im trying to get my shackles installed but i got a question. the nut that holds the top bolt (the bolt that mounts shackle to frame), how do you get to that? my kit came with new bolts and the threads are different. is it possible to get too? do i need to remove bumper

 

if rhere isnt anything wrong with the bolts use the stock ones

 

the passenger side one i cant seem to get off. so im thinking about cutting it off

 

most of the time you end up having to cut them

 

Its probably in a bind,I had to use another jack to slightly push up on the leaf where it attaches to the shackle to get some pressure off and it came right out

 

Pretty sure the nut you're talking about is welded inside the subframe rail, same as the front leaf nuts. If you accidentally pop it off, I'm pretty sure you can access it by taking the rear bumper off (as long as you don't have a hitch installed).

As for the stuck bolt, bust out the breaker and cheater bars.

Another problem you might run into - you'll get the bolts backing out, but at some point they stop, and just spin where they're at. This means the bolt has siezed to the metal sleeve inside the shackle bushing, and you'll have to cut - sawzall is your friend here.

I would use new bolts (not necessarily the bolts that came with the new shackles though - try threading them by hand before installing the new shackles to see if the pitch is the same). The leaf bolts are M14x2x120 - I'm pretty sure the shackle bolts are the same.

 

i just finished installing lift shackles on mine this morning, and you DO NOT have to cut the top bolt!!!!! my bolts backed out and stopped because they were frozen to the sleeves, so i rotated the bolt until i could see the seam in the sleeves, took a flathead screwdriver and hammered it into the seam to spread it,(you may have to use progressively larger screwdrivers to get the seam opened up.) spray a little pb blaster on it, let it sit for a few. put the screwdriver back into the seam and try the bolt again. the driver holds the sleeve enough to be able to back the bolt the rest of the way out. took a few minutes, but probably less time than it would take to run to the hardware store for new bolts!! good luck!

 

I'm still running the factory shackles so I don't have first hand experience, but I had the seizing issue on my front leaf bolts. Thing was, the "end" of the bolt (about 0.5" worth) was still inside the frame rail, even though all the threads were out of the nut - had to cut.

If the bolt comes almost all the way out of the rail before stopping (if you can get a screwdriver in there), the above will work. Be careful not to mess up the threads in the nut/frame rail - we beat on the leaf trying to get it out, not realizing how much was still in the rail, and ended up doing just that. We were able to rig up a tapp out of an extra bolt and fix it, though... YMMV.