HOW TO REMOVE AND INSTALL LEAF SPRING SHACKLES

I installed some lift shackles this morning and thought I'd take pics to document the process. There are several different ways to do this but this is how I did mine. I had never done this before and it took me about an hour and a half.

This was on a 4 Door truck. The 2 Door trucks have a gas tank which can make it more difficult to get the bolts out. I am also fortunate in that being in the south with no snow/salt/rust, the bolts in the shackles came free without any hammering. If your truck is in an area where it may have a harsher life, you might encounter a few more problems

Here is a comparison picture between the stock shackles (lower) and lift shackles (top).


It's a good idea to spray the bolts down with PB Blaster, Liquid Wrench, WD40 or something like that in advance to help loosen everything up.

Lift the truck up and place the frame on jackstands. I put them directly under the front leaf spring mount. You'll need the truck up high enough so that you can lower the rear axle to line up with the longer shackels.

Leave the rear axle on a floor jack so that you can raise and lower it as needed.

Once you have the truck up in the air with the weight off of the rear axle, go ahead and loosen the nuts and remove the bolts. You'll need a 13/16" socket and wrench.



I removed the lower bolts first but you can remove the top first. It doesn't matter which order you do them. I also did both sides at the same time rather than completing one side and then moving on to another



With the bolts removed, go ahead and remove the shackles. The springs shouldn't move much if at all.



After removing the old shackles, start bolting thew new ones on. I bolted the lower side on first. It's probably a better idea to bolt the top in first though. There are some bolts on the frame that hold the bumper on and I had to lower the axle pretty far in order to clear those bolts. If I had done the top first, I wouldn't have had to lower the axle as much.



Depending on which bolt you do first, and length of your shocks, you may or may not need to do the following two steps. Since my shocks are stock height, they "topped out" so that the suspension cannot flex any further. This was a problem for me since I needed to lower the axle in order to install the longer shackles. I had to remove the lower bolt holding the shock in. It is also a 13/16" nut



I also disconnected the sway bar (5/8" nut) in order to allow the axle to drop even lower. With the shocks, sawybar and rear shackle disconnected, the only thing supporting the rear end is the front leaf spring mounts and the floor jack.



With shocks and swaybar disconnected, I was now able to lower the axle enough so that I could swing the shackles up and attach them to the upper mount in the frame. Like I said above, bolting the top first might work better. You may not need to lower the axle as far in order to clear the other bolts in the frame.



After bolting the new shackles in, raise the axle back up so that you can re-attach the shocks and swaybar. Check and make sure everything is attached as it should be. I also took a picture of the torque specifications out of the Haynes manual. All units are in foot pounds.





Enjoy your lifted truck! :P



In case anyone was wondering, I had painted all of the frame/wheel-wells/suspension about a year prior to this install so that's why everything looks black and in decent condition. You can see the black paint on the shock and where the boot covered up the original paint on the shock.

 

reserved

 

Wow! nice write up. That should be a mandatory new member read

I also took off the spring bolts first (mostly because I liked the idea of torque-ing on something solid (the frame) after fighting my first bolt off. Unlike yours, my Blazer had seen some bad winters before this little project...

Again, a 5* write up.

 

Nice! If I do this, will I have to get longer shocks?

 

So is disconnecting that stuff a must in order to get the shackles to reach?

 

It wouldn't hurt to get longer ones. The stock length ones like I have will only prevent your suspension from fully flexing down as far as it can.

I've heard of people using a small bottle or scissor type jack between the frame and leaf in order to push it down to align the holes. It's probably not necessary the way I did it but it's really simple to disconnect the shocks and swaybar. I figured I'd rather disconnect everything so it can drop down far enough by itself rather than putting pressure on the springs and forcing them down.

Part of the reason mine needed to go down so far was because you need more room when bolting the shackle to the spring first. If I had bolted it to the frame first, I wouldn't have needed to lower the axle so far.

 

I see, so theoretically, i could have a buddy either push up or pull down on the leaf springs to align the holes?

 

I dont remember who I was talking too (Moores1234 maybe?) but all i did was wrap my legs around the spring and hang from it (google body triangle) and my weight brought it close to where it needed to be.

A bottle jack seems like a smarter (easier) approach.

Disconnecting the Sway bar probably made the final fitting a LOT easier as well.
Again, very nice write up.

 

HAHA abn, thats what im going to do LOL.

 

One of the best write ups I've found on here. Great job seems simple enough and straight forward.