I just replaced the springs in my 56 chevy truck. Greased the shackle bolts. I was wondering if using rubber shackles like in a car would be smoother ride? That's when I found these. https://posiesrodsandcustoms.com/pr...spring-shackles-pr-front-or-rear-springs-452r Has anybody used them?
I doubt it will do much. The rubber bushings on shackles on cars that have a smooth ride, are at least twice as big diameter as that.
I thought about checking bushing size and bolts like I have on my 54 chevy car. I'm not impressed with truck shackles. The small carriage bolt is all that holds the links together ? Seems like a bad design. The shackles I posted are meant to replace the truck shackles.
no adapter needed, just remove the threaded bushings from the spring and hanger. Some of the shackles have the carriage bolt holding them together, others have big nuts on the ends of the pins. But what actually holds them together, is the taper at the end of the pin, and the hole in the plates. oh, you have to grease them all the time to keep them from wearing out, too. on my 59
Mine's half ton also. They're sold with the carriage bolt for 55-56, and with nuts for 57-59, it seems. I've never seen them come apart when they weren't supposed to. They can be difficult to get the taper disengaged, with either style.
One shot is the back shackle others are on front axle if the bolt breaks they would fall off. The ones I took off didn't seem to be holding much tension. Plus a pic of Old and new.
'55.2 & '56 used the shackles like you have with the just the carriage bolt holding the side plates on. '57-'59 use the ones like Squirrel shows that have the nuts on the outside of the pins. Front and rear are the same. My '57 has the ones with the nuts and never had issues. They are just originals and need to be replaced. You have to get complete kits to swap over. If you do get new kits, make sure you get what you want. I recently ordered some and they were your style and the pins didn't seat into the side plates as intended (manufacturing error). Given that and they didn't have the nuts outside like original (and my peace of mind) I returned them and got the later style from another source. As far as replacing with rubber bushings, I don't think there's enough room for a bolt, sleeve and enough bushing to fit in an original spring eye. Just looked at the Posies shackles. Interesting and probably not too bad of a price either for a pair as compared to stock replacements.
I ordered the rubber replacements. I will let you know when I get them and see if they are worth it or not. I just like a solid shackle not one held together by a all thread bolt.
Yes the ‘55-56 ones just have that carriage bolt holding them together where the ‘57-59 have nuts on the ends of the heavy pins. Curious to see how these Posies one work!
It might make it quieter, but I doubt the ride will be much difference. It will be an interesting test.
I buy urethane bushings and they're always too large, so I run a bolt through them and then chuck the bolt in my lathe and turn the OD down to fit the '55-'59 springs, or other springs. They turn down quickly and easily. The bushings come with sleeves, so if I have to cut them down in length also I just cut the sleeve length to match. I'm not sure the ride is much softer, but a lot less road noise is transferred to the cabin.
They are installed and I'm very pleased. I replaced the shocks and shackle bushings. Ride is better. Easy to install and replace if needed. If I replace them every year no big deal. I do expect to get 2 or 3 years of driving. Surely they will last 15000 miles or more.
The originals were greasable bolts. These are rubber bushings. Although if you didn't grease the bolts they may not have lasted long either.
Awesome to hear! Will have to keep this in mind if I have to go thru this again. Congrats on the fix!
One thought I had was this just gives isolators on the shackle end, correct? It's still a steel to bronze connection on the front/stationary end, right?
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