72-87 Upper Front Shackle Hanger

[noface]

So I called up ORD to order bushings for my 52" front spring swap.

Talked to a guy, can't remember his name, but way cool, really knew his stuff and helped me out ALOT.

I ended up spending more than I anticipated. But that was/is a good thing. Their stuff is really NICE!

I think they sent me the wrong upper shackle hanger bushing kit w/greasable bolt.

After I installed them in the hanger, they were 4" wide, not the 3.5" installed width I need.

The upper shackle hanger width is 3". The new bushings have a shoulder that is .5" thick. It won't work.

Did these trucks come with different width front spring rear shackle hanger's?

Since I installed them, I'm relatively certain I can't send em back.

Can I chuck em up in a lathe and skinny up the shoulders (inside distance)?

Pisses me off it's raining out today. Took two days vacation to finish this up. Whatta booger!

Thanks!

 

[miniwally]

What year truck?

 

[noface]

it's a 1978 3/4T chassis. Longbed, with 10 bolt front end.

 

[miniwally]

I was thinking I could be of some help but can't.

I would call and talk to Stephen. He can get this figured out.

THe FUSH uses larger shoulder bushings so I think that might be the case here.

 

[johnnychimpo]

If it has a 9/16 bolt then you got the wrong bushings. The factory bushing is 1 1/8" with a 7/16 bolt. The new ORD bushing is 1 1/8" w/ a 1/2" bolt. Just bought some of these myself. Did you get new shackles too? The factory shackles are 7/16 bolt holes on '73-'87 & 7/16 on top-1/2 on the spring end for '88-'91.

It's about time you started posting here.

 

[miniwally]

The Fush kit uses a larger and heavier shoulder bushing and a 9/16" bolt.

I just don't know about the width issue.

 

[noface]

Wow... after reading all this, they really sent me a funky setup.

As it was shipped to me, it has a .5" bolt with sleeve that is 3.5" wide.

The shoulders of the bushings, as I mentioned were .5" thick, which makes the inside distance between the shoulders 2.5". The problem is/was that the hanger is 3" wide (of course, since the stock springs are 3" wide.

After putting it together, total installed width would have been 4".

I chucked them up in a lathe and shaved off .25" from the inside distance and wha'la, I'm in bizness.

I think they sent me a spring eye bushing for some other truck, since it's got a .5" bolt. I dunno... I think I got lucky in that it would fit inside the hanger bore. It was a tight fit, but I got it in there with some coaxing.

I guess I got a beefier set-up out of the deal, since it's got .5" bolt and sleeve compared to the stock 7/16.

But here's another hick-up.

Yes, I did buy the 7" laser cut shackles. Nice stuff. I was glad I went ahead and got them after I seen them, as I had planned on making my own. Saved me some time and aggravation.

That is until I went to mock up the drivers side....

They didn't cut the right size hole in two of the shackles for the 9/16 spring-eye's. They were cut for clearance of a 1/2" bolt... So I had to drill them to 9/16". Not a big deal, but might have been for someone that doesn't have access to a machine shop (I'm an electrician fwiw).

You know, I really should have known something was funny when I found that one shackle had some hammer dings on it when I was going through the order. I didn't think much of it at the time, but I'd wager someone sent these back to them, and rather than fixing them, just stuck em back on the shelf for the next guy, or put them in the wrong bin. I was just that "next" guy.

No big. It's all good. And I ain't here to bash anyone, I was just looking for some info.

Would I order from them again? I dunno at this point...

Good to see ya Johnny, You keepin' em all in line up there?

I finally broke down and got me a 60 for the front. A Dodge one at that. Got any 4.56 gears for a 14BFF?

Gonna take the body off my truck, chop the wheelbase, and put a S10 cab on it and make a trailer queen. I'm going to sell the cab, clip, and bed as it's way too clean (zero rust) to chop up.

Sorry for the long read.

JS

 

[johnnychimpo]

Don't have any gears. But a pic & price on the bed would be good. johnnychimpo1 at gmail dot com.

Their shackles are 1/2" at both ends. Kert at DIY4x will do custom pieces for you if you ask. I've bought from both & am happy w/ customer service.

