| This may be old news to most of you, but us Okie dirt farmer types can be a little slow on the uptake... Because of the steering forces transferred to the front shackle bushings they wear out 4 times as fast as any of the other spring bushings, making their replacement a regular occurrence. After doing this a few times, I've settled on the following drill: First jack up the front of the vehicle and support the frame rails on big honkin' Harbor Freight jack stands. Then take off the wheels and use a jack under the pumpkin to control the axle. Raise and lower the axle until there is a minimum amount of pressure on the shackle bolts before removing them.
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| Grease and insert the new bushings. Before putting the shackle back, spread it in a shop press so it will easily go over the new bushings. If your shackles aren't braced then obviously you won't need to do this step.
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| Use a small bottle jack to fine tune the position of the spring eye. If the axle is in the right position this takes very little force. I am able to operate the bottle jack with my fingers. The vice grips prevent the nose of the jack from sliding along the spring. Once everything is lined up put the bolts back, nut 'em up, and put the wheels back on. I like to run the nuts to the outside so I can tell at a glance if they are backing off... You might have noticed that isn't how this bolt is put in. I swapped it around after the picture was taken.
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