Need help with stock shackle removal

I am in the middle of putting some Toytec shackles on my 21. For the Life of me, I cannot get the stock bolts to come out of the leaf springs. I have all the nuts off, and the bolts in the frame move, but cannot get the bottoms to budge.

All the install videos could find just show the bolts sliding out.
Any on have any tips/tricks to try?

 

Mine slid right out on my 2014..
Hope you get it figured out..

 

Surely you have the weigh of the truck off the bolts?
Right?

 

I do. The axel is supported by a jack. Top Bolts are completely free. Can only get the bottoms about 3/8 out of the bushing in the leaf spring.

 

You should be able to put a jack under the pumpkin and slightly take the weight off the through bolt and it will slide right out with a perfectly positioned jack. Just wait till you get to the bushings

 

There is no weight on the shackle.

the bolt on the bottom appears “stuck” in the bushing.

 

It’s literally just a steel sleeve it goes through. If you can’t spin it in place, it’s likely bound. Double check your jack positioning and height…maybe it’s too high. You can always use a pry bar between the frame and the bolt end, or just tap it out with a mallet. When it’s ready to come out, it won’t feel bound.

 

Thanks guys. I sprayed them down and will let them sit for a bit.

When I pry on them with a bar, I can see the rubber bushing stretch with the bolt, but it seems to just go back to where it started.

 

Can't remember exactly but maybe the bolt is permantly attached to one shackle plate. So, if that is the case top and bottom bolt go out simultaneously as the plate pushes away from the spring and frame mount.

 

Your welcome!

 

I wish mine were that easy.

if you look at the picture I posted above, even though it is turned sideways, you can see the black bushing bulged out of the leaf spring. This doesn’t seem to want to “let go” of the bolt.

Am I doing something wrong?

 

Did you see my picture above?

 

I did.

The bottom bolt on mine, both sides, is bound up in the bushing and doesn’t just slide out.

 

You have to use a punch and work the top and bottom both out simultaneously. Not sure but I guess you have got something in a bind somehow.

 

This is likely what you’re fighting. I realize yours is a 21 but this is what my 19 looked like a couple weeks ago taking it apart.

 

Part of the reason I now have Ironman greasable shackles and bushings.

 

I’m guessing that’s what mine will look like. Any tips besides brute force?

 

Beat it back and forth, not only out, add PB blaster as it moves.

 

The shackle end with the bolts pressed in should come out (bolts and all of course). Just a thought, did you unbolt the lower shock bolts to let the rear axle move up and down freely with the Jack under the pumpkin? When I did mine I forgot to remove the bolts in the lower shock mounts and had limited travel when using the Jack on the pumpkin.

 

I have the lower shock bolts out, and the new shocks in place with just the top nut.

I had a similar issue when I didn’t disconnect the sway bar at first, but figured it out.

There doesn’t appear to be any weight on the shackle at this point. The frame bolts are free enough that the bushing came out of one side when I was banging on the leaf spring bolt.

 

After a lot of swearing and beating and prying, I got the bolts out. What a bear.

 

Nice work

 

Great news..
Looks like they glued them in...

 

I installed coachbuilder shackles this afternoon after removing 1” blocks in the rear.
I played around with the jack at different levels and found the spot where there was truly no load on the shackles, but it still took a healthy amount of hammer work and prying to get the shackles off.

When they came out, the metal sleeves from the top bolts actually came out seized/coroded to the bolts. Took a lot of penetrating oil and elbow grease to get those off the reinstall.

The bushings were a PITA.

I was starting to think all the how-to videos were done on brand new trucks without a speck of dirt or rust…. Mine is 3 yrs old a took a lot more elbow grease than any of the videos I saw.

 

I’ve done 2 at this point (my 17’ in 2018 and my 19’ in 2021), and the bushings are a bitch! I found that using a gear puller and the occasional air hammer, and also drilling small holes through the rubber are the easiest things you can do to help the situation along. Regardless, yeah…it wasn’t much fun, but I’m glad I did it on both my Tundras.

 

I just did this on my 2010…

It was not fun at all. Bushings were rusted/seized to old shackle and bushing sleeve was the same on the leaf springs. Had to remove leafs and beat, heat, sawzall and PB Blaster the damn things to get them out. Drivers side was first. Had to drill through the old bushing on the shackle and tear it free from the leaf. Then tried to get the sleeve out of the leaf, after hours of fighting I removed it and beat the sleeve out. On the passenger side I removed the leaf and shackle together figuring it would be faster removing the shackle was easier, but the sleeve was worse than the drivers side. the left was the passenger side