isaac338

I just got a set of 4crawler 3" extended shackles for Christmas. I spent a bit of time trying to install them tonight and what a job! I think my truck was used as a salt/plow truck cause the back end of it is rusted all to hell.

I know this has probably been discussed a boatload on here, and I've read a bit I've found with searching, but I need some answers by tomorrow...

Anyways, I got the plates off the shackles, and managed to pound out the upper bolt on the driver's side, but the lower bolts are seized completely to the leaf spring. Now, I mushroomed the bolts pretty bad pounding on them (the nuts were completely destroyed through removing them, had to cut one of them off completely), and so I can't reattach the plate. The leaf springs are hanging off the frame with no nuts holding them. I obviously can't drive around like this, so I'd like to get it fixed right away.

I assume if I heat the spring with a torch I'll probably melt the rubber before I make any headway on the seized bolt, so that option's out (I don't have any new bushings). The new shackle came with new bolts so I can cut it if I can figure out a way to get the bit out of the leaf spring after it's cut (cutting it will be hell too, no sawzall). Anyone have any tips for unseizing these bolts?

I may as well spread the eye on the spring with a screwdriver and pop out the old bushing and install poly bushings - will they slide right in or do I need to pull the spring and press them in? If I have poly bushings sent overnight can I drive around slowly for a day or two?

Am I completely screwed?

Thanks for any hints,

Isaac

edit: Also, how do you get the bushings out of the hanger (on the frame)? Pound at them with a socket and hammer? Any writeups on replacing suspension bushings?

edit 2: Ongoing research = ongoing questions.. if I can get stock bushings for cheap tomorrow, do I really need a press to replace them? How do you install them into the leaf spring?

Sonofmayhem

burn them out i took a punch and 3lb. sledge. but my truck was a cali baby

snafu560

Have you tried soaking them in WD-40

isaac338

i've been spraying them down with wd40 for hours. i don't have any pb blaster or anything better.

to make things worse i just grabbed a 3lb sledge from home and went pounding on the lower bolt to try to budge it, and popped the shackle off the hanger. now the spring is only attached in the front and is just resting on the hanger. since i have to drive a few km to where i can work on the truck, is this going to be a problem? am i risking breaking the hanger?

argh. stupid rust belt!

vmax84

Kroil. Works great.

vmax84

mt_goat

It's amazing how rust can make an easy job into a nightmare. You need more cutting tools, try cutting the bolt off with a cutoff wheel on a die grinder or a dremel or a angle grinder. Or get a sawzall or hacksaw. Don't drive it, that connection is all that holds your rear axle and wheels on (talk about a real nightmare)

waskillywabbit

iTrader: (-1)

I had to torch all my old stuff off and out.

isaac338

Well, I bought new bushings from Toyota but they don't look right - they're about half an inch too short, and they're all rubber. Aren't the bushings in the eye of the spring rubber sleeved in metal?

Wabbit, when you torched out the rubber, did you have to press out the metal sleeve?

I'm sort of thinking I should get the right bushings from Toyota (anyone have a part number?) and use a sawzall to cut off the bolt flush with the spring, then burn the rubber out and push it all out with a punch. That leaves the sleeve but I'll wait and see what Wabbit says

Thanks for the help guys

edit: these bushings aren't pressed in, are they? am i going against the current here?!

waskillywabbit

iTrader: (-1)

I was not reusing the leaf springs so I never bothered with them.

isaac338

well.. does anyone else know? will the metal sleeve stay in there or should i get it out?

although the bushings i have are half an inch too short i might cut out the bolt, press it out with a c clamp, and put 'em in with the new shackles just so i can drive the damn truck.

isaac338

In case anyone's following this at all Toyota apparently doesn't sell the bushings that go in the spring eye, and the parts guy says they're unremovable. I'm ordering a set of poly bushings from 4Crawler and hopefully I can find some writeups on how to get the old ones (including the big outer metal sleeve) out of the springs without a press.

Anyone have any hints?

Thanks

BLKNBLU

iTrader: (1)

My bushings were just rubber/poly. Do you mean a metal sleeve down the center of the bushing or around the outside of the bushing? Or both?

Also, my shackle was not actually a nut and bolt. There was a nut on the inner sides but the outer "bolts" were actually flat headed and welded to the side plate making sort of a U or C shape.

isaac338

Agreed on the shackle design - mine are the same, pressed into one plate and held to the other with a nut. I've pounded out the top bolt (stud) but the bottom one won't budge from the spring.

There seem to be two different kinds of bushings - one like you're talking about, just straight up rubber stuck into the spring, and one with two metal sleeves both surrounding and inside the rubber (one touches the spring, one houses the metal) - if that makes any sense.

If mine has no inner metal sleeve then I can probably get the bolt out without destroying the bushing (more than I have). However, if mine has a metal sleeve, the bolt is probably rusted completely to it so I may as well replace the bushing entirely.

Which one is it? Roger Brown says (over email) I probably have the bushing with metal molded in it, but I'm not positive he's talking about the shackle end of the spring (all the evidence I've found indicates the metal bushings are used in the frame hanger towards the front of the truck).

This is pretty confusing, all of it

Sonofmayhem

hold the frame up with jackstands, then just pound away, when we fixed my shackle hanger(welding) the bushing caught on fire and melted. but i also took a 2ft. stake and pounded it threw the shackle hanger and viola!

mt_goat

Well at least you can see it, where are the pics so we can see too?

4Crawler

iTrader: (3)

This is how I remove those bushings:

Drill out around the center steel sleeve:



Then push out out then use a saw to cut out through the steel sleeve:



And that should relieve the pressure on the sleeve to allow it to be removed (use a chisel or big screwdriver to pry open the spring eye).

Or use a press to push the old bushing/sleeve out:



Then push in new poly bushing halves and sleeve (press in by hand):



and you are done:

mt_goat

Looks like a good way to do it Roger. I might add... be sure and put some silicone grease on the poly bushings before you push them in place.

isaac338

once again, 4crawler comes through with not only an explanation, but pictures! thanks for that, man.

i've found some local places that stock energy suspension stuff so i'm going to buy a full set of bushings from them (so i can get them quicker), and then i'll let everyone know how it went.

thanks for all the help!

isaac