After a painful process that took much longer than expected (that never happens) we finally replaced the shackles on our 1967 FJ40 with a 2.5 inch lift. Now that I know how to do it I though I would share the process that we used. Much of what we did came from various contributors on this site, thanks!
Supporting FJ:
First thing is to support the FJ safely. Place jack stands under the frame to hold the chassis and then use a floor jack to allow you to move the axle and thus the leaf springs up and down. Also adds a safety back up. The photo below shows the basic setup. ( Warning, the photos were staged after the new shackle were in.)
Removing shackle bolts.....This is the worst part. Taking the nuts off is easy but pushing out the bolts is a challenge. Adjust the floor jack to take the pressure off the shackle. Then place a porta power ($100 at HF with coupon, don't know how I have existed without it, used it 4 times for different things the first week) Between the frame on one side and the end of the bolt. The key here is dont place it on the shackle on the other side which is easy since its directly across. We did this first and bent the hell out of the shackle support attached to the frame. (needed to heat it with oxy/ac torch and use the portapower to get it back in line) .
Notice the left end of the portapower is on the frame not the shackle!
On 1 of the 8 bolts it slid out with just the portapower. The others would not budge at all since the rubber bushing are fused to the tube with rust and the bolt is fused to the bushing. To get past this we heated the head of the shackle bolt with the O/A torch till it was cherry red while pushing with the portapower.
Have a spray bottle handy and the doors open, burning rubber stinks really bad and hangs around for a while. One you push the bolt till its flush with bushing, loosen the portapower and place a 1/2 " diameter by 1" bolt on the shackle bolt and push again to get it part way into the bushing then use several other longer bolts to push it out. The bolt on the outside will not slide out of the shackle so you have to keep banging the shackle back toward the middle with a hammer or it binds the bolt. While the area is still hot work to get the bushings out since they are still tough to remove . Pry them out with a screwdriver or if they are stuck we pushed a thin flat screwdriver between the tube and the bushing.
Now that the old shackle is off and the busing are out your will find that the new bushing won't fit. You have to clear out some of the built up rust in the tube. I found that a round file worked best. We used poly bushings and new shackles and bolts from CCOT. Attach the top end first. Our 5/8" bolts would not slide in so we had to screw them in with a 1/2 ' drive ratchet wrench. Once the top is in lower the axle held up by the floor jack and you will find that the leaf spring is still too high to align with the raised shackle holes. Now use the bottle jack shown in the first picture and below between the frame and the leaf spring to position the end of the leaf spring in the right place.
Grease the bolts before you insert them. On the fronts the leaf springs were a little towards the middle so to line them up we used the portapower again along with the bottle jack and it worked fine.
Well that's what we did, again with the help of many here, sorry it was so long and wordy but I hope it helps others save time and frustration. Enjoy.
Supporting FJ:
First thing is to support the FJ safely. Place jack stands under the frame to hold the chassis and then use a floor jack to allow you to move the axle and thus the leaf springs up and down. Also adds a safety back up. The photo below shows the basic setup. ( Warning, the photos were staged after the new shackle were in.)
Removing shackle bolts.....This is the worst part. Taking the nuts off is easy but pushing out the bolts is a challenge. Adjust the floor jack to take the pressure off the shackle. Then place a porta power ($100 at HF with coupon, don't know how I have existed without it, used it 4 times for different things the first week) Between the frame on one side and the end of the bolt. The key here is dont place it on the shackle on the other side which is easy since its directly across. We did this first and bent the hell out of the shackle support attached to the frame. (needed to heat it with oxy/ac torch and use the portapower to get it back in line) .
Notice the left end of the portapower is on the frame not the shackle!
On 1 of the 8 bolts it slid out with just the portapower. The others would not budge at all since the rubber bushing are fused to the tube with rust and the bolt is fused to the bushing. To get past this we heated the head of the shackle bolt with the O/A torch till it was cherry red while pushing with the portapower.
Have a spray bottle handy and the doors open, burning rubber stinks really bad and hangs around for a while. One you push the bolt till its flush with bushing, loosen the portapower and place a 1/2 " diameter by 1" bolt on the shackle bolt and push again to get it part way into the bushing then use several other longer bolts to push it out. The bolt on the outside will not slide out of the shackle so you have to keep banging the shackle back toward the middle with a hammer or it binds the bolt. While the area is still hot work to get the bushings out since they are still tough to remove . Pry them out with a screwdriver or if they are stuck we pushed a thin flat screwdriver between the tube and the bushing.
Now that the old shackle is off and the busing are out your will find that the new bushing won't fit. You have to clear out some of the built up rust in the tube. I found that a round file worked best. We used poly bushings and new shackles and bolts from CCOT. Attach the top end first. Our 5/8" bolts would not slide in so we had to screw them in with a 1/2 ' drive ratchet wrench. Once the top is in lower the axle held up by the floor jack and you will find that the leaf spring is still too high to align with the raised shackle holes. Now use the bottle jack shown in the first picture and below between the frame and the leaf spring to position the end of the leaf spring in the right place.
Grease the bolts before you insert them. On the fronts the leaf springs were a little towards the middle so to line them up we used the portapower again along with the bottle jack and it worked fine.
Well that's what we did, again with the help of many here, sorry it was so long and wordy but I hope it helps others save time and frustration. Enjoy.
