Upper shackle bushing replacement

[ghetdjc320]

I bought a bushing kit several months ago for the rear leaf springs and it came with new upper shackle bushings. I was able to remove the leaf spring bushings by drilling several holes in the rubber and collapsing the outer shell of the bushing with a punch. Then you just pound it through to the other side. When I first removed the leaf springs, all the bolts had rust-fused to the inner bushing sleeve so they all had to be cut out. In the absence of a press and this being our only vehicle currently, I decided to crawl out under the truck and fix those shackle bushings which were very shot. After cutting out the bolt, I tried removing the outer bushing shell the same way as the springs but it would absolutely not budge. Very long story short, get yourself a stout chisel and chisel along the inside of the shell where the shackle is welded together (Don’t chisel into the shackle bore, just the bushing shell). Once you have that all broken free it will eventually pound out. A solid 1 1/8 socket fits the inner shell well and let’s you pound it out. Just be advised that this process take hours of beefing and pounding. But it can be done. A hack saw will do little good here since the shell is thick and most likely fused to the shackle bore.

 

 

[AZJeff]

This activity is where an air hammer with a slitting type chisel tip works WONDERS at getting those bushings out.

[ghetdjc320]

Here is the leftover carnage. Keep in mind, I’m doing this out on the ground on a hot tropical island in the middle of nowhere lol. No compressor, no press. 

[ghetdjc320]

The shackles have a small divot on one side from factory that acts like a crimp to hold in the shell of the bushing. Once you get past that divot point they come out fairly easy

[AZJeff]

5 hours ago, ghetdjc320 said:

Here is the leftover carnage. Keep in mind, I’m doing this out on the ground on a hot tropical island in the middle of nowhere lol. No compressor, no press. 

I can appreciate doing that job under less-than-ideal conditions.   It's a HUGE PITA.

[mjeff87]

I know you don't have the same luxury, but I screwed around with those bushings for way too long back in the day.  Took them to an industrial spring shop and they chucked them into a 100T press.  They sounded like a shotgun blast when they broke free.  I think I remember paying them $20 each, back then.  It was good money spent, lol.