Greasable Shackles vs Non Greasable

The grease should be between the pin/end plates and the bush. If it coming out from under the nut, then it is because it can't squeeze between the bush and the end plate for some reason. It might be as simple as pumping grease while someone jumps on the tow ball to make the suspension flex and break the seal between the plate and the bush. You could back the nut off a few turns too.

On mine the grease was pushing the bush out past the side plates, that took some fixing and new swear words were invented.

Why don't manufactures use them? Cost mainly.
The stock bushes were a softer rubber, so didn't transfer the road noise quite as much and will do the job quite well for most buyers. They also didn't creak and groan when they were dusty or dry.
Greasable cost more to make and more time to fit on the production line and need more maintenance.

Hi
Yes u should be concerned with grease not going where it should ,its best for grease to lube all the surfaces . Can u do something about it not really . As long as the bushes are in good condition leave it at that .

The bush should not rotate the shackle pin needs to rotate inside the bush .
A good industrial pin has a grease spiral machined in to allow for good spread of grease to all load surfaces .

What type of urethane bushes do u use ??.
Overly hard bushes wear out shackle plates typically red yellow etc
The super pro blue bushes always seem to be the correct hardness and can last along time even with only being greased on upon first install .

Rubber grease only needs 1 application on new rubber bushes also .

Not a qualified mechanic but a long time user of trailers. When the better "plastic" bushes came out I went that way. I found the greasable ones soon did not let graese into where it needed to be. In a simliar stuation on a back hoe, unless I greased every day the grease got hard and not go in correct area. Back to trailers, if I greased at least once a week seemed to be reasonably successful. the problem arises when not used for a few weeks.
Sometimes you can get away with getting grease into correct area by using a CRC type product. Will often loosen hardened grease to save a complete removal and clean. Plastic ones last for years, cheap to buy and easier to replace, don't rust in.
I think the after market guys are just ensuring repeat business in cleaning and replacement.

Neil

Neil

The vehicle weight bearing down will push the shackle pins either to the top and bottom of the bushed inner surface.
I presume you always jack the vehicle chassis so that normal pin load is reversed AND the grease you administer gets to the ACTUAL wear surface. Unless you do that, the grease will travel along the crescent gap (Caused by the load) between the pin and the bush inner surface. Unfortunately it WON'T be under the area which you are trying/think you are lubricating.

Jack if up chassis, not running gear, first and then grease. The grease may then come out of different spots and actually grease the bushes/pins.

Greasable shackles are only necessary on polly bushes ...... and msotly because Polly bushes will not retain grease ..... it has to be constantly applied.

Rubber bushes don't need to be greased and should not be greased.

Most of the aftermarket companies supply polly bushes because they are far easier to manufacture than rubber, especially in short runs.

There are advantages and disadvantages to both rubber and polly.

Back in the 80;s when polly first became popular everybody thaught they where an answer to all our prayers ..... it did not take long for many to realise that polly had issues and did not work at all well in some situations.

I'm putting some new springs under the back of the hilux soon ..... I'll be using rubber bushes.

cheers

HI
In some applications rubber grease is well advised either for fitting or bush longevity when operating .

Thanks everyone for your replies.

I think I have it sorted now.

Cheers

Frank,
I don't know for sure what the BT50 comes with, but the factory bushes on the 79series Toyotas is a rubber bush with metal sleeve - so its metal on metal and requires no lubrication and attracts no dirt. Lasts forever too.

The cheap aftermarket poly bushes require grease so they can move freely and so they don't squeak. I have also found that the poly bushes elongate so get a bit of play.

I've put the original bushes back into a couple of 79series that had greasable shackles - in one case it was because the greasable front pin had broken in the middle on the gunbarrel highway.

Tried greasable shackles and poly bushes on a couple of vehicles but prefer the old rubber bushes which are basically maintenance free no having to get the grease gun out and hope the grease actually penetrates the shackle pins into the bushes correctly because if it dosen't the bushes will wear the shackle pins out faster unlike rubber which wear the pins a lot les and they last a long time. Less unnecessary maintenance means more time driving and having fun.
Rubber bushes are noticeably more comfortable to ride on as poly doesn't absorb the jarring as much and sends it through to the occupants.

hi
over the years of farming life and since any time I have to grease shackle pins be it on a truck/caravan or 4x4 etc I always jack the vehicle body up with a trolley jack to take the weight off the pins while pumping the grease in
that way I have always got a spread of grease both ends of the shackle pin cheers

The local suspension guru here has alloy or steel bushes to replace poly bushes...but he makes sure that whoever has them fitted will use a grease gun. And as for poly bushes his uses for them is unprintable...altho one of them features the premier of the day and a part of his anatomy.

Cheers Keith

Just replaced rear springs on Truupy (gone to parabolics), both my very experienced local mechanic and discussing the spring replacement with an independent spring jobber,we all concluded that rubber bushings per OEM (one time rubber greased) and non-greaseable pins were the way to go. "Grease just picks up dirt, to no benefit."