmcbride89]

Why do you think that this pin will need replacing? I wouldn't expect this to be the case.

I was just thinking of the worst case scenario (and I guess just being paranoid). This is my first Cruiser, so I wasn't 100% sure how it was setup until I had a chance to start taking it apart. On my old truck there was a sleeve in the bushing and the "pin" was just a bolt, so if the bushing blew out like this one did, the sleeve would have damaged the threads.

The pin in question was totally fine. One of the others was missing a grease fitting, which hopefully won't be an issue to replace.