I need new shackels in the front, and I was looking at them, they don't look very fancy and I was wondering if they were made out of regular steel or some kind of special alloy. I am thinking about making some of my own. Doesn't llook like it would be too hard.
I assumed they were just regular steel . I drilled my stock shackles to accept greasable bolts and they cut easily . You could do a blacksmith's spark test on a grinding wheel- compare sparks given off by the shackle with a regular bolt and a hardened pc. of steel.
regular steel is fine, the hard part would be coating them in something that won't rub, peel, or scrape off easily. (most aftermarket shackles are cadmium plated or anodized). Just painting them would only work ok, I would just be sure to keep them greasy to prevent rust.
Honestly for the work in making a set of greasable shackles, the ones commonly sold by cruiser vendors are worth the money...
Being that it was a metric bolt, I used a 45/64 bit in the drill press,but it was a tad tight .Had to torque the the head around some with the bit in the hole. 23/32 might have been better or too loose -dont know. i think I pre-drilled with a 5/8 to center the shackle in the vise. I re-used shackles,plates, and u-bolts- sand blasted, phosphate coated,and then painted.
