Leafspring Shackle Questions

https://www.oilburners.net/attachments/frank-jpg.119240/


I posted this on my trucks thread, but am hoping for a quick response as I would love to get this vehicle on the road.


In above picture, I'm replacing all 6 seized bushings with Moog sb308 - I have 3 large bolts that fit the bushings tightly between the trucks, and 4 that do not.

It seems apparent to me that there were 2 different bolt sizes in sb308 bushing holes... please advise? Should I get 3 more tight bolts?

Also, I rented a ball joint puller (giant C clamp) to press the bearings in and out, I also have a 20 ton shop press.

Anyone have luck using a ball joint puller to replace these?

Bolts should fit both bushing and hanger bores snugly....
Is that your question?
Press wise???
Doing the drill around the rubber thru from side to side and press it out helps.
I just got new ones to make it easy.

Thanks for your response. I'll clarify:

I can drill out the shackles themselves as they don't have a sleeve, but I have 6 Moog sb308 bushings to press in, should I have another type of bushing to fit into the shackles?

If I drill out the bushings in the springs themselves, that won't press out the bushing which is pressed into the leafsprings - how would that help me?

The bolts on the truck were not snugly fit, and it looked stock - the truck which is getting 1 ton donors had 4 smaller bolts and 2 large bolts... which leads me to believe I may have a wrong bushing or two and need to swap them out.

So, to surmise, I'm trying to figure out if I have wrong sized bushings, or if I have wrong size bolts, as well as tips for getting the old bushings out.

Cheers!

Sight unseen, IF the bushes are correct....

edit You know for sure they are accurate pn's ?yes?
What parts are from china? End edit

And the bolts do not fit both the bush bore AND the hanger bore then either you have the wrong bushes OR the p.o. Put the wrong bolts into it?! Or the pins are just worn down.

Post some detailed pics

Clb said:

Sight unseen, IF the bushes are correct....

edit You know for sure they are accurate pn's ?yes?
What parts are from china? End edit

And the bolts do not fit both the bush bore AND the hanger bore then either you have the wrong bushes OR the p.o. Put the wrong bolts into it?! Or the pins are just worn down.

Post some detailed pics

Click to expand...

No, I do not know they are accurate p/n's and were in fact wrong. 3 tries at the local O'Reilly's and I've got the right ones.

Pressing them out was actually a piece of ****, a half-inch deep impact socket that fit just over the outside of the bushing popped them ALL out beautifully, and these were 33 year old bushings at 450k, seized so bad that the bolts snapped. Anyway, the old bushing came out as one piece without drilling the rubber, just a bit of WD and a harbor freight 20 ton shop press. I had to map torch the u-bolts which mushroomed somewhere along the line to have my ugga-dugga refresh the threads while spinning off; the old truck's shackles will be reused on ours. lol

I have 6 sets of grade 10.9 bolts, but they don't fit through all the bushings. I'll use them on the front shackle, which was 1.602" and receives a 1.63" bushing, NONE of my leafsprings fit the SB308, which is the wrong sized bushing entirely for our rigs. I'll post back the kits I used when I'm done. Moog sway bar refreshers, etc.

I also picked up 2 Dorman sets of shackles to just take care of the bushing/bolt issue(man what an expensive swap this is turning into being!). The Dorman bolts in the kit for the shackle were also not snug, and I'm certain that Ford used different sized rear leafspring bolts than front.

Anyway.

Thank you so much for all the assistance! I'm grateful this hub exists for newbies such as myself.

Glad you got it fixed. At least you didn't have to replace the springs. Not a cheap fix for sure but the right fix. I went to Ford for all my bolts & wasn't cheap but is done right. Saved yourself a lot of labor $$$ for sure.

The front of the leaf uses a M16 bolt but a 5/8” fits tighter and the rear spring and shackle bolt uses a M14 bolt and 9/16” bolt fits tighter.

Computer monkeys behind the counter strike again!

Well done, do post up pn. When ya can.
Someone 's gunna need em.