How to get the pins out of the shackles? (1 Viewer)

[sproggy]

Hi folks, I did a quick search and got stuck in very interesting and informative suspension threads with great info. However, to utilize that info I want to get my springs off the truck so I can lube the pins and maybe change my bushings. I'm having trouble getting the pins out. My buddy said to jack the vehicle up to relieve the tension on the spring. Check. And now I'm hammering on the bolts in the shackles with a piece of wood as a cushion, and on the other side driving a tie-rod remover between the parts but I'm having little luck. Any suggestions on how to get these things off?

On the bushing not, I have stock front springs and Rancho springs. Any recommendations for where to get new bushings and what type?

thanks…Sproggy.

 

[Jdc1]

Burning the old bushings out with a map gas torch has worked for me.

 

[Redgrrr]

Remember when ordering new bushings there are two different pin diameters, what year is your 40?

 

[2fpower]

Heat. Don't forget to roll it outside or have good ventilation.

 

[Phatty]

Burn em! It will make your life easier!

 

[sproggy]

I do remember burning them out 30 years ago. My truck is July 1971...but the suspension is not all original. I suppose the hangers are, of course, and maybe the shackles on the back are original (they come apart into two pieces?). It's hard to remember all these details as I haven't worked on the truck for decades, more or less (been out of the country). I have Rancho springs on the back, I think original springs in the front. I have a two inch shackle extension in the front, I believe, probably from Manafre. it seems like such a mix that getting the correct bushings will be difficult. Incidentally, I was reading a thread about shackle angle and my backs are completely straight up and down. I'm wondering if years ago I put the springs in oriented correctly. I can certainly imagine having made a mistake. How else would I correct the angle….? I'll go out and take some pics. Be right back.

thanks for all the help. This place is amazing!

 

[surfpig]

I had decent luck hammering on two pickle forks situated opposite one another, if that makes any sense...

 

[sproggy]

Here are some pics of front and back…are those front springs too flat? They have a helper leaf in them if I remember correctly. And yes, I have taken out the shocks.

 

[Pete]

Re bushing sizes, see Spector Off Road's on-line catalog. They have a table of inside and outside diameters of bushings for all types of springs and shackles. Don't be surprised, in fact maybe even expect, to find your pins are anything but round and pretty highly corroded. if they were nice and smooth they wouldn't be giving you the problems with removing them. After a few of these jobs, i just order new pins in advance to be ready.
Pete

 

[sproggy]

Last front shackle pic….

 

[tlc762]

Your left rear shackle looks to have a bent side plate which may make it more difficult to get the shackle off since the pins are wedged into the bushings. You could try attaching a come-a-long to the side plate and a stout fixed object and pull the shackle out ot the bushings. This is a job where a BFH can come in very handy. Also the front aftermarket shackles use sae bolts (usually 9/16" or 5/8") not metric like the rears thus they use a different bushing.
HTH,
Will

 

[Sethro60]

Drill the bushing a bunch of times, no burning plastic to deal with.

 

[JungleBiker]

The bolts aren't threaded into the shackles are they? Old Land Rovers are often that way.

 

[sproggy]

Your left rear shackle looks to have a bent side plate which may make it more difficult to get the shackle off since the pins are wedged into the bushings. You could try attaching a come-a-long to the side plate and a stout fixed object and pull the shackle out ot the bushings. This is a job where a BFH can come in very handy. Also the front aftermarket shackles use sae bolts (usually 9/16" or 5/8") not metric like the rears thus they use a different bushing.
HTH,
Will

Will, what's a BFH? I will measure the bolt in front, thanks for the heads up. This is getting complicated, of course.

 

[sproggy]

The bolts aren't threaded into the shackles are they? Old Land Rovers are often that way.

Hi JungleBiker, I don't believe they are. There would be no way to turn the bolts if they were. I mean, how would one screw them into the shackle and unscrew them?

 

[tweek99]

A BFH stands for big f'n hammer. Spin the bolts with an impact and hammer them or heat them up, like suggested above.

 

[sproggy]

Haha an impact? In my dreams only. A BFH, well, I don't have one yet but that's an easy purchase and oh so fun to use.

 

[Pin_Head]

I burn them out with a blue tip wrench (oxy-acetylene torch), but I do it outside because it stinks. It makes short work of it.

 

[sproggy]

So I'm figuring….if I have the stock shackles in the back (correct?), even though they are Rancho springs the bushings should be stock size. I see SOR has new greasable stock shackles for only 18 bucks. That would eliminate my bent shackle plate, too, and I could order the stock size bushings, at just over $2 each. I would theorize at this point that all the pins for the hangers, both front and back, must be stock size and require stock bushings: new greasable pins for the hangers are $15 and use stock bushings. So all that's left to understand is the size of the bolts in the front aftermarket shackles…SOR has 5/8 greasable bolts for $19.50 a pair so it that proves to be the correct size I'm in luck!
Does it make sense?

 

[sproggy]

…if I had all that new stuff at hand, at that point, I would heat up those bushings and hammer away with my new BFH.