Bad Shackles

Ever take something off your jeep and wonder how in the hell it made it that far? This was one of those things on my list that I finally got around to doing and learned a few tricks about removing bushings that have grown into the springs and leaf hangers. With the wheeling I'm doing through the pastures, I suspect I wasn't far from having a broken bolt. That doesn't bother me as much as I think now about going 70 m.p.h. down the highway with stuff like this trying to hold together.

Regardless, the new heavy duty shackles with grease fittings are now installed and the old sixer is riding like a cadillac. I figured I'd share some pics of the shackles after 35 years of forestry service, south Texas quail hunting expeditions and now wild hog chasing adventures. I think I was cutting these bolts a little to close to failure. By the way, I gave myself a 1.75" lift with just stock height shackles. Go figure.

The worst of them.

 

WOW! Lucky those did not break. I can see where you got the lift from though.

 

lol, You guys are jeep porn addicts! ... let me recover from the heat exhaustion from this weekend and I'll get back out in the garage to snap some pics. Matter of fact, I could use some advice on where I put the washers on the new shackles.

Last night I fired up the new little portable cutting torch and took the quail hunting bumper off the front of her, talk about another change in the way she drives. That thing must of weighed in the neighborhood of 200lbs. She's rolling and steering easy now and it feels pretty darn good.

I did get a surprise after taking the quail rig off though. Front bumper has two bolts holding it on, on the passenger side, the driver's side has a weld and no bolts. Makes me wonder if the welder pre-fabbed the bumper and things didn't quite line up during installation. Looks like a government job to me. This thing is like working on an old house, take one thing apart and discover more stuff that needs attention. This Texas heat is making it hard to stay at it though. I've caught myself thinking less about bumper fabrication and rigging up some sort of water-cooler fan last time I was working on her.

 

I'd say you got your moneys worth out of those shackles and bolts.

 

Haha, nice shackles man!! Good thing you got those replaced! My Jeep sounds like yours with all the WTF stuff you come across when working on it. When I bought mine, the radiator mounting surface had been sawzall'ed out and the radiator was held in with just the bars that run from the radiator mount back to the firewall on both top radiator holes, and on the bottom left there was a piece of angle iron with one bolt into the grill and one into the radiator bottom hole, and on the other side the guy had welded a barn door hinge to the inner frame rail and then mounted that corner of the radiator to the barn door hinge. It was sweet, I wonder why my radiator leaked out the top and bottom tanks and both inlet and outlet ports, lol R) Most things on my Jeep were about that caliber when I bought it, I'm just getting finished on getting it all done right MY first time, haha. Good luck with the Texas heat, saw it was 103 down there today, frick!!

 

Here you go Jim.

Here are the new front shackles along with Saturdays work of cutting off the bumper and grinding down some bad welds and replacing the bumper with some grade 8 bolts. Started at 6:30 a.m. and took me most of the day, but after walking out to go to work this morning, and looking at something clean and painted on the ole sixer made it all worth while. I'm chomping at the bit to do a frame off restore one of these days. Unfortunately, I think it may be a year or two away before I can do so, in the meantime, I'll keep plucking away at the little things.

New front shackles and removal of front bumper and cleanup of old welds.


Wire brushing the bumper before I started the paint stripper wheel. A sand-blaster would be nice!


Atleast it's a start.


Here are the rear shackles.


By the time I got around to the back of the jeep, I decided to put those washers between the outer shackle and the bushing. Is that correct? Seemed logical after a few hours of fighting a heat stroke.

Here's the refreshed bumper. Like I said, for some of us, it's the little things. lol.

 

where did you get the shackles and greaseable bolts at?

 

4wd.com
Posted via Mobile Device

They seem to be built like a brick out house.


http://www.4wd.com/productdetails.aspx?partID=12008

Heavy-duty Greasable Shackle Kit, Front or Rear
Part # OAI18270.16

I've found it pretty convenient to order online and pick it up from the store here in Dallas. I have the luxury of having the 4wd store not far from me, and I drive by it about once a week anyway. Ordering online and picking it up in the store saves me shipping charges and I can verify it's the right part before I walk out of the store. Pretty sweet deal so far.

That price was different as of what they quoted me in the store. Cheaper on the internet for some reason. Also, the price of $27.99 is for ONE shackle. When I ordered, I ordered a quantity of Two thinking they were sold in pairs for front and a pair for both sides of the back. Nope, one shackle kit is one shackle kit, you'll need four kits for all around your jeep.

 

thanks...

 

Wow that must have been way loose. Get yourself a 4 1/2" grinder with a wire wheel works 10X better than a drill

 

Sixer,
That was definitely an catastrophic failure waiting t happen. Good thing you caught it in time. Somebody up there likes you so remember to donate heavily to the collection basket on Sunday.

 

Were those new shackles any longer than the originals? Or the same length?

 

Same length as where the originals started.

Over the weekend I decided to add a receiver to the front bumper. I plan on using a fold up cargo carrier up front and I also want to be able to add our hunting seats when we choose to use them.

As small as this project is, I decided to take pictures as I went along that morning. I've often found that some of the simplest things posted on here can help someone. In this case, probably of what not to do. Regardless, I'm having fun with my welder and the tip about the wire wheel on my grinder has made life allot easier. Thanks!

I found center on my bumper and tried to make the hole fit as snug as possible to my receiver. It took abit of filing to get it in. My hand isn't as steady as I would have liked, but I'm getting there. I think one of the reasons I'm posting this is that if anyone has suggestions to do this better or any critiques are welcome.



I got the receiver in and fit my pieces around before I clamped them down to tack. I left a gap between the four pieces of angle iron so that I could get a weld into the bumper along the seam.


I need practice, but it's on there. I made sure I got a good burn into both pieces of metal and I think I have a good weld despite the looks of the beads. Regardless, I'm having fun!


I used a couple pieces of the angle that where by products of my chop saw for added support on the back side of the bumper. Not as clean as the front, but functional and it will be hidden.


Done deal. I did create on problem though. I warped the bumper slightly. I'm not sure how I could of prevented that, but I can see a slight bend almost a 1/4" from the center to the outer edge of the bumper. It's not going to affect anything that I need, but it still bothers me in the fact I'm about to do the same stuff to the back cross member and have concerns I may do the same thing.

 

That looks a lot stronger than some class 4 and 5 hitches I have seen. You should be able to mount anther CJ5 on the front of that.

 

the heat did your warping....smaller beads and wait a little before going back at it with sheet metal Ive used a damp/wet rag to cool and "shrink" the welded spots back into submission.....Jeff

 

Thanks Jeff. I knew the heat did it, but I wasn't sure if there was a way or method to control it.

Next time I'll take smaller runs at it. Matter of fact, with you mentioning that, I do remember now that the bumper was talking to me abit with the expanding when I did that last outer weld all at once. I reckon that was my mistake.

 

yup if it was singing it was warping sometimes you need a good hot bead and sometimes not.. keep practicing it'll get easier....