putting on rear shackles
 

So this past weekend I wanted to put rear shackles on my blazer and I thought it would be an easy install. which is should have. only problem is if you have an older blazer you have the problem of rust. It took me 12 hours to remove the shackles and bushings from the right leaf spring and the frame. I took some pictures and I'll have some instructions on how to make it smooth.

1. Jack it up and put it jack stands on the frame. once this is done put the jack under the pumpkin and just jack it up a little.

2. The two bolts you will have to remove are going to be very tight from rust if you have an older blazer. I used an impact wrench on one side it worked pretty good. A long socket wrench would work as well. you may have to pound on the screws to get them to come out.

3. Then once you have the screws out the shackle will come right off. The easiest way to put the new shackles on is to take both shackles off at the same time or else u will have to pull down on the leaf spring.

its as easy as that if you don't have any rust, my problem was I did have rust. What I did was take a torch to the bushings and melt the rubber inside and eventually push the rubber out. after that there is still the metal casing around the bushing still in the hole at this point we used a saw-zaw and cut down and bent and twisted the casing untill they popped out. it sounds easy but it takes a long time to do this.

Here is some pictures:

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y17...7res/035-2.jpg
heating the bushing on the frame
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y17...7res/034-2.jpg
the new bushing on the leaf spring (should fit really snug in there)
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y17...7res/030-2.jpg
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y17...7res/031-2.jpg
the side that didn't give me trouble
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y17...7res/033-2.jpg
the bushing in the frame it was really rusted in there
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y17...7res/028-3.jpg
almost have it out at this point
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y17...7res/032-2.jpg
the mess we made

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y17...337res/201.jpg
before lift
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y17...7res/036-2.jpg
after lift

any questions I'll be happy to answer them

that was exactly what we had to do on my jimmy... but all of the bushings had to to be torched out.

i got lucky I only had to do one side or else I would probably just be finishing it today

and to make it worse... it was the end of december, and like 0 degrees in a garage with no heat =]

About how much lift did you achieve?

I did mine Friday night. I took a torch to my passengers side no problem but i dropped the leaf on the drivers side because I was afraid of catching my full tank on fire. is that some universal shackle kit?

we worked on my friend's truck last winter and the only thing that kept us warm was the big light we were using because the only time we had to do it was at night I'm surprised the neighbors don't think me and my friend are a bunch of crazy rednecks. I'm always trying to put something new in the blazer and always making a mess haha

yea i bought the shackles at advanced auto for $16 cant beat that haha. Only things it doesn't fit is a 1955-1957 chevy for some reason? I have about a 1.5" in the front and 2" in the back so it sits almost level now. lol yea I didn't have the problem with the gas tank since that side came off ok. I had to drive to about 4 advanced autos and one auto zone the dude there was trying to sell me $52 bushings and I'm like dude I didn't even pay near that much for the shackles. None of those people at advanced auto know what they are talking about for the most part i wouldn't even trust them to put in a new headlight or windshield wipers haha

Awesome..thanks for the pics. Looks good in the final product! I was looking at doing this to my truck, and didn't fully understand the shackle part of it, so this helps a lot. Thanks.

What would of made this install a breeze I thought was getting a 3/4 to 1/2 for my impact. That 3/4 will break pretty much any rust ha.

maybe thats what I should have gotten for my impact because it wasn't budging on the rusted side. and no problem posting pics I thought I should since I couldn't really find any detailed descriptions about how to do it so I thought I would