I ran across a place on google while searching for stock shackles for my '82 GMC,calles "ATS" that has them,along with springs ,shackles and other stock suspention stuff..
I doubt most U-bolts will be coated with anything like zinc ,galvanizing them weakens the steel some..but I have seen the "Help" and Dorman brand ones sold at parts stores that had a gold anodized or cadnium plating on them..the ones I bought at dealers and spring shops were plain old black steel,and yes,unless painted you can watch them grow barnacles here in about a month!..
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BTW,in my search for stock shackles,I found out GM no longer sells them for 73-87 trucks,and I did find two places not far away that do have them--one is a place I bought a lot of parts from,the last time I gou U-bolts and shackles there about 5 years ago,the shackles were 22 bucks each,U-bolts had to be matched to old ones but were 10-12 bucks..now they want 65 bucks EACH for a shackle!
--but the U-bolts are still 10-12 bucks!..the other place is a spring shop about 5 miles from there,they sell shackles for 28 apeice and U-bolts for 12,but they said they would most likely "make" the U-bolts from lengths of steel while I waited..(thanks to Phreddie166 I got some good used U-bolts and spring plates --so all I need is shackles now)..
BTW,while searching for shackles I found out Ford Ranger ones are a very close "useable" match to our old GM's,they are about 4.5" from bolt to bolt,which is a 1/2" longer than a stock GM one,there is about a 1/2" more room where the spring eye meets the shackle too..using those would lower the truck a 1/2"..
Later '88 and up GM truck shackles are identical in all respects excepting the
distance between the bolts,they are 4-3/8 apart,so using them would lower the truck 3/8"..not enough to make any issues most likely I'd think..Dorman has a kit available with the shackles ,bolts and a spring eye bushing for about 30 bucks--I am tempted to just buy those and live with the 3/8" "drop" they will provide,I'm not sure if the spring bushings will be the same as 73-87 ones though..I can get them separately for 12 bucks but they are special order--it is highly unlikely the bolts will come out of my old ones,and I hate to have to try installing a new bushing,done that before and its always a tough job,plus my springs are rusty and the eye might snap if I try forcing in a new bushing..I need this truck fixed,but only have a very limited budget--been looking in junkyards hoping I might find a truck with recently replaced springs and shackles and just buy them all together,it would be a lot less trotting around and labor doing it that way..
