Leaf spring shackles

[Fiddy B2C]

I lubed the truck, only I cannot get grease to flow into any of the leaf spring U shackles.  Probably because they are clogged with 70+ year old grease….  Anyway, I have some questions.

1. Can these be removed and cleaned out, or do I need to replace them?

2. Why are the passenger side left hand threads?  Can these be replaced with regular right hand threaded shackles?

 

any help here is much appreciated, thanks.

[maok]

Try raising the car up so the wheels are off the floor then pump the grease in.

[Fiddy B2C]

1 hour ago, maok said:

Try raising the car up so the wheels are off the floor then pump the grease in.

The truck is currently raised on stands… I guess I could put it on the ground and see if that works?  

[Los_Control]

Are you saying the zirk fittings are left hand threaded .... I have not seen that yet.

I have found while going through the front end for paint & grease, I found several zirks that would not accept grease & simply replaced them with modern right hand threaded zirks. ..... This included the front leaf springs.

 

Currently am working on the rear end of the truck & expect I will need to replace many zirk fittings here also ....

The wheel bolts have left handed threads, the zirk fittings are all replaceable with modern right handed threads .... of course I have been wrong before.

 

[Fiddy B2C]

1 minute ago, Los_Control said:

Are you saying the zirk fittings are left hand threaded .... I have not seen that yet.

I have found while going through the front end for paint & grease, I found several zirks that would not accept grease & simply replaced them with modern right hand threaded zirks. ..... This included the front leaf springs.

 

Currently am working on the rear end of the truck & expect I will need to replace many zirk fittings here also ....

The wheel bolts have left handed threads, the zirk fittings are all replaceable with modern right handed threads .... of course I have been wrong before.

 

No, the zerks are standard RHT, the passenger side U shackles themselves are LHT for some unknown reason?  Apparently the engineers thought that vibration?could cause them to come unscrewed, but just on the passenger side???  

[maok]

2 minutes ago, Fiddy B2C said:

The truck is currently raised on stands… I guess I could put it on the ground and see if that works?  

 

The wheels need to be free from the weight of the vehicle so that the shackles have no weight on them, the grease will enter a lot easier into the bushing.

[Fiddy B2C]

1 minute ago, maok said:

 

The wheels need to be free from the weight of the vehicle so that the shackles have no weight on them, the grease will enter a lot easier into the bushing.

Got that.  Which leads me back to my original 2 questions.  Can the shackles be rebuilt or do i need to get new ones? And why are the passenger side U shackles left hand thread? Can RHT be used instead of the LHT?

[maok]

You can definitely pull them out, clean, and re-grease. If the bushing threads are worn then replace with new ones but the biggest issue you may encounter is the thread in the chassis has worn away. I had this happened to me, I made new modern style (plate) shackles.

[Los_Control]

Just now, Fiddy B2C said:

 Can the shackles be rebuilt or do i need to get new ones?

Ok we are not just talking about getting grease to them.

 

Would be good if you got grease to them they may be sufficient again.

 

Only thing I have ever seen is replacing them .... Have not seen any oem replacement options available .... have read where there are some jeep parts that are close enough to modify & work. .... Just nothing off the shelf.

[Fiddy B2C]

2 minutes ago, Los_Control said:

Ok we are not just talking about getting grease to them.

 

Would be good if you got grease to them they may be sufficient again.

 

Only thing I have ever seen is replacing them .... Have not seen any oem replacement options available .... have read where there are some jeep parts that are close enough to modify & work. .... Just nothing off the shelf.

Right, Vic’s has replacements, but they want $140 for the passenger side U shackle.  I guess because they are LHT.  The drivers side are only $40…

[Merle Coggins]

Before tearing it all apart I would remove the grease zerks and dig around with a wire or pick to remove as much old caked up grease and gunk as possible, then see if they’ll take grease. 

[Fiddy B2C]

Merle,

that was my thought too.  I’ve spent the last couple hours pulling the zerks off, cleaning them (inside and out) and running grease through them.  They all appear to be working now.  Came in to watch Thurs night football.  I’ll try re-greasing tomorrow and see if that works. Some of them were in a pretty gunked up state…

So tell me, why are the pass side U bolts left hand threads?

[kencombs]

1 hour ago, Fiddy B2C said:

Merle,

that was my thought too.  I’ve spent the last couple hours pulling the zerks off, cleaning them (inside and out) and running grease through them.  They all appear to be working now.  Came in to watch Thurs night football.  I’ll try re-greasing tomorrow and see if that works. Some of them were in a pretty gunked up state…

So tell me, why are the pass side U bolts left hand threads?

I think that is intended to us the spring motion to tighten rather than loosen the shackle. 
 