 

[79k20350]

The hanger should be 2.5" wide, and the bushings should have a shoulder of 1/2". They should use a 9/16" bolt, and obvioulsy the sleeve should be bigger. They may have changed the design to a 3" bracket and 1/4" shoulder bushing and this kit just got mixed up.

The 1/2" bolt isnt a huge upgrade, it should be a 9/16" greasable bolt.

the bushing should be extremely tight to get in, either a block of wood and a hammer, vise etc to install them.

call them up and get the right upper bushing, ord shouldn't give you problem but you should have called them right away.

Also if you meant shackles for the front, it doesnt suprise me they came with 1/2" holes. There standard front shackle kits only uses 1/2" bolts.

 

[noface]

I think the FUSH kit might use a hanger that's 2.5 inches, but my stocker is 3" wide.

That was kinda my original question, as I thought it possible they (GM) might have used 2 different width hangers, but you know, now I think about it, if they all use 3" wide springs in the front (which they all do stock), the hanger has to be 3" wide. Since all aftermarket springs are 2.5", the FUSH might be only 2.5" ID w/ .5" shoulders, which would make for 3.5" overall install width to go with the rest of the setup.

I thought about machining off .250 off both sides of the stock hanger to use the bushings as shipped, but then I thought about replacements down the road, and decided to make the bushings "standard" instead. I also was concerned with how strong the marginal stock hanger might be after I removed some materal, so that helped with the decision of leaving the hanger alone.

1/2 bolt is kinda an upgrade, considering stock is 7/16. Again, the FUSH kit uses the 9/16. I didn't buy the FUSH kit. Just stock hanger bushings, spring eye bushings, 7" shackles, and greasable bolts for all.

I'm sure had I called them up they would have made it right. I just don't have time to ship them back, and then wait for them to ship replacements. Especially when I can take care of it on my own.

If the shackles come with clearance holes for 1/2" bolts, I wonder why I didn't have to drill the other 2 shackles on the drivers side? 2 of the 4 were drilled/cut for clearance holes of 9/16 on one end...

 

[noface]

Don't have any gears. But a pic & price on the bed would be good. johnnychimpo1 at gmail dot com.

Their shackles are 1/2" at both ends. Kert at DIY4x will do custom pieces for you if you ask. I've bought from both & am happy w/ customer service.

I'll try and get ya some pics saturday or sunday.

I've seen some of the DIY stuff, it looks like some great stuff too. I really like his design of the shackle flip kit. I'll probably order some 14B disc brake brackets and maybe some link brackets from Kert to build a anti-wrap bar.

 

[Blue85]

Yes, dredging up an old thread here. My upper shackle bushings are wasted so I have to do something.

The stock size bushing that came with my ORD greasable bushing set lasted several years. Should I just replace with more of the stock size, but non-greasable or upgrade to the larger 1.5" bushing? I think the non-greasable will be stronger as there are no little cuts inside the poly. Plus the greasable feature is worthless long-term in the rust belt as I've posted about in the past. I see the FUSH setup for the 1.5" bushing with 9/16" bolt, but it requires an all day curse fest of removing rivets, drilling a bigger hole in the frame, etc.

 

[Hogback Fabrication]

Yes, dredging up an old thread here. My upper shackle bushings are wasted so I have to do something.

The stock size bushing that came with my ORD greasable bushing set lasted several years. Should I just replace with more of the stock size, but non-greasable or upgrade to the larger 1.5" bushing? I think the non-greasable will be stronger as there are no little cuts inside the poly. Plus the greasable feature is worthless long-term in the rust belt as I've posted about in the past.

I can see what you mean on the greasable/non-greasable thing to eliminate the little cut-outs, but I think going to a non-greasable replacement is a step backwards. Those bushings are the most troublesome of any on the whole truck and we have those built specifically for us in a special compound that we've found make them more durable.

I think you're better off with our improved compound greasable bushings than the OE compound in a non-greasable bushing, if you want to forego the FUSH.

 

[Blue85]

The website says it's available in greasable and non-greasable. Are the bushings different or just the bolts?