Black Widow Shackle lift???

[jekbrown]

How is that? You can run 9/16" bolts without major mods. The only difference between the HD 1/2" shackles and the beefier 9/16" upgrade is the size hole in the shackle, the size bolts in the shackle, and the thickness of the sleeve in the bushing.

I am refering to the frame-mounted bushing (front suspension, what the top of the shackle connects to). The bush that goes through the frame isn't very large... if you drilled a hole in it large enough for a 9/16" bolt sleeve (3/4" OD) to fit, there would hardly be any bushing left. Peeps have run 9/16" there, but as far as I know, they fabbed their own, larger, frame bushing bracket to do so. Running 9/16" in the springs is, as you said no biggie.

Rob (therobzilla) has managed to snap a 9/16" bolt at the shackle but he has some super flexy springs in the front end of his truck.

out of curiosity, were his bolts stock length?

j

 

[Hossbaby50]

I don't know what bolt length he was running. I do know that they are grade 8 though.

The upper mount can be run with a 9/16" bolt too. Both az-k5 and therobzilla run them like that. Matt (az-k5) drilled out the bushing some and uses a thinner then normal sleeve to help retain some of the bushing. He has been beating the hell out of them for awhile now with no problems.

Rob's bolt broke from shear leverage and abuse over time. His front springs are insanely flexy and load the bolts up pretty hard. His front springs are probably every bit as flexy as 52's if not more.

Harley

 

[jekbrown]

The upper mount can be run with a 9/16" bolt too. Both az-k5 and therobzilla run them like that. Matt (az-k5) drilled out the bushing some and uses a thinner then normal sleeve to help retain some of the bushing. He has been beating the hell out of them for awhile now with no problems.

thats useful info! any idea what the dimensions are on the sleeve? or, if mass produced, a part #? Still time to add this to my spring swap writeup...

j

 

[Hossbaby50]

Matt used steel tubing. There is no real part number for it. I have a section of that tubing in my truck, hold on and I will measure it for you.

Harley

 

[Hossbaby50]

Ok, I measured it. It looks to be 3/4" OD .090 wall tubing.

Harley

 

[jekbrown]

sounds like a standard 9/16" bolt sleeve then... I know the ones I just put in my 52s were 3/4" OD. Thanks for measuring for me, good tech info to have.

j

 

[az-k5]

Here is the fun part. You know the newer bushings with a 1/2" bolt in them use a 3/4" x .120 wall sleeve. My home made ones slide right in those bushings. I have not split a sleeve yet. They are a little flared but not horrible.

 

[jekbrown]

Here is the fun part. You know the newer bushings with a 1/2" bolt in them use a 3/4" x .120 wall sleeve.

Which "newer" bushings are you reffering too? I got some recently that were large enough for the 1/2" bolt sleeve I got with my ORD greasable hardware back in the day... but the hole in said bushings was definitely not 3/4" ID...

j