I have had success filling the grease gun with diesel. Assuming that your gun seals will hold with a thin bodied fluid that may loosen and flush the old grease trapped in the threads.  Fill it up. Let it set at least over night then apply as much pressure as you can

[DakotaFrank]

I had some clogged shackle bushings on a 55 Chevy pickup decades ago. I removed the grease fittings and dug in there with a wire and stuck the straw on a wd40 spray can in there and soaked the old grease.  That helped soften it so I could dig more out. After awhile I replaced the zerks and was able to get them all greased. 

[Los_Control]

Interesting they are left handed threads on passenger side .... I question if that is necessary?

Like left handed lug nuts ..... maybe a lil bit over engineered?

 

Looking at mine on my 49, I assume we are talking about the same part?

Think I will need to get out the book and study it a little. What I'm seeing is the U-shackle has bushings top & bottom.

 

 

Here the bottom bushing looks good, but you can see the top bushing sliding out & exposed.  .... The other side the top looks good, the bottom bushing is wore out & missing metal.

 

The photo shows what I think is the U-shackle, is this what you are working on?

I see it as a serviceable item you take apart and clean, replace the bushings, zerks as needed ..... The U-shackle only gets replaced if damaged.

If you could find a good used one that would be fine.

 

[Fiddy B2C]

Yes, that’s it. I played around with the zerks and poked some wire in there to clean them out some, then sprayed some PB in there to help loosen up some more, then put all the zerks back on.  I got all of them to accept grease…but one.  The passenger side rear, both top and bottom.  I sprayed it down good and will let it sit and try it again tomorrow.

Edited September 9, 2022 by Fiddy B2C

[Los_Control]

I will share one of my ... IMHO, I love all original parts as much or more then the next guy. .... I would not waste my time saving zirk fittings.

 

A test for king pins, if you can grab the tire & give it up & down lift while watching the king pins top & bottom .... Any movement at all means the bushing is wore out.

I have 3 bushings with zero movement, the 4th bushing the zirk fitting would not accept grease. It had 1/16" movement.

I suspect that zirk was bad when new or really has not worked for a very long time.

After changing the zirk, I packed it full of grease & movement is down to about 1/32"  on that bushing .... still wore out. I will watch & monitor it.

I had to turn the steering wheel many times & stop to fill it with grease.

 

Just saying I do not think the original zirk ever worked ... I'm not cleaning it & hope it works ... I'm replacing it and any other zirks I find not working.

 

Dried grease can be a problem. What I have found is grease protected from uv rays is not that bad.

 

You can see in the photo above I have jack stands on the axle.

If I were to move them to the frame, I then could use my jack to raise & lower the rear axle to move the shackles.

I then could add grease like I did with my front axle

 

Raise the rear end up, add grease. lower the rear end add grease ... raise it to the middle & add grease.

Then treat it like a carnival ride for days raising/lowering the rear end .... then add as much grease to it as you can.

You will need movement to get the fresh grease circulated. .... Then you can address the problem & use a proper fix if needed.

 

 

 

 

[kencombs]

5 hours ago, Los_Control said:

Interesting they are left handed threads on passenger side .... I question if that is necessary?

Like left handed lug nuts ..... maybe a lil bit over engineered?

 

Looking at mine on my 49, I assume we are talking about the same part?

Think I will need to get out the book and study it a little. What I'm seeing is the U-shackle has bushings top & bottom.

 

 

Here the bottom bushing looks good, but you can see the top bushing sliding out & exposed.  .... The other side the top looks good, the bottom bushing is wore out & missing metal.

 

The photo shows what I think is the U-shackle, is this what you are working on?

I see it as a serviceable item you take apart and clean, replace the bushings, zerks as needed ..... The U-shackle only gets replaced if damaged.

If you could find a good used one that would be fine.

 

My rear ones looked like that.   Hope your frame bracket threads are good.  Mine are questionable.   The shackle with bushings is a kit, not available as pieces.   Bushings are threaded inside and out.  Screw into the. Frame bracket and the shackle screws into it.  At the same time!!!  Kinda tricky .  The frame bracket is expensive if badly worn.  

[Young Ed]

13 minutes ago, kencombs said:

My rear ones looked like that.   Hope your frame bracket threads are good.  Mine are questionable.   The shackle with bushings is a kit, not available as pieces.   Bushings are threaded inside and out.  Screw into the. Frame bracket and the shackle screws into it.  At the same time!!!  Kinda tricky .  The frame bracket is expensive if badly worn. 

If only slightly worn you could do what I did on both my trucks. Cut them off and move them to the opposite side so the wear ends up at the bottom. Also the bushings are the same as early jeeps so if you just need those you can buy jeep kits for way cheaper and just not use the U. I did that on the rear of my 47 and used the entire jeep shackle on the fronts.