Outer Limits 4x4 Board

I'd want to build selfmade shakles for my MK 3.3 td 1988 Can i ask you Guys the diameter in mm of the joints upper and lower of front shakles and rear shakles? I don't know if the correct name this is in english, anyway I need it to make the holes on the new shakles and buy the new bolts. I could have the dimensions measuring the bushes but on front upper joint there aren't bushes and the dimensions could be incorrect cause they are elastic. Thanks in advance and sorry for my english i am an italian

Nothing wrong with your English compared to some of the posts here!!

I am not sure about the 1988 MK but the early MQs used 16mm pins in the front springs and 18mm in the rear.

The front originally used steel bushes but these, according to my Jan 86 Parts Book were replaced by rubber bushes from Aug 83. I do not know if the pin size was changed at this time. Probably not.

The rear spring hangars were unchanged up to Jan 86 at least (the date of my Parts Book) though there were two types. One for lght duty springs had a centre to centre bolt spacing of 90mm and the other, for heavy duty springs, had a c/c of 100mm

Sorry I can't be more helpful.
Ciao, David

PS If making up front shackles it might pay to design ones with a rubber stop which contacts the chassis if pushed back beyond a certain distance, thereby preventing your springs being turned inside out if you hit something hard. Will try to post a picture of some I made for my early MQ to give you an idea of what I mean.

Below is picture of my anti-pooping front spring hanger for an early MQ. On the left is the original and the blue is the replacement. I should have photographed it with the rubber bush on top, which would have made things clearer. As the hanger swings back the rubber bush contacts the chassis and prevents further backwards movement. On my MQ the spring mounts are offset slightly on the chassis so I only needed to fit one per spring.

If the hangers on your MK lie outside the line of the chassis then you could make a triangular hanger for each side and use a bolt between them as the stop. A bit of rubber pipe over the bolt would act as a cushion.

David

David you are great thank you!

Hi guys I am here again cause some people said me the right dimension of the pins is 15 mm and they are all the same God i am confused now. I have a MK 160 1988 3.3 td could u tell me the real dimensions? Or you confirm the David's post?

Thanks in advance

Federico

Up!

I didn't have any spare rear shackles lying around to measure, maybe someone else can measure the pin diameter for you.

Fronts:

I just had a look at my rear shackles, the pins are 12mm diameter, shackles are 90mm long, 100m wide at the top (chassis) end and 70mm wide at the bottom (spring) end.
According to David, these would be the light duty shackles, which would explain the 12mm pins. I didn't know there were two types of rear shackle, I'll have to find myself a set of hd ones some time...

I will butt in again. My 1982 Patrol MQ definitely uses 16mm dia pins in steel bushes for the front springs. I can guarantee that as I bought a 16mm reamer so that I can ream out 5/8" phosphor-bronze bushes to use in place of the steel bushes for the lower (spring-eye) end and I have done this many times over the years. The problem with steel bushes is that the pin wears as much as the bush. With bronze bushes this is not a problem and they are a lot cheaper than replacing the pins. Wear of the pins in the top (chassis) steel bushes is not such a problem as there is not the same twisting action as at the lower end. I have just remeasured some old front pins and they are 16mm dia. As I said I do not know whether the pin dia changed with the switch to rubber bushes but I doubt it. My Parts Book confirms that up to August 1983 the nut size was M16x1.5 and from Aug was M16x1.25 which seems to indicate that the pin dia did not change.

At the rear end I have changed from the 90mm c/c to the 100mm c/c. The old pins which I still have (see pic) are difficult to measure exactly as they are badly pitted and somewhat oval! Measurements range from 16.5mm at the centre to 18mm at the flange ( I have just been out in the cold and remeasured them) but the thread dia for the bolt is 12mm dia. i.e the pin dia is stepped down for the nut which is M12x1.25. This nut size is confirmed by the Parts Book and was unchanged at least up to Jan 1986 the date of my Parts Book. A handwritten not in my parts book at the time I last changed the rear suspension gives the ID of the rubber bushes as 18mm.

I hope that clarifies things a bit. Another point which might help is to remember to ensure that the the two spring hangars (this applies to both the front and the back springs) are exactly parallel, packing out the top or the bottom if necessary to achieve this. Otherwise you will get uneven wear on your bushes whether they are rubber, steel or bronze!

Cheers David

PS It does not look as if my pic posted. will try again later

18mm pins on the rear sounds more plausable, I only measured the thread on my rears as I couldn't be bothered pulling one just to measure. I thought 12mm sounded a bit thin...

The lower fronts did change diameter of the pin between the MQ and the MK. The 18mm pin is stepped back down to 16mm for the thread.

Mine has Heavy Duty springs then heavy duty shakles!
David i can't see the pic you posted!

Thank you very much guys then front 16/18 mm and rear 16/18 mm??

byes!

Well, not quite, Fred. The rear has 18mm pins top AND bottom for both heavy duty and light duty shackles.

Sorry about the pic but I can't seem to post it any more even though it is less than the 250Kb max. Maybe the forum posting rules have changed. Will try one last time.

David

Picture won't post even though only 200Kb. Rear shackles look much the same as the front MK (i.e. hangars are stepped) except that both top and bottom pins are welded to one of the side hangars. The other hangar is drilled for 12mm, i.e. butts up against the step in the pin to avoid compressing the rubber bushes.

I have the measurements for my 86 nissan wagon rear shackles if it is any help.

regards
john

The bolt centers are 90mm but my brothers Ute is 100mm.
I hope this helps.
Regards
John

Do u think guys they could be welded? I mean are them of simple steel? could be cutted and welded i'd want to modify them to make longer..... it should be not so difficult to do....

tell me your opinions about this!