fabracation shackle mounts
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Senior User
Joined: Feb 2005
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fabracation shackle mounts
I am buying a Lincoln 175 HD mig welder next week and I want to start fabing up some stuff for my truck. Its a 73 250 4x4. My left front shackle mount is wore out, the bolt has cut through the mount and the front of the spring is just about touching the frame. I thought about building a complete new shackle mount setup like what is on it but using slightly thicker metal. Has anyone built or rebuilt their front shackle mounts?
Post Fiend
Joined: Jul 2006
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Which end has failed? Is it the shackle "pivot"? That is at at the rear of the spring (this is true for both the front and rear spring) or are you talking about the hanger that is at the front of the spring?
Either way, you are not gonna weld together a pivot, and you wont find a single weld on the hanger. You will need a pretty large "brake" that can bend the material you have.
You can weld this stuff together, but without some sort of gussets, it will not be quite as strong.
HB hangers are easy to find, and removing the factory rivets are the only difficult part, but once you replace it, you can probably expect it to last at least as long as the original one did,,,,,lets see, thats 36 years so far. If a replacement were to last that long, it would probably outlive the rest of the vehicle.
I make hangers and shackles quite often, but have found that original replacements are much easier.
Either way, you are not gonna weld together a pivot, and you wont find a single weld on the hanger. You will need a pretty large "brake" that can bend the material you have.
You can weld this stuff together, but without some sort of gussets, it will not be quite as strong.
HB hangers are easy to find, and removing the factory rivets are the only difficult part, but once you replace it, you can probably expect it to last at least as long as the original one did,,,,,lets see, thats 36 years so far. If a replacement were to last that long, it would probably outlive the rest of the vehicle.
I make hangers and shackles quite often, but have found that original replacements are much easier.
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Joined: Feb 2008
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yuck, lincoln, If you have the money, I would go with a Miller, more consistancy I have found with Miller over Lincoln. Second, I wouldn't waste my time with a MIG. I know I will irritate a few or maybe even a lot out there. But MiG doesn't look as nice and doesn't penetrate as well as Stick or Tig. If it's on my truck, I run a 6010 or 7018 Root pass, and fill it out with TiG ER70 S-2. You could even just run it all the way out with TiG as long as you have the amps high enough on the root pass, which a lot of people overlook and run the root at the same temp as the fillers.
It is more costly, but in my experience it is stronger and cleaner looking. Though at a price. Tig/stick combos aren't too pricey though, I have seen them dropping in price over the last few years.
Guess it all boils down to what you are good at though, and what you can afford, luckily, my company gave me a miller unit when I became a welder there
It is more costly, but in my experience it is stronger and cleaner looking. Though at a price. Tig/stick combos aren't too pricey though, I have seen them dropping in price over the last few years.
Guess it all boils down to what you are good at though, and what you can afford, luckily, my company gave me a miller unit when I became a welder there
5th Wheeling
Joined: Dec 2007
Posts: 40
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From: Oxford, NC
Sorry to change the topic, but it will be worth it in the end.
Buy MILLER they have absolutely the best customer service bar-none. There is a site called weldingtipandtricks.com he has a great write up on this.
Check around and good luck !!
Buy MILLER they have absolutely the best customer service bar-none. There is a site called weldingtipandtricks.com he has a great write up on this.
Check around and good luck !!
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yeah the shackle is on the front of the truck under the front bumper. it had been patched before by scabing a new peice of metal over the outside. the way it wore though the bushing looks like they might not have got the holes straight. I might call around the wrecking yards and see if I can get another one. The only thing is the peice of metal the hangs under the bumper between the frame rails, looks like the guy who had it before me used it as a anchor point to pull things. I wanted to beef that up and have it straight because I want to use it as a front anchor point for my plow.
Post Fiend
Joined: Jul 2006
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yeah the shackle is on the front of the truck under the front bumper. it had been patched before by scabing a new peice of metal over the outside. the way it wore though the bushing looks like they might not have got the holes straight. I might call around the wrecking yards and see if I can get another one. The only thing is the peice of metal the hangs under the bumper between the frame rails, looks like the guy who had it before me used it as a anchor point to pull things. I wanted to beef that up and have it straight because I want to use it as a front anchor point for my plow.
If you have a shackle at the front of your spring, and the shackle is really under the bunmper, then you need to cut all of that junk out, and install the spring correctly.
If you are gonna fix this thing, fix it right. You dont have to weld too much, you simply have to install some new hangers up front and mount a new pivot for the shackle in the rear of the spring. You will have a heak of a time steering, and you will experience a severe case of the wobbles if you keep a front swing shackle.
Do you have pics of this 73 with a front mount shackle????
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Postmaster
Joined: Oct 2005
Posts: 3,083
Likes: 4
From: Victoria , BC
sounds like your confusing the " shackle" with what is actually your spring hanger! If it actually does have shackles that swing they should be at the rear of the spring otherwise that would be messed up. The front hanger is a fixed mount that can be unbolted from the frame. If the hole is elongated and worn you could do what mark a said and weld washers of the same size hole you need to the outside of hanger to relocate center or if it were me I would plug weld the holes completely grind flush then just redrill. I had to do this recently on my clutch connections with the rod and cotter pins. Rods were worn to not round anymore and hole was sloppy. Clutch runs smooth now. It just amazes me on how I've had to fix EVERYTHING on this truck that ages me by 9 years..
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sounds like your confusing the " shackle" with what is actually your spring hanger! If it actually does have shackles that swing they should be at the rear of the spring otherwise that would be messed up. The front hanger is a fixed mount that can be unbolted from the frame. If the hole is elongated and worn you could do what mark a said and weld washers of the same size hole you need to the outside of hanger to relocate center or if it were me I would plug weld the holes completely grind flush then just redrill. I had to do this recently on my clutch connections with the rod and cotter pins. Rods were worn to not round anymore and hole was sloppy. Clutch runs smooth now. It just amazes me on how I've had to fix EVERYTHING on this truck that ages me by 9 years..
