rebuild or replace stock shackles?? (1 Viewer)

[g-man]

I bought some poly bushings for my front springs. I removed the worn bushings from my drivers side front shackle. It had lots of corrosion around the shackle bolts/sleeves. Do the stock shackles have a removable sleeve? If so maybe I can just take a jiffy tool/air chisel to it and vibrate the old rusty ones off. Replace with a steel pipe of some kind. Looks like a seam at the end of the bolt near the threads but I cant tell on the other end because of the crud. Next option would be for me to grind the heads off the bold and drive it out of the shackle. Drill out the hole in the side of the shackle and replace with oversized shoulder bolts. find a steel pipe to use as a sleeve.

Toyota does manufacture OEM shackles but pricey to replace at 92.32 for the shackle kit and 46.35 for the pin kit at the other end of the spring...so about 150.00 a spring or 600.00 for the whole truck. I see this as 1/3 of the way to an entire aftermarket suspension.

I like the look of the HFS greasable shackles for sale on CCOT They are barbell type zinc plated (about 156.00 for a set of 4) but they are of course hollow bolts(weaker). But since I am supposed to grease poly bushings these might be the ticket.

Are they longer than stock shackles?

Will they affect the mounting angle on my stock fj60 springs?

They say they fit stock springs. I assume that means they fit the eye of the spring. But are made for 1 1/2 to 2 1/2 inch lift springs. If they are much longer than stock shackles won't this affect the angle of there position and make them sit more straight up and down?

Lastly the "Energy Suspension" poly bushings I bought have octagonal shaped centers. Is this so they will grab at the sleeve and turn in the eye of the spring? Should the sleeve fit tightly in the bushing?

 

[OSS]

Toyota shackles don't use sleeves over the bushing pin. The pin is supposed to grind on the rubber bushing. When the pin is new & shiny, grinding is minimal. When the pin gets old & rusty, hello Grind-O-Rama.

The shackle bushings wear out the fastest because the shackle pin can rotate up to 90° in the bushing. The rear frame pin hanger doesn't rotate nearly as far, so the pin & bushing twist together without actually rubbing.

The Toyota 'shackle kit' doesn't come with bushings. The 'kit' is the complete shackle assembly with nuts & washers. The pin is pressed into one of the side plates and can't be removed without wrecking the shackle.

Any aftermarket shackle that fits your cruiser will fit the stock springs, but some shackles require different sized bushings to do so. Just because a shackle may fit, doesn't mean its the correct length for your springs. An 10" extended shackle will fit the stock springs (as an extreme example) but the longer it is, the more vertical the shackle angle will be and the worse the truck will ride and handle.

If all you're going to do is replace shackles for your stock springs, avoid getting shackles that are too much longer than what you've got. Long shackles can bend springs on hard hits because the spring has that much farther to travel before it hits the bump stop.

The reason some aftermarket spring bushings have hex patterned inner bores is because they are designed for greasable shackles. The grooves hold the grease. If you're not going to use greasable shackles, use smooth inner bore bushings. The grooved ones will wear out too fast without grease.

In my ever so humble opinion, (ha!) if you're riding on the original Toyota springs, the best all around shackles & bushings to use are Toyota's. Toyota bushings won't squeak and give a nice ride. Poly-squeak-athane bushings eventually will squeak (at least the ones I've tried), unless you can grease them periodically.

The other nicer greasable option is ARB's, but they are expensive too.

Shop around....

 

[g-man]

Good info. I thought as much about the geometry of the longer shackle with stock springs.

 

[g-man]

I did shop around still 65.xx for shackles and 33.xx for pin. I decided to rebuild my shackles. 1/2 x 5" grade 8 bolts, nuts washers, lock washers. Got a 3/8 NPT pipe nipple for the sleeves. Cut the threads off it and drilled out with a 1/2 inch drill bit. All in all not too hard. Had to put a washer on each side of the shackle where the old pins spline into it. This hole is bigger than the sleeve and I didn't want the sleeve going into the side of the shackle. About 30.00 altogether less the 1/2 inch drill bit. That was enough to rebuild the front shackles.

First Put the frame on a jack stand:

 

[g-man]

Then remove tire and put the floor jack under the axle housing. Then put I put a bottle jack between the frame and the spring

 

[g-man]

Next is a bit tricky but let off the housing enough for the spring to sag some. then if needed push a little with the bottle jack to flex the spring down and try to remove the shackle. I loosened the nuts and ran them out to the end of the pins and tapped with a hammer but not too hard. Keep adjusting the axle and bottle jack til the tension comes off the spring.

 

[g-man]

Then I removed the nuts and the and put the shackle on a vise. Stand it up so the pin will be up and the head is in the vise but not tight. I put the nut back on the pin and hit with a hammer until the I forced the pin downward and out of the shackle. The sleeve just came off. I drilled out some 3/8 nps pipe nipple and cut the threads off it. I used a 1/2 inch drill bit to ream out the pipe so the 1/2 bolt will fit in it. Don't ask why but pipe thread is a lot bigger than the size stated. Something about it being a standard but has nothing to do with inside or outside diameter. That's why the 1/2 bolt almost fits inside 3/8 pipe.

 

[g-man]

I put washers on both sided of the shackle on the side that had the splines. These holes are bigger than the other side plate and I didn't want the sleeve sliding out.

Next grease the bolts and the sleeve, then push the bushings into the eye of the spring. Push the shackle back in the bushings. I used a big C clamp to pull my spring over to get the nuts started.

 

[g-man]

Then I snugged up the nuts. Don't forget to use a wrench on the other side to hold the bolt head.

I'll do the other side tomorrow and later in the week try to tackle the rear pins.