Hey guys. i did a tg 3 inch sas a few months back. but i have a few questions. How tight am i supposed to tighten the shackle bolts? I have them tightened down, but the spacers that are between the shacklles and spring bushings seem to be cookie cutting the bushings. should i get washers that are the same diameter as the bushings to go in between the spacers and the bushings? And on the front spring hanger do i tighten the bolts enough to bend t

 

Do i tighten the hanger bolts enough to slightly bend. the ears and compress the bushings

 

bending the ears sounds like the bolt through the mount at the front of the spring, by the radiator? i had that same dilemma, i bent the ears slightly, but now i wish that i hadn't.

the real question for me was how tight the bolts are at the other end of the spring, the shackle mount that goes through the frame.

after going through a couple of sets of shackles and shackle bushings, i finally got davez no death wobble shackles... they were a nightmare to install, but they tighten down hard against metal, and work better than anything else out there.

i'm still not sure about the front tho.

 

Why do you wish you wouldn't of bent the ears? Because i did yesterday, but haven't really driven it yet.

 

tightening until the ears bent didn't seem to stabilize the front spring connection any better, because in my case, it looks like the chassis bracket is a bit to wide.

not sure what they used for brackets up there.

the real problem is with the shackles on the rear of the spring, because the only thing on the market that works and lives is that davez kit.

i tried welding brackets to the shackles, to keep the nuts from turning, but it's still rubber dragging on metal, it wears out pretty quickly, and it's not clear how tight the shackle bolts are supposed to be tightened.

 

I did some research on the no wobble shackles from davez. they look to be of very good quality. so they will work good with tg springs?

 

if you get the right size spring hole match, they are the only solid option for a daily driver, because you are tightening 'em down as metal against metal... it's essentially a box, whereas the other aftermarket shackle brackets move independently of each other.

nobody in any thread ever mentioned that, including dave, but that's the theory behind how it works... maybe measure your spring holes, or ask trail gear if they are factory size, so that you can run the factory shackle rubber... at least on the top holes through the frame, anyway, the actual spring holes won't use factory rubber, but you need to know what they match.

the "machining" on the center pieces is pathetic, they are all different lengths, and the end chamfer/bevels are all different, because they appear to have been done with a hand grinder... there are also serious clamp marks on the centers, that will rub against the rubber, so everything should be hand-filed.

not enough bevel angle appears to hang the install up severely, fwiw... i used that water-based sex lube for the frame hole install, lol, per the thread, but it really needs grease.

 

I had the same problem cookie cutting the bushings. I did exactly what you suggested and found some fender washers the same diameter or larger to put between the bushings and spacers.


Also had trouble with the bolts coming loose, even with Red Loctite. So I did a 4Crawler mod and welded square stock across the outer shackle plates against a flat side of the head of the bolt to keep it from turning. Welded to shackle only, bolt still comes out if you want it to.


The nuts STILL kept coming loose. So now I adjusted the bolt/nut so the shackles move freely and drilled the nut and bolt for a cotter pin. No more problems.


Never had any issues with the front spring hanger bolts/bushings. Just tightened until snug. Free movement but not loose and not bending ears.


If this wouldn't have worked I was going to get Davez setup.

 

aztoyman, the guy who saved my bacon with that tip about putting a cv joint in the rear driveshaft, to stop vibration? thx

even with the nuts locked, i found that there was still metal rubbing against metal, at the point where the bolts went through the shackle side pieces... the bolts always seemed to elongate the holes :-(

i was driving 500 miles a week, tho, so that was probably a factor.

 

I kept hearing how TG bushings suck and don't last. The bushings aren't any different than others I have bought.


I got tired of always having my shackles come loose and eat the bushings up. The combination of loose parts and sharp edges are the problem.


So I polished up all the contacting surfaces, rounded off the edge of the bushing tubes where the bushing flanges touch and added fender washers at least as big as the bushing flanges.


Plenty of lube and tighten only enough to remove play but not bind. You MUST somehow keep your nuts and bolts from backing off though. That's why I welded the square stock on and cotter pinned my nuts (ouch!)


The shackles now move nice and smooth and so far the bushings have been holding up. I posted this stuff up somewhere with pics. I'll see if I can find it.

 

"TG Front Spring Bushing Options?" was the post I put pics and bushing part numbers on. I don't know how to link it.


It's toward the bottom of 1st page of SAS section.

 

here is the post where you had pics of it, from 2013:

https://www.yotatech.com/forums/f152.../#post52112512