As the title suggests I’m currently in the middle of replacing front leaf springs on my 2002 Excursion.

I spent about 4 hours yesterday trying to get the passenger side leaf spring replaced and had to call it quits.

I somehow never read or knew that the passenger side shackle is a MAJOR PITA. The lower bolt was easy to remove but the upper bolt is completely blocked on the inside of the vehicle by the heat shield and exhaust tubing.





I also unfortunately found out that the frame mounted bushing is fused to the upper bolt, as it springs the shackle backwards like a rubber band. I tried using a large pry bar to push the shackle forward and attach the leaf spring but to no avail.

How the heck has anyone else been able to get the bolt out of the top in order to replace the shackle/shackle bushing?

I’m at a complete loss at this point.

Sean

 

That heat shield can be removed. I've even installed one on a Super Duty truck (only the Excursions were fitted by Ford with this particular heat shield).

As you no doubt have already observed, the heat shield extends another foot forward into the frame, protecting the rear AC lines from heat radiating from the passenger side exhaust manifold, up pipe, and down pipes.

To remove it, another frame fastener may also have to be removed. Refer to the torque specs in the shop manual when restoring it all back together.


Your downpipe exhaust appears to be aftermarket. You may find that removing the U bolt clamp will aide in finagling out the heat shield.



Why are you trying to replace the upper shackle bolt/bushing in the first place?

How have you determined that replacement is necessary?


Your new yellow zinc / cadmium coated Grade 8 lower spring eyelet bolt raises several causes for concern.


1. Bolt length.

The bolt shown in the photo is too short for the application. Ford's factory spring bolts reveal 5 exposed threads after the nut. At bare minimum, best practices call for at least three exposed threads after the nut. Your installation has zero exposed threads, and may in fact have less than zero, where the bolt end is not even fully engaged into the nylon insert of the nut that you chose to retain the bolt with.

It could be that you had not tightened the bolt yet when the photo you presented was taken, and the bolt and nut were just serving to hang on to the newly installed spring into position. Even if wanting to save the nylon insert from being used until ready for final torque, the bolt is not long enough for the application.


2. Lock nut style.

The nylock type of nut seen in your photo... is never seen under the chassis or in the engine bay of any Ford vehicle as an OEM fastener, and for good reason.

Heat.

Heat melts plastic. And as seen in the photo, the passenger front leaf spring shackle is in near proximity to the exhaust heat nearest to where that heat is generated... the engine and turbo charger.

When anything heats up, it expands. So when the plastic material in the nylock nut heats up, it will no longer "lock" the nut to keep it from rotating off of the bolt. And with zero additional threads remaining on the bolt for the plastic ring to have to spin around before losing the nut altogether on the highway, the probability is even higher for such a loss.

Ford never uses nylocks near sources of heat. In the case of critical chassis fasteners, whose integrity and steady performance is literally a matter of life or death or serious life altering injury, Ford and every other OEM automotive manufacturer uses all metal prevailing torque flange nuts.

With all metal prevailing torque nuts, the "lock" of the nut is continuous through the nut thread course, and unaffected by changes in ambient temperature. The nut itself is manufactured with a calibrated distortion that makes it impossible to thread on or off by hand, hence a certain amount of torque "prevails" whether the nut is tightened to specification or not.


3. Friction and slip surfaces

It is noted that you also have hardened washers (good) to distribute the clamp (and friction bearing surface) of the fastener assembly on the shackle. But you may have noticed that the OEM bolts are flanged, where the washer is incorporated into the bolt head itself as a single unit. Likewise, the OEM prevailing torque nut is also flanged out to an equally broader diameter, providing more bearing and friction surface as a unitized element, without introducing slip surfaces, such as when a washer is used.

