ORD Shackle bushings loose?

Disclaimer: Links on this page pointing to Amazon, eBay and other sites may include affiliate code. If you click them and make a purchase, we may earn a small commission.

Bextreme04

Full Access Member
Joined
May 13, 2019
Posts
4,135
Reaction score
4,984
Location
Oregon
First Name
Eric
Truck Year
1980
Truck Model
K25
Engine Size
350-4bbl
So... I'm refurbishing my suspension and installing a rear shackle flip, greasable bolts and kevlar bushings, and 60" rear leaf springs from a 97 K2500 Suburban. All of the bushings I ordered fit well, except for the ORD 1 1/2" shackle bushings.

They seem to be the right length and shape, but they are exactly 1.5" diameter. The shackle hole itself appears to be 1.55" and the bushing has quite a bit of wobble. The original shackle from the 1980 also appears to have the same larger hole diameter of ~1.56".

I called ORD and they said they have never heard of this problem and maybe the shackles have wobbled out over time? Didn't seem right to me that BOTH shackles would be larger diameter than the bushings. The shackles had tight rubber bushings that had a bit of cracking, but had to be burnt out to remove so I don't think they would have been "wobbled out".

Has anyone else had this issue? Anyone done the 1 1/2" kevlar shackle bushing and had it fit nice and tight?
 

Bextreme04

Full Access Member
Joined
May 13, 2019
Posts
4,135
Reaction score
4,984
Location
Oregon
First Name
Eric
Truck Year
1980
Truck Model
K25
Engine Size
350-4bbl
Here’s some pics of the spring refurbish, because.... pics

Disassembled the pack and hit with a flapper wheel to strip the rust and paint

You must be registered for see images attach

Painted the contact surfaces with EZ-slide from tractor supply. It’s a dry lubricant graphite paint.
You must be registered for see images attach

Assembled the packs with new Teflon sliders and then painted the entire thing with black rustoleum high performance enamel. I didn’t realize until posting this that I didn’t actually take a pic of the final assembled springs. But here’s a pic during assembly of the packs.
You must be registered for see images attach
 

Curt

Full Access Member
Joined
Sep 11, 2017
Posts
676
Reaction score
1,140
Location
Loco Hills
First Name
Curt
Truck Year
1984
Truck Model
K-30
Engine Size
383
I used the rear heavy duty shackle and bushing kit.All the bushings fit my springs snug.1 1/2”.It was their shackle.But I already had the springs.

On a previous build,I reused my old rear shackles and just put new bushings and they fit snug as well.

Those boys at ORD know their business,but there was some oddities out there.Maybe there was some kind of HD towing option on yours?Previous owner did some kind of mod?Or maybe they are wallared out like they suggested?My old factory bushings would move in my springs quite a bit,but still was a PITA to get out.
 

Curt

Full Access Member
Joined
Sep 11, 2017
Posts
676
Reaction score
1,140
Location
Loco Hills
First Name
Curt
Truck Year
1984
Truck Model
K-30
Engine Size
383
Do you have a pic of the shackle?
 

Bextreme04

Full Access Member
Joined
May 13, 2019
Posts
4,135
Reaction score
4,984
Location
Oregon
First Name
Eric
Truck Year
1980
Truck Model
K25
Engine Size
350-4bbl
I'll take some pics of both sets and post them up. Mine was a 8600GVW 1980 K25 wit hall the heavy duty options, but it looks like a standard rear shackle. Nothing was wobbly though. I didn't pull out the old bushing from the original shackles yet, but I feel like that's my next step. I measured the outside diameter and the thickness of the metal and I get the same 1.56" inside diameter as the shackles I am trying to use from the 97 Suburban that wobble.

I ended up using the ones from the 97 because they were the little bit longer 4.5" length and they didn't have a metal sleeve that I would have needed to cut out like the originals.
 

Bextreme04

Full Access Member
Joined
May 13, 2019
Posts
4,135
Reaction score
4,984
Location
Oregon
First Name
Eric
Truck Year
1980
Truck Model
K25
Engine Size
350-4bbl
You must be registered for see images attach
You must be registered for see images attach
Shackle pics... it’s just a standard shackle. I can take a video of it wobbling around, but it’s pretty substantial. You can feel it shift up and down if you hold the shackle and press up and down on the bushing.
 

