VCCA Home Forums TECHNICAL - 1945 AND EARLIER 1933-1936 33 Chevy Spring Shackles

I can't get grease to flow on my right front spring on either the front end or the back. As I understand the grease is supposed to go inside the bolt and out a hole into the bushing. I took out the zerk fitting and stuck a wire down the bolt. There is lots of soft grease inside. I know there is a tool that you can buy to force penetrating oil into the shackle. It has a piston that you tap with a hammer. It costs $35 to $50 on line. Anyone have any other suggestions?

Remove the bolt and thoroughly inspect and clean and install with a new zerk.

I agree with Steve. I expect that the small perpendicular hole in the bolt is plugged with caked and hardened grease and dirt.

To remove the bolt the chassis has to be jacked up I assume to relieve the spring force. Can you jack on the cross member under the radiator? I have never done this and I wonder if you remove the bolt how do you get it all back in alignment to insert the bolt again? I used to have a 2 post lift which would make this easier I think.

The front of the spring uses a removable thru bolt. The rear shackle bars have a tapered socket that mates with a pin that is pressed into the hanger and spring . The rear pins are best cleaned in place as removing requires pressing. I would jack the car under the spring /axle and then place a jack stand to the rear of the spring. You will need to support the axle and then remove the shackles . I think doing one end at a time would be easiest but having a helper would be good when getting it back together.

One quick trick to try is to lift the car frame and let the axle hang on the springs completely on its own weight. Then try to grease the pins. You might be surprised that they will now take grease.

By letting the axle hang you are letting the clearance between the pin and housing go to the opposite position compared to when the car is sitting on the ground.

I always use this method when I grease the suspension on my '37. That way I know that grease flows between the 2 surfaces at that are against each other when the car is on the ground. This is really noticeable with the kingpins and rear axle spring seat and cap.

With respect to removing the various suspension pins here are 2 tips that I use.

1) I only do one end of a spring at a time unless I am going to remove the axle completely. Having only one end loose really makes it a lot easier to align things for reassembly.
2) I lift the end of the car that I am working on and put that end of the frame on jack stands. I typically will lift by the axle and then let the axle drop after I have the jack stands in position. Then I will again start to to lift the axle while I feel the load on the spring shackle. You will find there is a "sweet" spot where there is no load on the leaf spring. The spring eyes are actually in their free position. Things might move a little as you remove pins but not much and it is easy to maneuver things to re-assemble.