Front spring shackles?

[John - NNY]

I ordered a set of aftermarket spring shackles for the front of my AA from a reputable supplier. Ford used the same shackles on the rear of the Model A cars as he did on the front of the AA.

I'm not sure how it is supposed to be, but it doesn't seem right. The bushings that get pressed into the ends of the leaf springs look like steel. The ID of the bushings is about .040 larger than the shackle bolts OD. That is a lot of slop. It would make a real sloppy suspension. I thought that the bushings are supposed to be reamed to fit. Am I wrong? Am I missing something? I guess the warnings in the Ford shop manual about "GYP" parts still holds true.

John
NNY

[E.Moore]

Once the shackle bushing has been pressed into the spring eye, the inside diameter of the bushing will often become smaller than it was before it was installed. With the parts you have, you won't know until one of them is installed and it is measured. It may have to be reamed for the shackle to fit the bushing.

[Matt Kroll]

Same thing I found with the repro shackles I bought last year. After installing one bushing in the spring eyelet, I found it to be .035" oversize! These bushings were bright zinc plated.

I talked to the supplier about it, and he sent me just the bushings. These were the same ones you'd get from them if you purchased the bushings without the shackles. They were dark in color (probably phosphate and oil), and needed to be reamed after installation.