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Rear shackle bushings after frame repair

522 views 5 replies 3 participants last post by  LenVino 
#1 ·
Good Morning (for me, at least) Folks!

I was working on the heep last week and noticed a few things I didn't like.

I had the rear axle down for cleanup and service of the brakes and rubber bushings in the shackles. The rubber bushings where the shackle meets the frame are completely shot. Looks like the (sorry for the lack of a better description) mushroom head of the shackle bushing completely disintegrated between the shackle plate and frame rail. Further inspection told me that someone previously capped the rear of the frame in an attempt to repair it. I had the shackle plates, bolts and metal bolt sleeves completely apart and out for cleaning, so I was able to salvage all the hardware. My understanding is since the frame was capped and not cut and butt-welded, the metal bolt sleeve is not contacting the shackle plate and is allowing the rubber bushing to be sandwiched during normal operation and became eaten away through normal suspension travel.

My thoughts about moving forward:
1. Cut the old repair and replace with properly-sized frame rail so the original hardware works properly.

OR

2. Measure the distance between the outside of the current frame rail sides and install a properly sized metal bushing to account for the added thickness of the repair piece along with new rubber bushings and reassemble.

One thing though: I was pretty intimate with my observation of the rear of the heep. I would greatly benefit from having new rear sections PS & DS of the frame because the area where the shackle mounts, specifically the circular opening that holds the rubber bushing and metal sleeve, has deteriorated from the inside. I can hear it creaking and releasing rust chunks when I reassembled the shackles.

So what do you think? As always, I'm on a budget. Also, I plan on a frame-up, tub off restoration next summer.

Thank you for your time!
 
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#2 ·
Curious of this myself since I'm going to need to accomplish a similar repair. Hearing your story though, it sounds like the shackle will fit just fine with a frame cap but without the proper metal bushing, it may crush the soft shackle bushings. On the other hand, the previous owner may have torqued the shackles down as tight as possible which has caused the bushings to crush and prematurely wear out.

If your situation was my own, I'd probably just buy new bushings, torque the bolts with locknut's until the bushing barely starts to mushroom, and rock on. If it fails again in a year or two, then I'd re-evaluate everything.

Curious of other people's opinions though.
 
#5 ·
Should be the width of the springs plus just slightly less than the width of the bushing shoulders to allow for a tiny bit of compression.

a proper installation allows the bolts to be torqued tight and the side plates held in place by proper length inner tubes which allows movement. Maybe you can make the top wider and use some sort of spacer on the spring end.
 
#6 ·
Should be the width of the springs plus just slightly less than the width of the bushing shoulders to allow for a tiny bit of compression.

a proper installation allows the bolts to be torqued tight and the side plates held in place by proper length inner tubes which alllow movement. Maybe you can make the top wider and use some sort of spacer on the spring end.
That?s my question. How do I go about getting the right length inner tubes?? How do I measure for them? Where do I look for materials?
 
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