SHACKLES AND BOLTS

Te Ao Hou, October 1958, Page 44

SHACKLES AND BOLTS Other suspension and transmission checks the home mechanic can make are on the universal joints on the propeller-shaft, running from the gearbox to the back axle, on the shock-absorber fluid level and on the u-bolts and shackles of leaf springs. It is surprising how much difference loose shackles or bolts can make to the handling of a car, and the bolts are usually easily tightened up. Worn shackles are a bit more difficult, but they can be replaced at home by either jacking or hauling the body up until there is no weight on

the spring and the shackle can be removed. It's useful to remember, however, that when putting in a new shackle it is usually necessary to wedge a piece of wood in between the eye of the spring and the chassis above it, to keep the eye the correct distance from the eye on the chassis when the old shackle is taken out. Otherwise the spring will snap up against the chassis and you'll have a long and painful job levering it down to the right spot to slip the new shackle in. Any tightening-up that has to be done under the car is uncomfortable at the best, and often the nuts are rusted up hard. The best thing to do is to squirt them liberally with penetrating oil, giving it a few hours to soak in, applying the right-sized ring-spanner and having another go. A sharp tap with a hammer on the spanner near the nut will often jolt it free, but too hefty a blow may leave you one spanner short. On the subject of tools, never start a job unless you are sure you have the right spanners and screwdrivers for the job, and enough of them. Some cars are standardised down to needing only four or five sizes of spanner for practically all the jobs on the car (Fords are the classic example) but others need a dozen or more. Find out first, for there's nothing more irritating or time-wasting than to get half-way through a job and find yourself lacking the proper tool. A careful inspection of the nuts on your car will tell you how many spanners and what sizes you will need. A few shifting-spanners, a couple of pairs of pliers, three screwdrivers and a coldchisel and hammer for desperate emergencies will just about complete the outfit for the jobs mentioned in this article. We'll have to leave work on the engine to the last article of this series, and will add a bit about care of the bodywork as well. Final advice on these jobs, as on any others I've mentioned, is: When in doubt, don't start it yourself. It's cheaper and better in the long run to take it to a good mechanic. * * *