Spring Shackles

Manawatu Times, Volume LVI, Issue 7063, 24 January 1933, Page 3

Spring Shackles

Although the spring shackles on many modern cars aro equipped with “silent-bloc” busbes which need no lubrication, and arc self-aligning, it is often still necessary with other makes to give attention from time to time to those parts of the chassis. If sideplay is allowed to develop in the shackles, annoying rattles may occur, and normal wear and tear is intensified. By rockiug the car from side to side by hand, and watching each shackle closely, it is possible to detect looseness, and the nut of each shackle should then be screwed up hard and afterward cased off a quarter of a turu to avoid tho risk of binding. The nut should always be secured by a split pin, and if there is any difficulty iu bringing tho slots in its castellated head opposito to the hole in the bolt, the bearing surface of the nut must be dressed down evenly with a fine file until the slots and the hole are iu register when the desired degree of tightness is obtained, if shackle lubrication is provided by means of greasing nipples, it is important to see that the latter arc free from dirt before applying the lubricating gun, and the new grease should be forced into it until it has driven out the old lubricant and exudes from the far side of the shackle. If that precaution is neglected it will often happen that the grease duets in the bolt will become clogged, and no amount of pressure will force the lubricant through. In such cases the bolt- must be removed and cleaned, for unless the frictional surfaces which are not sclflubricating are well covered with grease, both the bolt and the bushing will wear down and a replacement of one or both will become necessary.