Bextreme04

Full Access Member
Joined
May 13, 2019
Posts
4,135
Reaction score
4,984
Location
Oregon
First Name
Eric
Truck Year
1980
Truck Model
K25
Engine Size
350-4bbl
Just to close this out... I finally stripped the old bushing and sleeve out of the stock 1980 K25 shackles and the bushings fit snug in those.

The GMT-400 shackles appear to be the same size diameter at a glance, but are actually .05" larger diameter than the squarebody shackles. Which is just enough for them to be loose and not work.
 

Curt

Full Access Member
Joined
Sep 11, 2017
Posts
676
Reaction score
1,140
Location
Loco Hills
First Name
Curt
Truck Year
1984
Truck Model
K-30
Engine Size
383
Just to close this out... I finally stripped the old bushing and sleeve out of the stock 1980 K25 shackles and the bushings fit snug in those.

The GMT-400 shackles appear to be the same size diameter at a glance, but are actually .05" larger diameter than the squarebody shackles. Which is just enough for them to be loose and not work.

Oh hell,I knew you was using springs from GMT-400,but thought you was using squarebody shackles.Glad you got it going!
 

Bextreme04

Full Access Member
Joined
May 13, 2019
Posts
4,135
Reaction score
4,984
Location
Oregon
First Name
Eric
Truck Year
1980
Truck Model
K25
Engine Size
350-4bbl
Oh hell,I knew you was using springs from GMT-400,but thought you was using squarebody shackles.Glad you got it going!

I had both the GMT-400 ones and the squarebody ones there, but the GMT-400 ones didn't have any metal liners, seemed a bit heavier duty, and are 4.5" long instead of 4" long... so I was just going to use them since I assumed they were the same 1.5" bushing diameter. That turned out to be a bad assumption. We'll see how level it sits and whether I need to do something to level the front and rear out.
 

bucket

Super Moderator
Staff member
Super Moderator
Joined
Aug 3, 2010
Posts
28,963
Reaction score
23,479
Location
Usually not in Ohio
First Name
Andy
Truck Year
'77, '78, '79, '84, '88
Truck Model
K5 thru K30
Engine Size
350-454
The newer ones probably measure out to an even metric figure. But I don't feel like doing the math right now, so it's just my guess, lol.
 

Curt

Full Access Member
Joined
Sep 11, 2017
Posts
676
Reaction score
1,140
Location
Loco Hills
First Name
Curt
Truck Year
1984
Truck Model
K-30
Engine Size
383
So the way I understand it,I’d say,a shackle that’s 1” longer only nets 1/2” of lift.Maybe because it’s only on 1 side of the spring?Sounds good anyway.I think the stock shackles are plenty strong,My 3/4 ton stock shackles are the same as a 1 ton.
 

Bextreme04

Full Access Member
Joined
May 13, 2019
Posts
4,135
Reaction score
4,984
Location
Oregon
First Name
Eric
Truck Year
1980
Truck Model
K25
Engine Size
350-4bbl
The newer ones probably measure out to an even metric figure. But I don't feel like doing the math right now, so it's just my guess, lol.

Yeah, I think they might be 40mm... that works out to a bit less than 1.57" and would be a tight fit like the 1.5" ones are in the stock bushings.

So the way I understand it,I’d say,a shackle that’s 1” longer only nets 1/2” of lift.Maybe because it’s only on 1 side of the spring?Sounds good anyway.I think the stock shackles are plenty strong,My 3/4 ton stock shackles are the same as a 1 ton.

Yes, because math. The front spring mount is a fixed point and you are basically creating a right triangle from the stock rear mounting point and the new spring mounting point. To find out what the actual lift height is depending on shackle height, you would use trigonometry and similar triangle to see what that base height would be at the center pin location. It will actually be a different amount depending on what size spring as well. 52", 56" and 60"(what I am swapping to) will all have different ratios of actual lift to shackle height change.
 

Latest posts

Forum statistics

Threads
41,856
Posts
903,623
Members
33,370
Latest member
mitchell1128
Top