Spring Shackle Nuts... How tight?
- Thread starter 29er
- Start date
Tom Wesenberg
Well-known member
This thread is going on 3 years old, and there is some confusion because some are talking about the spring shackle nuts (original question) and some are talking about the spring clips that hold the spring to the crossmember.
The spring shackle nuts can be secured with lock nuts or Loctite if the shackles have no holes. They don't need to be real tight, and depending on how the shackles are made you may need to back off a bit as Tom mentioned in one of the first replies.
The spring clip nuts must be tight and secured with cotters. I tighten these nuts, then go for a short ride over a few bumps, then recheck the tightness and install the cotters.
The spring shackle nuts can be secured with lock nuts or Loctite if the shackles have no holes. They don't need to be real tight, and depending on how the shackles are made you may need to back off a bit as Tom mentioned in one of the first replies.
The spring clip nuts must be tight and secured with cotters. I tighten these nuts, then go for a short ride over a few bumps, then recheck the tightness and install the cotters.
29er
Senior Member
Thanks for reviving my old thread (it's nearly 3 years!). Goes to show old threads never die (remember the ones about Mac's?). They don't even fade away. They just come back to haunt you... kinda like your kid who comes back to live in your basement after he graduates (but that's probably a topic for another forum).
Anyway, since I started this thread I felt obliged to follow up. Thanks Tom W. for clarifying the disparity of ideas in this thread. In my case (original post), there were no holes for cotter pins on the rear spring shackle bolts. Still aren't. After re-reading all the posts here I went and took another look. I don't know where my shackles came from because they were on the car when I got it. I've driven it several thousand miles during the past 3 years and have had no problems with those spring shackles. I check the tightness of the nuts each time I'm under the car for its 500 mile service and they haven't loosened.
It's interesting that some repop shackles are apparently manufactured without holes for cotter pins. I wonder if anyone else has found this to be the case. Rather than replacing the shackles, I am using locking nuts (as mentioned by several of you).
Thanks to all for your responses!
Mike
Anyway, since I started this thread I felt obliged to follow up. Thanks Tom W. for clarifying the disparity of ideas in this thread. In my case (original post), there were no holes for cotter pins on the rear spring shackle bolts. Still aren't. After re-reading all the posts here I went and took another look. I don't know where my shackles came from because they were on the car when I got it. I've driven it several thousand miles during the past 3 years and have had no problems with those spring shackles. I check the tightness of the nuts each time I'm under the car for its 500 mile service and they haven't loosened.
It's interesting that some repop shackles are apparently manufactured without holes for cotter pins. I wonder if anyone else has found this to be the case. Rather than replacing the shackles, I am using locking nuts (as mentioned by several of you).
Thanks to all for your responses!
Mike