Torque Reaction Spring Shackles

Here are the shackles for the torque reaction spring. They cleaned up nicely, but the bushings are worn and need to be replaced.

I had hoped that the bushing would be the same size as the other springs, but no joy. I pressed out the worn bushings. The hole in the upper end of both shackles measures 0.748 inches inside diameter so they need a bushing that’s 0.750 inches. The nominal spring bushings are 0.743, just a bit under sized.

This then led me on a search for bushings, and I was quickly thrown off by the shackles’ part numbers. One of these shackles is meant to be the outside, and one the inside, but the two parts are identical in size. Hmmm. A search of the g503 forums lead nowhere until I stumbled across a post by Tom Wolboldt here: Torque Reaction Spring Shackle Part Numbers.  The light bulb then went on and I realized the difference is in the inner diameter of the bushing, not in the actual size or shape of the shackle.

The top bolt in the shackle set-up is the longest. The bolt surface that rides inside of the outer shackle bushing mics out at 0.622 inches, so I need a bushing 5/8 inch I.D. and 3/4 inch O.D.  with a length of 0.621 or 5/8 inches.

On the inside, the bolt has a diameter of 0.558 inches. Therefore the bushing that goes in the inside shackle needs to have the same I.D. as the TRS eye bushing, 9/16 inches or 0.563. So, 9/16 inch I.D., 3/4 inch O.D. and 5/8 inches long.

I ordered two of each from McMaster-Carr and they arrived in just three days. For the inner bushing, McMaster-Carr didn’t have 5/8″ long, so I got 1/2″ instead. They are high load, oil embedded SAE 863 bronze. The outers (3/4″ OD, 5/8″ ID, 5/8″ long) were only $0.91 each and the inners (3/4″ OD, 5/8″ ID, 1/2″ long) were just $2.10 each. Super cheap compared to the jeep retailers, most of whom don’t have them in stock anyway.