Spring Pivots Removed - Here's One For The Early Cj5 Experts...

Getting under my "new to me CJ5" this afternoon to drain oil and other fluids and noticed this... The rear spring pivots have been replaced and C shackles have been attached directly to the frame. So my front springs have C shackles at front and rear of the front spring packs. I see no signs of the old pivots being removed from the frame on either side, so whoever did it took their time and ground off all remnants of welding, etc.

I've never encountered this before in my jeep experience (3A or M38).

Was this a factory option at any point and should I be concerned if it's not? Can I keep it this way? Should weld on some new spring pivots at some point?

 

That looks M38A1-ish, but you say the front of the spring is mounted the same way? A pic of that would help.

 

Shackles at both ends of the front spring? That sounds scary. '55 and early '56 had factory shackle reversal on the front springs but, the forward end of the spring was mounted to the frame directly via a spring mount bracket.

We have a few members who are more familiar with the 55-6 models. Perhaps one of them can shed more light on this. I too would like to see a few more pictures of this.

 

the C shackle in rear of front is correct . front of spring should be fixed with a bolt going through eye (bushing)of spring . X2 on picture of front

 

Did the picture not show up? Shows up for me in the thread, but I'm new to the site and posting pics. Go to my album "TonyM CJ5" - one pic is there of this double C shackle situation. Can take additional pics and send directly to anyone interested. Advice is appreciated. Thanks!

 

I only see one pic. MY 56 cj 6 has shackles at the rear of the front spring, mounted to spring hanger at the front.

 

Did you post a pic of the front of the spring too? Only a pic of the rear of the spring is showing.

 

here are pics of the front, front spring mounts. There was apparently a push bar of some type added, and then cut off the bumper which is shown in the pic. This is the right front spring mount. Images can also be found in the TonyM CJ5 album.

 

Sorry - doesn't have C shackles at both ends. Got flustered and typed the wrong thing.

 

That is normal for the early cj 5 or cj 6. Mounted solid to spring hanger at the front, and with shackles at the rear. Actually my cj 6 rides pretty good like this.

 

Thanks!

 

There were actually a couple whole years and random runs with factory shackle reversals as the CJ5 frames were all M38A1 style. The military and civilian models ran on the same line. They ride a lot better then the front shackle frames.

 

I'm still a little surprised that there's not a triangular mount on the frame for the hanger and that the C shackles attach directly to/though the frame. Oh well...

 

Tony, that's a fairly common practice with reversed shackle set ups. Maybe something to do with pinion angles.

 

Tony, I didn't see you mention the year of the Jeep in question. The reversed shackles were not uncommon on the '55 and '56 production. Everything looks right to me, except I am used to seeing a few more leaves in the spring pack.
-Donny