On static joints, the introduction of two additional slip surfaces by use of washers may be an immaterial matter. But a leaf spring shackle is subject to constant and continual movement all the time. The OEM spring eyelet flange bolts and flange nuts not only offer the benefit of simplicity in installation, reduction in slip surfaces, and continuity in bearing... they are also validated by the vehicle manufacturer for that installation and usage. As there are only two bolts holding the leaf spring to the truck frame, it might be worth it to take advantage of the factory validation.


4. Bolt strength and tension

It has been quite a few years since I have personally mucked around with Ford spring bolts, but to the best of my recollection, I believe that the OEM spring bolts had a stretch element incorporated into their design. You can easily confirm or refute this by looking at your OEM spring eyelet bolts (if the ones you removed were OEM... one never knows what previous owners do to used vehicles in prior custody).

If the OEM bolts appear to have two different diameters in the non thread portion of their shank, then that would be considered a stretch bolt. This is where a bolt is full diameter for short portion of shank immediately beneath the flange head, and then necks down to a smaller diameter in the middle of the bolt shank (usually no smaller than the root diameter of the threading), and then may bulk back up again to the original diameter for another short distance before the threading.

If the OEM spring bolts are similar to what is described in the paragraph immediately preceding, then there is a tension calibrated reason for this diameter change. It isn't a random bolt manufacturing anomaly. Rather, it is in consideration of the property class of the bolt material, and the need to balance tension in the fastener at torque with the margin between the fastener's yield strength and ultimate tensile strength.

Substituting bolts of this nature with simple Grade 8 bolts obtained at the local hardware store would not constitute an improvement, nor be considered an upgrade, in the leaf spring suspension fastening hardware.

While OEM bolts may be expensive, for the very few that are needed to keep the springs under the vehicle, the cost is worth the confidence that a nut won't go spinning off for lack of extra threads or reliable locking, or a hardened bolt head won't shear off due to lack of elasticity in the material or diameter of the material.

While I can't say that I remember any longer (I used to know, and in fact used to get new spring bolts from Ford for any suspension work) exactly what the front spring bolts look like for the Super Duty and Excursion... what I see in your photo gives me pause, and in your shoes, I would replace the Grade 8 bolts that are presently installed with new OEM spring bolts, if still available.

 

Not to mention the bolt is not the correct diameter.

 

Thank you for the well thought out reply!

I bought all the hardware and shackles (front and rear) from ATS Springs as they are highly recommended on the forum.

I did notice they are not metric as is OEM. They are 5/8”x5 1/4”.

The bolt in the bottom of the shackle is not tightened at all, it’s simply finger snug. There will be plenty of threads protruding from the nut when tightened.

I used the same grade 8 bolts, washers, and nuts from ATS Springs on the rear as well.

At this point should I re-buy all the leaf spring bolts front and rear?

I haven’t been able to get my head up into the leaf springs bracket bushing to see if it’s cracked/worn, but it is a 21 year old truck and just about every other rubber bushing on the truck is definitely cracked/worn, so I figured while doing the leaf springs and shackles with new bushings, I might as well replace these too.

Should the rear shackle on the front leaf spring, pull backwards/rubber band backwards when the lower leaf spring bolt and leaf spring are unhooked? I took it that because this was happening the top bolt was likely fused to the bushing and needed replaced…

I will look onto a Ford parts website and see if I can find OEM leaf springs bolts.

I’m a bit upset that so many recommend ATS Springs for leaf springs and other components if they are so incorrect for the application…

 

Quick update.

I checked Dormans website and found the shackles (front and rear) as well as the rear leaf spring hanger.

Each kit has flanged nuts and bolts. They don’t specify what class the nuts and bolts are (hopefully 10.9).

As much as I hate to throw more money at it, it may be worth it… what do you guys think? Stick with ATS or buy Dorman?

 

I used the dorman shackles and bolts when I did mine. They were fine and everything fit and I didn't have to worry about finding the wrong bolts anywhere

 

A company in Oregon or Washington (they are the same to me). Makes a new cross member that is slightly thicker than the original. However, the side area pictured in your post is the spring mount and not part of it. You will need to source an original part or weld it back together.