OK fellas I'm having a hard time telling if there is a bushing liner in the bracket as there is in the Leaf Spring. I need to solve this asap. Hopefully there is a liner that I just cant see and Ill press it out or I'll have to go to my shop and get a reamer to ream it to a usable condition.

The shop manual does not show the metal liner just the rubber bushings.

 

Here's the liner in question that I just removed from the leaf Spring. I could just try and see what happens but I'd rather not if it doesn't exist.

 

Mine didn't have any liner that you talk about. Just rubber bushings.

 

Thank you! I was just hitting 1.000" on the UHMW bushing that goes there, so I'll take it down to .875" and call it good. I was thinking of reaming the bore but now I think it's better to leave all the metal there that I can. the UHMW will wont have any problem with the worn out bore.

 

So that job went well. The new Shackles are .750" taller than stock in an attempt to compensate for the effects of 55 years of gravity doing it's thing. Here's what they look like:



I used 9/16" x 5" Grade 8 bolts with Nyloc nuts.
The 1-1/2" Black UHMW is the perfect Diameter to make these from as it matches the OD of the Leaf Bore nicely.

Front Leaf Bushing: 1.000" OD .563" ID .375" wide shoulder. 1.375 Long.
Upper Shackle Bushing .880" OD Same otherwise.
Front Leaf rear Bushing 1.120" OD Same otherwise or bore to .625" Like I did.

Ideally you would want to re-ream the bolt holes to .563" after install the bushings, I just used a drill bit to do this, as the bolts need to turn with just a little effort or there is a risk of them breaking.



If anyone want's to compare my truck is sitting 24" to bottom of front bumper to ground, measured under the headlights. I have 32" tires.

 

Thanks again for the pics and the details on the measurements. Hopefully will help tons of folks that search the forum.

Joe

 

Starting with me.... I will be doing spring bushings on mine in the next few weeks.

 

Could you put up a new photo similar to you sig picture from the side? It looks a bit raked, but still nice. I'm thinking it sits pretty much level now, or as Bob Seeger would say 'way up firm and high'. Very nice job on a nice truck!

 

Chet; Thanks for this post! Nice work! Now I have to find a small inexpensive lathe, this is the justification I need for a new tool, Thanks.

 

Thanks everyone! Here you go took this picture this morning right after I discovered the thermostat was sticking. Turned out to be a chunk of crud stuck in the bypass (I hope).

Anyways, I think the rake is reduced now with the new shackles and bushings. One thing to keep in mind is this truck has Monroe Load leveler shocks on the front and rear, but is missing the tailgate and rear bumper at the moment.

 

It has a very nice 4X4 look about it! Your weather looks awesome! We still have 4 inches or so of snow and it stayed in the low 20's for a high temp today. It looks pretty but some green stuff would be nice!

 

Thanks, yes it was a perfect spring day, but I spent it all wrenching on my 59. Trying to get the thermostat housing to not leak. I had to resurface the thermostat housing with a big ol file and some 80 grit wet or dry on the granite countertop in our kitchen, my wife didn't get bent out of shape when I explained I needed a dead flat surface and it was the only thing that was going to work. I had to regrind the recess in the housing for the thermostat and I did that with a die grinder and a small stone wheel. Anyways I got it back together with a 180 degree thermostat to replace the 170 I was running. No leaks and the Y block seems to be happy with it so far.

 

You make it sound like it's a bad way to spend a spring day!

 

It's all good till your fingers are bleeding from Spring shackle wrestling and the Antifreeze doesn't help either, but I'm a happy camper till the next F100 rodeo.

 

Wally, just remember bigger is better when it comes to lathes. You'd be better off hunting down an old 10" Atlas or a Southbend or even a Bigger chi-neeze one. But if you decide to go for it and get the HF unit, You must at least get a bigger chuck and this extended bed for it:

https://littlemachineshop.com/produc...ProductID=1928

I did a small amount of the lathe work on this Monarch 10EE at my shop (some random blogger used my picture and photoshopped the DRO out of it or it was just getting setup back then, I cant find that picture on my computer of course)

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