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Velvet Ride Shackles, made by
BF Goodrich Aerospace, are designed to replace the rear spring shackle, and
create a more comfortable, less buck-board feel ride by absorbing some of the
harsh bouncing of the stiff heavy duty springs. They basically use a rubber
torsion device inside of the shackle. I bought mine from
4 Wheel Parts Wholesalers for $178.95,
shipped to my door. Part number PCC274-3000 fits 1977 through 1997 F-250, F-350,
and E-series vans, and includes a pair of shackles, one shackle for each side.
Below is what I went through to install a set on my truck.
Overview of Project:
The installation of the
shackles is very straight forward, complicated for me because of 6 years of
corrosion due to road salt used during our Ohio winters. I torched
on all the bolts and nuts that had to come off as I knew they would not come off
otherwise. If a torch is not available, soak everything with penetrating oil
days ahead of time and use a breaker bar on a ratchet where possible.
Essentially, you want to support the rear of the truck by its frame taking weight
off of the springs, unbolt the shackles from the springs and the shackle mounts, and install the new shackles.
Removing The Old Shackles:
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First, you want to make sure that the axle will separate
from the frame easily. I removed the shocks since I replaced them at the
same time as the install, or you can just unbolt them from the bottom
bracket at the axle and let them hang from the frame. If you have a sway bar
you'll need to disconnect that too. I thought it was easiest to unbolt it
from the axle housing, 2 nuts on each side, than to mess with unbolting the
link rods at the bushings. |
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Now, you need to support the truck to take the weight of
the truck off of the rear springs. I jacked up the truck from my rear hitch,
then placed a jack stand on each side just forward of the front spring
perches of the rear springs. This lets the axle hang freely, thus
un-springing the leaf springs. Place a floor jack under the differential
housing to hold the axle up slightly, and once the shackles are unbolted you
can let the axle down to remove the shackle bolts. Note a third jack stand
on the far left, placed under the driver's side leaf spring to limit how far
the axle will drop while I worked on the passenger side. This is to make
sure I do not tear the brake line from the axle! I removed that jack stand
when I worked on that side and was able to keep an eye on the rubber brake
line. |
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Remove the nut from the top of the shackle first, though
this bolt will not yet come out. Leaving the bottom bolt in until the top
nut is taken off will help hold the shackle while wrenching on it. |
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Remove the lower shackle nut and bolt, then make sure the
shackle will swing freely on the bolt still attached to the spring. The
passenger side is shown, but do the driver's side at the same time to make
it easier to lower the axle. Note the wood 2x4 in the picture. I was too
lazy to take the hitch off completely, so I unbolted most of it and wedged
the 2x4 in there to create a space for the bolt to slide out. I also had to
loosen the tire on the carrier to push it side to side to make room for the
bolts, too. |
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With the shackle able to swing free, slowly drop the axle
down to the location shown in the picture. This is just below the frame and
you can now slide the bolt out of the spring and the shackle. The springs
seem to bind on the perches at this point, too, so keep an eye on them when
you go to jack the axle back up. I kicked the underside of the spring a
couple times with just enough force to pop the springs up above the perches. |
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Shackle removed, ready for installation of the Velvet
Ride Shackle. |
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The Hardware:
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Here is a visual comparison of the Velvet Ride Shackle on
the left, and the factory shackle on the right. |
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The nut and bolt on the bottom is the factory hardware.
The heat from the torch destroys the hardened properties of the hardware,
but I knew that using the torch was the ONLY way for me to remove the bolts.
I knew I had to replace them. What I didn't know was that no Ford dealer
stocked them, (they cost about $7.50 each from Ford), and they took 3-5 days
to get them. I was taking a trip out of state within the week and had to get
the thing back together NOW! The hardware on top came from a local
fastner supply company and cost me $25 for the bolt, lock nut and 2
washers!! Multiply that by 4 bolts and... OUCH! They are 14 mm, 10.8
hardness which is metric for grade 8. Factory was 9.8, roughly equal to
grade 6.5 (no such rating but you get the idea.) I tried using a 9/16" dia.
bolt. The threads on the bolt fit in the bushing, but the shoulder did not.
You might be able to drill out the bushing slightly to make them fit, that's
up to you. I wanted to stay within factory spec, and boy did I pay the
price... |
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Installation Of Velvet Ride Shackles: |
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Connect the new shackle to the spring, but do not tighten
the bolt. Raise the axle up until you can line up the hole of the bushing
with the hole of the spring perch. I used a drift to help center these up.
Then install the last bolt, and tighten all three pieces of hardware. The
new bolts are slightly longer but pose no problem with clearance. You'll
notice I used white lithium grease on all the hardware. Antiseize compound
might have been better, but I was too tired to make another trip to the
store. The smallest new bolt at the top came with the new shackle. |
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The shackle-to-spring bolts get tightened to 157-212
Lb-Ft, and the shackle-to-perch bolts to 141-191 Lb-Ft. My torque wrench
only goes to 150 Lb-Ft, so I wrenched on it as hard as I could till I was
pulling myself across the floor! Once tightened, re-attach the sway bar
(30-40 Lb-Ft on the nuts), shocks (39-54 Lb-Ft on the shock hardware),
hitch, spare
tire, re-install the tires and you're done! |
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This picture shows the new shackles installed, with
weight applied to them as the truck normally sits. |
Results:
I took the truck on an 800
mile drive a few days after completion. I installed Rancho 9000 shocks at the
same time and the combination of the new shocks and shackles makes an incredible
difference in the ride quality. A little experimenting with dialing in the
shocks and the harshness of the ride is gone! My bladder will never be the same
again. Absolutely amazing. Two thumbs up, I'm very impressed!
Some people wonder if the
Velvet Rides lower the back of the truck, or if they decrease load carrying
capacity. The pictures below are evidence that neither is really compromised.
Yes, it lowers the truck about 3/4" empty and about 1" when fully loaded, but as
high as the truck sits normally, I didn't notice a difference without a tape
measure. And I noticed NO decrease in load capacity whatsoever. I routinely haul
materials in my truck to work around the yard, or whatever, typically hauling a
couple tons or more.
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This is a side pic of the truck empty, with Velvet Ride
Shackles installed. |
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This is a side pic of the truck with 4500# of sand in the
bed, with Velvet Ride Shackles installed. Loaded, there's no diminished load
carrying capacity that I could tell! |
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Geauga County, Ohio.
