I completed my dual front bumper shackles addition.
I think I'll tie the lower shackles to the upper ones with some 550 cord so they'll hang "upward".
The new, longer bolts I purchased were all too long but they were on clearance at Fastenal and the whole order, shipped, for less than $20. The regular price for the 11" or 12" long 5/8" rear bolt would have been over $17 just for one!
I was recently taught a very handy method for cutting down too-long bolts:
First, thread on a regular nut (I like using grade 8 nuts for this). Then cut the bolt to length (a metal cutting disk on a hand-held angle grinder makes this easy). Second, use a bench grinder to bevel/taper the bolt end. And finally, when you unthread the nut it'll clean up the bolt's threads on it's way off.
I trimmed the front bolts but they still were a hair too long so I just added a washer under the bolt head (the upper shackle pin still cleared). I have no excuse for my laziness here other than I wanted to be done with the project. I had already cut, beveled, painted the bare metal tip and applied anti-seize to them. I didn't feel like cleaning up the anti-seize, re-cutting/grinding and painting when a washer looked fine, and didn't interfere at all. I do try to take the extra time on my projects, but I am fine if my "corner-cutting" results in an item that wasn't strictly necessary and probably only helped.
Tip: use all metal lock nuts on the bottom or else you won't have the clearance to put in/remove the shackle pins.
I had to borrow a friend's air-hammer to pound out the original front bolts because they were rust-seized to the sleeves. I almost gave up on the project! So all the bolts (and even shackle pins) now have a coat of anti-seize on them.
View attachment 628088 View attachment 628087 View attachment 628081 View attachment 628082 View attachment 628083 View attachment 628084 View attachment 628085 View attachment 628086
In the 3rd and 4th pictures above, you can see the cut and drilled 1/4" thick spacer plate sitting on the flat base of the lower shackle mount. It matches the dimensions of the spacer welded to the top of the frame extension below the upper shackle mount so the mount will lie flat.